Re-Entry and Vehicle Design

Ballistic Missile and Space Technology, Volume IV: Re-Entry and Vehicle Design focuses on the advancements of processes, methodologies, and technologies involved in re-entry and vehicle design, including hypersonics, material structures, propulsion, and communications. The selection first offers information on the pyrolysis of plastics in a high vacuum arc image furnace and aerothermodynamic feasibility of graphite for hypersonic glide vehicles. Discussions focus on aerothermochemical behavior of graphite, transient heat conduction, equilibrium glide trajectory, and apparatus and pyrolysis procedure. The text then takes a look at an engineering analysis of the weights of ablating systems for manned reentry vehicles and trajectories of lifting bodies entering planetary atmospheres at shallow angles. The manuscript ponders on propulsive control of atmospheric entry lifting trajectories, re-entry engineering mechanics, and rocket casing behavior predicted by laboratory tests. Topics include description of testing program, full-scale casing results, camera design, theoretical correlation, approximate thrust vector optimization, and propellant weight estimation. The selection is a dependable reference for astronauts and researchers interested in re-entry and vehicle design.