SEMINAR MEC 3890

BACHELOR OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (AERSOPACE) INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA (IIUM)

TITLE
HYPERSONIC INFLATABLE RE-ENTRY VEHICLE (HIRV)

BY
NUR HAZWANI BINTI MAZALAN (1112654) AFIQ FADHLI BIN MISKAM (1113771)

ADVISOR
ASST PROFESSOR DR SYED MUHAMMAD KASHIF

CONTENT
1.0 2.0 ABSTRACT HISTORY
2.1 2.2 Phases of Flight Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV)

3.0

PRINCIPLE
3.1 3.2 3.3 Shape Size Thermal Protection System

4.0

MECHANISM
4.1 4.2 4.3 Reentry Path Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment 3 (IRVE 3) Advantages of Inflatable Re-Entry Vehicle

5.0 6.0

FUTURE PLAN REFERENCES

1.0

ABSTRACT

Atmospheric entry is the movement of human-made objects as they enter the atmosphere of a celestial body from outer space. Objects entering the atmosphere are not released from rest just above it, but rather are entering at hypersonic speeds because they are on suborbital (ICBM reentry vehicle), orbital (space shuttle) or unbounded (meteors) trajectories. Therefore, controlled atmospheric entry often requires special method to protect against severe aerodynamic heating. Various advanced technologies have been developed to enable atmospheric reentry and flight at extreme high velocities. The atmospheric entry vehicle was inspired by the invention of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) which uses the basic concept of a reentry vehicle. It is a ballistic missile with a maximum range of more than 5500 km typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target. The concept of reentry vehicle comes from the nose of the ICBM where it use high thermal resistance of materials which having abrasive behavior. This applied to recent days where it helps the NASA to bring the astronauts, instruments and experiments specimens from the International Space Station (ISS). The first atmospheric entry used ballistic missiles that featured long nosecones with narrow tips. That shape cut through the air easily but high speeds and low drag led to overheating and melting of the rockets surfaces. To overcome the aerodynamic heating problem, Hypersonic Inflatable Re Entry Vehicle, which looks like a giant cone of inner tubes assembled. This HIRV would allow spacecraft to carry larger, heavier scientific instruments and other tools for exploration. The technology could also be used to return payloads to Earth from the ISS or other low Earth orbit locations.

2.0

HISTORY

Figure 1 The concept of the abrasive 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 per second, the interior of the meteors remains cold, and the erosion is due to a large extent, to chipping or cracking of the suddenly heated surface. For this reason, if the outer surface of the apparatus were to consist of layers of a very infusible hard substance with layers of a poor heat conductor between the surface would not be eroded to any considerable extent, especially as the velocity of the apparatus would not be nearly so great as that of the average meteor." Practical development of reentry systems began as the range and reentry velocity of ballistic missiles increased. For early short-range missiles, like the V-2 (Figure 1), stabilization and aerodynamic stress are important issues (many V-2s broke apart during reentry), but aerodynamics heating on the heat shield was not a serious problem. Medium-range missiles like the Soviet R-5, with a 1200 km range, required ceramic composite heat shielding on separable reentry vehicles (it was no longer possible for the entire rocket structure to survive reentry). The first ICBMs, with ranges of 8000 to 12,000 km, were only possible with the development of modern ablative heat shields and blunt-shaped vehicles. In the USA, this technology was pioneered by H. Julian Allen at Ames Research. In the Soviet Union, Yuri A. Dunaev developed similar technology at the Leningrad Physical-Technical Institute.

2.1

PHASES OF FLIGHT

Figure 2 Missiles are self-guided munitions that travel through the air or outer space to their targets. A ballistic missile travels along a suborbital trajectory. An intercontinental ballistic missile can travel a substantial distance around the Earth to its target. Thee intercontinental ballistic missiles consists of propellant-filled stages, a guidance system and a payload (warheads). Once launched, the missile passes through three phases of flight: boost, ballistic, and reentry. Figure 2 shows the structure of the missiles where the structure shows the division of its body when it is going through those three phases of flight. During the boost phase, the duration of the ICBM to be launched into the atmosphere is around three to five minutes which is shorter for a solid rocket than for a liquid-propellant rocket. The altitude at the end of this boost phase is typically 150 to 400 km depending on the trajectory chosen. The typical burnout speed of the missile is 7km/s. After that, entering the ballistic phase, with the approximation of 25 minutes, the sub-orbital spaceflight in an elliptical orbit; the orbit is a part of an ellipse with a vertical major axis.

