The aerodynamic performance of a vehicle designed to execute an aerogravity assisted maneuver, which combines a gravitational turn with a low-drag atmosphere pass, is examined. The advantage of the aerogravity assisted maneuver, as opposed to a more traditional gravity-assist trajectory, is that, through the use of a controlled atmospheric flight, nearly any deflection angle around a gravitating body can be realized. This holds the promise of providing extremely large values of Delta V. The success of such a maneuver depends on being able to design a vehicle which can execute sustained atmospheric flight at Mach numbers in the range of 50 - 100 with minimal drag losses. Some simple modeling is used to demonstrate design rules for the design of such vehicles, and to estimate the deterioration of their performance during the flight. Two sample aerogravity-assisted maneuvers are detailed, including a close solar approach requiring modest Delta V, and a sprint mission to Pluto.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    The design of hypersonic waveriders for aero-assisted interplanetary trajectories


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    1991-01-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English


    Keywords :