Documents / Report
This Defense Intelligence Reference Document, prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency and dated 8 March 2010, was produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It gives a historical and technical review of how to reach space and return. It covers hypersonic gliders, air-breathing and rocket propulsion, thermodynamics and materials, and launch options. It argues that reliable, schedulable access to low Earth orbit is mainly a hardware and propulsion problem rather than a technology one.
“Low Earth orbit”4 pages
UNCLASSIFIED//f811. 8ffl81*1. 1,1lii s,11.~r :--1 AS A Langley \Vi 1111-Cv linder "" - Complex curved TPS system, ' Configuration Co111.:t:pt \Vl3-0U4 Inadequate lateral-directional stability and control Wing training'' edge controls provide limited control capability for a military maneuver vehide Thin wings encounter severe heating from both sides i e. '·hot structure" Glide angle of attack very high ~ 45° compared to 15° for high LID design Unsymmetrical vortices can produce super- sonic control problems ', Cylinder heating extends up to 55° to 60° Poor hypersonic lift-to-drag ratio limits glide range Figure 9. NASA Langley Wing-Body Configuration WB-004 With Generally Critical Areas for Wing Bodies Identified With a high entry angle of attack, the cross flow over the cylinder produces high heating rates beyond the mid-cylinder line. With a lower L/D ratio, the down and cross ranges are limited as to what might be achieved but more in line with NASA one- missed-orbit criterion. The thin wings are heated on both sides to create added thermal problems, as well as added surface area to increase drag. Al Draper and his team, together with Bob Masek's team at McDonnell Douglas Astronautics, worked long and diligently to arrive at the FDL-7/Model 176 configurations shown in Figure 10. The insert photo is Dale Reed's model of the FDL- 7MC radio-controlled model at NASA Dryden. The AFFDL and MDC configurations were inherently stable at all operational angles of attack from at least mach 22 to landing speed. The remainder of this report will focus on the characteristics of this class of lifting body. The statements in Figure 10 were all based on wind tunnel data. A real advantage of the trapezoidal shape was not only flat metallic shingles but heating on the sides and upper surface that was at least three-fifths that of the conventional shapes. The glide range was such that this configuration could land in CONUS from any location on any inclination orbit from its current orbit with no waiting. 11 UNCLASSIFIED//FQII. QFFlliil,t k llili &•lk¥
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 56 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.