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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.
“Gemini 4”2 pages
UNCLASSIFIED/ /FSA: QFFlil.t.k W!ilE 8HLV Appendix D: Landing Ellipses for Hypersonic Gliders Figure 14 graphically shows the cross (lateral) range and down range for various hypersonic gliders. The lateral range and down range describe a landing ellipse for a vehicle entering the glide at 22,400 feet/second as shown in Figure 46. The 0,0 point is the beginning of the entry or glide trajectory. ,,~ -·s -"-~ -~ "~ 0 0 0 -~ Oil § "'-"h ~ -"...l 6 4 ---- I - ,,-::;:;;/ DvmSoar - (I 2 4 - -· ---1---. -./R 11 • 1• ~'gg,;r~ M-2a IS!C ~ ' ',; ,, -- - ~ ...__ - ----,-..._ 6 u 4 6 10 1::: IAtmosphenc Entry Down Range 14 I I ------ Mo<ld l':'D B / ---/-- ~-0 ~; Liftmg Body \ \ ~ l\1o<le117tiR / 88% Cap~bility V,__.. ---16 18 2U 22 24 '.:.':6 :::'.8 I 000 nautical miles Figure 46. Landing Ellipses for (from left) Apollo Capsule, NASA Ames M2/F2, USAF X-20 DynaSoar, FDL Lifting-Body, 88%-Capability MDC Model 176H, and MDC 176H 30 The space shuttle landing ellipse would be inside the DynaSoar (X-20) ellipse, as its cross range is one missed orbit, or 1,555 nautical miles. The down range would be approximately 9,800 nautical miles. The ellipse is offset from 0,0 and has an indentation into some of the landing ellipse. This is an area the glider cannot reach with the aerodynamic and structural limits. The ballistic example is for the Apollo capsule, which had an L/D of about 0.5; Gemini and Mercury ellipses would be smaller. The Model 176B or Model 176H using 88 percent of its glide capability would have a glide range equal to the Earth's equatorial circumference. 48 UNCLASSIFIED//5O9 AFEJCJ0k IP&'i Qllklf
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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.