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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
ellipticalconetodemonstratetheightcharacter-
isticsofspacetransfervehicles(STV's).TheAFE
wastobecarriedtoorbitbyandlaunchedfrom
theSpaceShuttleorbiter,whereinstrumentationfor
10on-boardexperimentswouldhaveobtainedaero-
dynamicandaerothermodynamicdataforvelocities
near32000ft/secataltitudesabove245000ft.A
preightground-basedtestprogramwasinitiated
toassesstheaerodynamicandaerothermodynamic
characteristicsofthebaselineconceptandtopro-
videbenchmarkdataforcalibrationofcomputational
uiddynamicscodestobeusedinightpredictions.
Thedatareportedhereinareresultsfromonephase
ofthisground-basedstudy.Staticlateralanddi-
rectionalstabilitycharacteristicswereobtainedfor
theAFEcongurationatanglesofattackfrom010
to10.TestswereconductedinairatMachnum-
bersof6and10andintetrauoromethane(CF4)
atMach6toexaminetheeectsofMachnumber,
Reynoldsnumber,andnormal-shockdensityratio.
ChangesinMachnumberfrom6to10inairor
inReynoldsnumberbyafactorof4atMach6had
anegligibleeectonthelateralanddirectionalsta-
bilitycharacteristicsofthebaselineAFEcongura-
tion.Variationsindensityratioacrossthenormal
portionofthebowshockfromapproximately5(air)
to12(CF4)hadameasurableeectonlateralanddi-
rectionalaerodynamiccoecients,butnosignicant
eectonlateralanddirectionalstabilitycharacter-
istics.ThetestsinairandCF4indicatedthatthe
congurationwaslaterallyanddirectionallystable
throughthetestrangeofangleofattack.
Unfortunately,theAFEprogramwascancelled
inlate1991.TherealizationofanAFEightinthe
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
actualightvehiclecanbedesignedwithoptimal
aerodynamicandaerothermodynamiccharacteris-
tics,additionalinformationaboutveryhigh-altitude,
high-velocityightisrequired.Toobtainsuchin-
formation,asubscaleightwasproposedwhereby
a14-ft-diameterASTVcongurationwith10on-
boardexperimentswouldbelaunchedfromtheSpace
Shuttleandacceleratedbackintotheatmosphere
witharocket.ThisAeroassistFlightExperiment
(AFE)wouldmakeasweepthroughtheatmosphere
toanaltitudeofabout245000ftwithavelocityof
nearly32000ft/sectogainaerodynamicandaero-thermalinformationandreturntolowEarthorbit
forretrievalbytheSpaceShuttle.Theon-boardin-
strumentationwouldmeasureandrecordtheaero-dynamiccharacteristicsandaerothermodynamicen-
vironmentofthisentrytrajectory,andthedata
wouldbeusedtovalidatecomputationaluiddy-
namics(CFD)computercodesandground-to-ight
extrapolationofexperimentaldataforuseinfuture
ASTVdesigns.Thisightexperimentwasproposed
becausethehigh-velocity,low-densityowenviron-
mentcannotbeduplicatedorsimulatedinpresent
testfacilities,norcanitbepredictedwithcertainty
byexistingtechniques.
Naturally,theAFEwouldrequireanextensive
aerodynamicandaerothermodynamicexperimental
andcomputationaldatabaseforitsdesignandsuc-
cessfulight.Presenttestfacilities,inconjunction
withthebestCFDcodes,wouldprovidethisinfor-
mation.Forthisreason,apreighttestprogram
inground-basedhypersonicfacilities(ref.2)was
initiatedtodeveloptherequiredaerodynamicand
aerothermodynamicdatabase.Thisdatabasewill
beusedtoperformtherstphaseofCFDcomputer