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NASATechnicalMemorandum4435

HypersonicLateralandDirectional

StabilityCharacteristicsof

AeroassistFlightExperiment

ConfigurationinAirandCF

4

JohnR.MicolandWilliamL.Wells

MAY1993

NASATechnicalMemorandum4435

HypersonicLateralandDirectional

StabilityCharacteristicsof

AeroassistFlightExperiment

ConfigurationinAirandCF

4

JohnR.MicolandWilliamL.Wells

LangleyResearchCenter

Hampton,VirginiaSummary

TheproposedAeroassistFlightExperiment

(AFE)utilizeda14-ft-diameterrakedandblunted

ellipticalconetodemonstratethe󰀍ightcharacter-

isticsofspacetransfervehicles(STV's).TheAFE

wastobecarriedtoorbitbyandlaunchedfrom

theSpaceShuttleorbiter,whereinstrumentationfor

10on-boardexperimentswouldhaveobtainedaero-

dynamicandaerothermodynamicdataforvelocities

near32000ft/secataltitudesabove245000ft.A

pre󰀍ightground-basedtestprogramwasinitiated

toassesstheaerodynamicandaerothermodynamic

characteristicsofthebaselineconceptandtopro-

videbenchmarkdataforcalibrationofcomputational

󰀍uiddynamicscodestobeusedin󰀍ightpredictions.

Thedatareportedhereinareresultsfromonephase

ofthisground-basedstudy.Staticlateralanddi-

rectionalstabilitycharacteristicswereobtainedfor

theAFEcon󰀌gurationatanglesofattackfrom010󰀎

to10󰀎.TestswereconductedinairatMachnum-

bersof6and10andintetra󰀍uoromethane(CF4)

atMach6toexaminethee󰀋ectsofMachnumber,

Reynoldsnumber,andnormal-shockdensityratio.

ChangesinMachnumberfrom6to10inairor

inReynoldsnumberbyafactorof4atMach6had

anegligiblee󰀋ectonthelateralanddirectionalsta-

bilitycharacteristicsofthebaselineAFEcon󰀌gura-

tion.Variationsindensityratioacrossthenormal

portionofthebowshockfromapproximately5(air)

to12(CF4)hadameasurablee󰀋ectonlateralanddi-

rectionalaerodynamiccoe󰀎cients,butnosigni󰀌cant

e󰀋ectonlateralanddirectionalstabilitycharacter-

istics.ThetestsinairandCF4indicatedthatthe

con󰀌gurationwaslaterallyanddirectionallystable

throughthetestrangeofangleofattack.

Unfortunately,theAFEprogramwascancelled

inlate1991.TherealizationofanAFE󰀍ightinthe

futureispossiblebutuncertain.Thus,thispaper

documentsthelateralanddirectionalaerodynamic

characteristicsofthebaselineAFEvehicleforusein

thedesignoffutureaeroassistspacetransfervehicles.

Introduction

Amongthespacetransportationsystemspro-

posedforthefuturearespacetransfervehicles

(STV's),whicharedesignedtoferrycargobetween

higherEarthorbits(forexample,geosynchronous

andlunarorbits)andlowerEarthorbitwherethe

SpaceShuttleandSpaceStationFreedomwillop-

erate.(Thisclassofvehiclewasformerlyreferred

toasorbitaltransfervehiclesorOTV's.)Uponre-

turnofthevehiclefromhighEarthorbit,itsvelocity

mustbegreatlyreducedtoattainanearlycircularlowEarthorbit.Thisdecreaseinvelocitycanbe

achievedeitherbyusingretrorocketsorbyguiding

thevehiclethroughaportionoftheatmosphereand

allowingaerodynamicdragforcestoslowthevehi-

cle.Studieshaveshownthatlowerpropellantloads

wouldberequiredfortheaeroassistmethod(ref.1);

thus,payloadscouldbeincreased.

FutureSTV'sthatwillbedesignedtouseEarth

atmospherefordecelerationaregenerallyreferredto

asaeroassistedspacetransfervehiclesorASTV's

(formerlyAOTV's).Thesevehicleswillhavehigh

dragandarelativelylowlift-to-dragratioandwill

󰀍yatveryhighaltitudesandvelocitiesthroughout

theatmosphericportionofthetrajectory.Beforethe

actual󰀍ightvehiclecanbedesignedwithoptimal

aerodynamicandaerothermodynamiccharacteris-

tics,additionalinformationaboutveryhigh-altitude,

high-velocity󰀍ightisrequired.Toobtainsuchin-

formation,asubscale󰀍ightwasproposedwhereby

a14-ft-diameterASTVcon󰀌gurationwith10on-

boardexperimentswouldbelaunchedfromtheSpace

Shuttleandacceleratedbackintotheatmosphere

witharocket.ThisAeroassistFlightExperiment

(AFE)wouldmakeasweepthroughtheatmosphere

toanaltitudeofabout245000ftwithavelocityof

nearly32000ft/sectogainaerodynamicandaero-thermalinformationandreturntolowEarthorbit

forretrievalbytheSpaceShuttle.Theon-boardin-

strumentationwouldmeasureandrecordtheaero-dynamiccharacteristicsandaerothermodynamicen-

vironmentofthisentrytrajectory,andthedata

wouldbeusedtovalidatecomputational󰀍uiddy-

namics(CFD)computercodesandground-to-󰀍ight

extrapolationofexperimentaldataforuseinfuture

ASTVdesigns.This󰀍ightexperimentwasproposed

becausethehigh-velocity,low-density󰀍owenviron-

mentcannotbeduplicatedorsimulatedinpresent

testfacilities,norcanitbepredictedwithcertainty

byexistingtechniques.

Naturally,theAFEwouldrequireanextensive

aerodynamicandaerothermodynamicexperimental

andcomputationaldatabaseforitsdesignandsuc-

cessful󰀍ight.Presenttestfacilities,inconjunction

withthebestCFDcodes,wouldprovidethisinfor-

mation.Forthisreason,apre󰀍ighttestprogram

inground-basedhypersonicfacilities(ref.2)was

initiatedtodeveloptherequiredaerodynamicand

aerothermodynamicdatabase.Thisdatabasewill

beusedtoperformthe󰀌rstphaseofCFDcomputer