The apogee, the halfway of the midcourse phase, is at an altitude of approximately 1200km; the semi-major axis is between 3186kmm and 6372km; the projection of the orbit on Earths surface is close to a great circle, which is slightly displaced due to earth rotation during the time of flight. The missile may release several independent warheads, and the penetration aids such as metallic-coated balloons, aluminum chaff, and full-scale warhead decoys. The final phase is the reentry phase, which starting at an altitude of 100km. The impact speed is up to 4km/s, where for the early ICBMs is less than 1km/s. In flight, a booster pushes the warhead and then falls away. Most modern boosters are solid-fueled rocket motors, which can be stored easily for long periods of time. Early missiles used liquid-fueled rocket motors. Many liquid-fueled ICBMs could not be kept fuelled all the time as the cryogenic liquid oxygen boiled off and caused ice formation, and therefore fueling the rocket was necessary before launch. This procedure was a source of significant operational delay, and might allow the missiles to be destroyed by enemy counterparts before they could be used. To resolve this problem the British invented the missile silo that protected the missile from a first strike and also hid fuelling operations underground. Once the booster falls away, the warhead continues on an unpowered ballistic trajectory, much like an artillery shell or cannon ball. The warhead is encased in a cone-shaped reentry vehicle and is difficult to detect in this phase of flight as there is no rocket exhaust or other emissions to mark its position to defenders. The high speeds of the warheads make them difficult to intercept and allow for little warning striking targets anywhere in the world within minutes. As the nuclear warhead reenters the Earth's atmosphere its high speed causes friction with the air, leading to a dramatic rise in temperature which would destroy it if it were not shielded in some way. As a result, warhead components are contained within an aluminum honeycomb substructure, sheathed in pyrolytic graphite-epoxy resin composite, with a heat-shield layer on top.

Figure 3

These four shadowgraph images, Figure 3, represent early reentry-vehicle concepts. A shadowgraph is a process that makes visible the disturbances that occur in a fluid flow at high velocity, in which light passing through a flowing fluid is refracted by the density gradients in the fluid resulting in bright and dark areas on a screen placed behind the fluid. A blunt shape (high drag) made the most effective heat shield (Refer to Figure 4). From simple engineering principles, the heat load experienced by and entry vehicle was inversely proportional to the drag coefficient, i.e. the greater drag, the less the heat load. Through making the reentry vehicle blunt, air cant get out of the way quickly enough, and acts as an air cushion to push the shock wave and heated shock layer forward (away from the vehicle). Since most of the hot gases are no longer in direct contact with the vehicle, the heat energy would stay in the shocked gas and simply move around the vehicle to later dissipate into the atmosphere.

Figure 4 2.2 MULTIPLE INDEPENDENTLY TARGETABLE REENTRY VEHICLES (MIRV)

Another thing which is inspiring the invention of the reentry vehicle is the multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV). MIRV is a ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of hitting one of a group of targets. By contrast a unitary warhead is a single warhead on a single missile. The mode of the operation of this MIRV is the main rocket pushes a bus into a free-flight suborbital ballistic flight path. After the booth phase, the bus maneuvers using small onboard rocket motors and a computerized inertial guidance system. It takes up a ballistic trajectory that will deliver a reentry vehicle containing a warhead to a target, and the releases a warhead on that trajectory. It then maneuvers to a different trajectory, releasing another warhead, and repeats the process for all warheads.

