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.
“Titan II”2 pages
metal shingle vacuum multi- layer insulation UNCLASSIFIED/ ,'-F8A 8FFHil.l1k WE&i a••k>/ Aero Heating 97.5% Radiated to Space d1ffus1on bonded super-plastically formed structure Figure 16. McDonnell Aircraft Company Roll-Bonded Titanium Structure (circa 1963). Today this structure would be super-plastically formed and diffusion bonded from RSR titanium sheets." Mulready's book mentions the McDonnell Douglas boost-glide strategic vehicle, as well as citing key personnel at McDonnell Aircraft Company. Low thermal conductivity standoffs set off the insulated-metal, thermal-protection-insulated shingles from this wall so that there was an air gap between them. The X-33 applied the metal shingle concept, albeit with significant improvement in the standoff design and thermal leakage, in the orientation, thickness, and weight of the shingles. This is one aspect of the X-33 that can be applied to future spacecraft for a more reliable and repairable thermal protection system than ceramic tiles. All efforts by the author to obtain information on the shingles manufactured by Goodrich Aerospace have been met with the response, "We lost the contract and are investing in more productive products." The titanium diffusion-bonded and super-plastically formed wall was both the primary aircraft structure and the propellant tank wall. The cryogenic propellants were isolated from the metal wall by a metal foil barrier and sealed insulation on the inside of the propellant tank. Significant testing of this structural approach confirmed its superior capabilities as a hypersonic radiation-cooled structure. The Model 176 was proposed for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory. It was a thoroughly designed and tested configuration with a complete, all-metal thermal-protection system that had the same weight as ceramic tile and carbon-carbon concepts used for the U.S. space shuttle but was sturdier and could be repaired in a hanger or in orbit. A wind 17 UNCLASSIFIED/ ;FF8A 8FFHiiI.«1k Wli&i a,.k>/
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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.