JAPAN DEVELOPS BALLOON-LAUNCHED VEHICLE
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is developing a balloon-based operation vehicle that would fly up to 131,100ft (40,000m) using a balloon and then be dropped to reach Mach 2 for the flight test of a subscale turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine called the S-Engine. The vehicle is missile-like with a vertical and horizontal tails and a small delta overwing. When the air pressure is in excess of 0.1bar (1.45lb/in2), TBCC combustion will start and last for a maximum of 30s. The flight range is expected to be 20km (10.8nm) and 10s before parachute activation at 16,300ft the engine would shut down. The vehicle and its S-Engine will be recovered by helicopter from the sea after splashdown.
NITROGEN GAS JET ANOMALY TIPS HYCAUSE INTO FAILURE
An incorrect orientation at apogee for the Australian/US HyCause project's inward-turning inlet supersonic combustion ramjet meant its planned acceleration to its target speed of Mach 10 during descent did not happen. According to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, HyCause, launched by a sounding rocket on 15 June 2007, reached an apogee of 500km (310 miles), but then a failure by its nitrogen gas jets to orientate it meant the vehicle descended with a nose procession of up to 20oC The vehicle only reached M8.5 and no supersonic combustion was achieved during the few seconds of fuel flow.
JAXA TO PLAN FOR LIFTING BODY AUTOMATIC LANDING
Carried to 3,200ft (1,000m) by a Mitsubishi MH200 helicopter the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) automatic landing re-entry vehicle lifting body is to be air dropped and then guide itself to a runway stop. Dropped from 3,200ft at a vertical speed of 77kt (144km/h) the lifting body has five flight phases. It will descend at first in its dive and path acquisition phase, then have a constant path angle during the steep glide slope, pull up in its pre-flare phase, flare during its shallow glide slope and then touchdown with a final ground run.
HYPERSONIC TRANSPORT MAY REQUIRE INTERNATIONAL HELP
Boeing Phantom Work's hypersonics chief scientist and one of its senior technical fellows Kevin Bowcutt told the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' space planes, hypersonic systems and technologies conference in Dayton, Ohio that for economic reasons the development of an air-breathing Mach 5 transoceanic transport or space access vehicle may have to be an international effort, like the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 programmes. Speaking during the space tourism panel session Bowcutt described a workshare division among nations with one country providing the primary structure and health management system, another the thermal protection materials and on-board systems and others providing propellant tanks and avionics.
FAST STUDIES UNPOWERED FLYBACK LAUNCHER'S LANDINGS
As part of the US Air Force Research Laboratory's Fully Reusable Access to Space Technology (FAST) programme the unpowered horizontal landing dynamics of a generic flyback reusable launch vehicle (RLV) have been studied. The generic RLV is characterised by a large rectangular fuselage cross-section and low aspect ratio, highly swept wings. This configuration leads to fast approach and landing velocities. The study has found that while landing such an RLV is feasible, tight performance tolerances are required for safety. Adaptive guidance navigation and control for in-flight trajectory replanning are also a focus for FAST.
Source: Flight International
