The use of high lift-to-drag hypersonic vehicles for aero-assisted orbital maneuvering
Abstract
The benefits of using a hypersonic waverider for spacecraft trajectory modification are presented. A waverider is a hypersonic vehicle specifically designed so that the undersurface bow shock is attached to the leading edge, which provides for the highest known lift-to-drag ratios achievable at high Mach number flight. Several viable space missions are suggested which could use such configurations for low-drag aero-assisted maneuvers in planetary atmospheres. It is shown that large changes in the spacecraft velocity vector can be accomplished with acceptably small losses in energy due to drag using a waverider aeroshell. The primary advantage of an aero-assist maneuver is suggested by comparison to a traditional gravity-assist trajectory. Some scaling laws are presented for comparing waveriders designed for different planetary atmospheres, and it is shown that the compositional differences between the terrestrial planets has a minimal impact on waverider design.
- Publication:
-
IN: Israel Annual Conference on Aviation and Astronautics
- Pub Date:
- 1990
- Bibcode:
- 1990avas.conf..107L
- Keywords:
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- Hypersonic Vehicles;
- Lift Drag Ratio;
- Orbital Maneuvers;
- Spacecraft Trajectories;
- Aeroassist;
- Leading Edges;
- Mach Number;
- Shock Wave Interaction;
- Astrodynamics