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The primary goal was to have the RV change its path during reentry so that anti-ballistic missiles (ABMs) would not be able to track their movements rapidly enough for a successful interception. The first known example was the Alpha Draco tests of 1959, followed by the Boost Glide Reentry Vehicle (BGRV) test series, ASSET [16] and PRIME. [17]
Early reentry-vehicle concepts visualized in shadowgraphs of high speed wind tunnel tests. The concept of the ablative heat shield was described as early as 1920 by Robert Goddard: "In the case of meteors, which enter the atmosphere with speeds as high as 30 miles (48 km) per second, the interior of the meteors remains cold, and the erosion is due, to a large extent, to chipping or cracking of ...
Soyuz TMA reentry capsule after landing, 2005. A reentry capsule is the portion of a space capsule which returns to Earth following a spaceflight. The shape is determined partly by aerodynamics; a capsule is aerodynamically stable falling blunt end first, which allows only the blunt end to require a heat shield for atmospheric entry. A crewed ...
Allen was interested in the full range of aerodynamics research, and made contributions to the study of subsonic, transonic, supersonic and hypersonic flow. [2] When the United States became interested in the design of ballistic missiles, Allen began research in the dynamics and thermodynamics of atmospheric reentry, as well as the effects of radiation and meteorites on space vehicles.
Armstrong-Whitworth were contracted to develop the re-entry vehicle, and unlike the U.S. space program, they decided to stick with a winged vehicle instead of a ballistic capsule. Between 1957 and 1959, they contracted Nonweiler to develop his concepts further. This work produced a pyramid-shaped design with a flat underside and short wings ...
Aerodynamic heating is the heating of a solid body produced by its high-speed passage through air. In science and engineering, an understanding of aerodynamic heating is necessary for predicting the behaviour of meteoroids which enter the Earth's atmosphere, to ensure spacecraft safely survive atmospheric reentry, and for the design of high-speed aircraft and missiles.
A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is an exoatmospheric ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit a different target. The concept is almost invariably associated with intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying thermonuclear warheads , even if not strictly being limited to ...
An early design for SpaceShipOne called for a shuttlecock-like shape that would have made it incapable of landing independently, necessitating mid-air retrieval. This was deemed too risky, and the final design made the spacecraft capable of independent horizontal landing while retaining the desired aerodynamic qualities for the early part of ...