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.
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Figure 14. Hypersonic Glider Characteristics
There is always the question about landing these blended bodies. Figure 15 shows the
blended body handling qualities to be very good, and therefore a pilot's fear factor is
less than with the X-15. Bill Dana said the X-24A was difficult to handle when landing
but that he could land the X-24B almost with no hands as it flared automatically. To
the author's knowledge, all of the wind tunnel tests showed inherent static and dynamic
stability over the entire speed range.
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 56 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.