Figure 5 Figure 5 showing the MIRV launching sequence: 1. 2. The missile launches out of its silo by firing its first stage boost motor (A). A bout 60 seconds after launch, the 1st stage drops off and the second stage motor ( B)

ignites. The missile shroud (E) is ejected. 3. About 120 seconds after launch, the third stage motor (C) ignites and separates from the

2nd stage. 4. About 180 seconds after launch, third stage thrust terminates and the Post-Boost Vehicle (D)

separates from the rocket. 5. 6. The Post-Boost Vehicle maneuvers itself and prepares for reentry vehicle (RV) deployment. While the Post-Boost Vehicle backs away, the RVs, decoys, and chaff are deployed (although

the figure shows this happening during descent, this may occur during ascent instead). 7. 8. The RVs and chaff reenter the atmosphere at high speeds and are armed in flight. The nuclear warheads detonate, either as air bursts or ground bursts.

The precise technical details are closely guarded military secrets, to hinder any development of enemy counter-measures. The bus' on-board propellant limits the distances between targets of individual warheads to perhaps a few hundred kilometers.[2] Some warheads may use small hypersonic airfoils during the descent to gain additional cross-range distance. Additionally, some buses (e.g. the British Chevaline system) can release decoys to confuse interception devices and radars, such as aluminized balloons or electronic noisemakers. The Trident system contains cameras which are able to photograph the stars which allows them to have an accurate location system which is independent of radio communications. Therefore even with radio communications out of action the individual missiles are able to guide themselves. Testing of the Peacekeeper reentry vehicles, all eight (ten capable) fired from only one missile. Each line represents the path of a warhead which, if it were live, would detonate with the explosive power of twenty-five Hiroshima-style weapons Accuracy is crucial, because doubling the accuracy decreases the needed warhead energy by a factor of four for radiation damage and by a factor of eight for blast damage. Navigation system accuracy and the available geophysical information limit the warhead target accuracy. Some writers believe that government-supported geophysical mapping initiatives and ocean satellite altitude systems such as Seasat may have a covert purpose to map mass concentrations and determine local gravity anomalies, in order to improve accuracies of ballistic missiles. Accuracy is expressed as circular error probable (CEP). This is simply the radius of the circle that the warhead has a 50 percent chance of falling into when aimed at the center.

3.0

PRINCIPLES

Some factors of capability in designing these vehicles have to be considered. They are being launched by a variety of launch vehicles, operating in low earth orbit as a free-flying unmanned laboratory, and an independent atmospheric re-entry with an air-snatch recovery or a soft landing at a preselected site (land or water), providing the experimenter with rapid access to the payload.

3.1

SHAPE

However, there are some specific design considerations. First, the important one is shape. The aerodynamic shape configuration (ballistic or lifting) of a re-entry vehicle determines the severity, duration and flight path of re-entry experienced by the vehicle. This, in turn, affects the vehicle systems complexity and the heating loads on the payloads. A lifting re-entry vehicle has many operational advantages over a non-lifting vehicle. The vehicle has the ability to deviate its re-entry trajectory to reach selected landing sites cross range from the orbital track, and to fine tune deorbit propulsion system errors. Spherical and ballistic vehicles can only deorbit to the selected sites which are on the orbital ground track.[1]

But, there is a disadvantage of the lifting shape over the non-lifting shape lies in the complexity and high cost associated with guidance and control of the lifting vehicle. A failure of the guidance or control system could render the vehicle uncontrollable and cause it to diverge a great distance off course.

Discoverer Recovery Vehicle Design

The simple, such inflatable shield and aero brake were designed for the penetrators of Mars 96 mission. Since the mission failed due the launcher malfunction, the NPO Lavochkin and DASA/ESA have designed a mission for Earth orbit. The Inflatable Re-entry and Descent Technology (IRDT) demonstrator have launched on Soyuz-Fregat on 8 February 2000. The inflatable shield was designed as a cone with two stages of inflation. Although the second stage of the shield failed to inflate, the demonstrator survived the re-entry and was recovered. NASA launched an inflatable heat shield experimental spacecraft on 17 August 2009 with the successful first test flight of the Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE).

3.2

SIZE

Second, the size of a re-entry vehicle has depended, for the most part; on the capabilities of available launch vehicles. In general, the government-funded vehicles have been designed for the large (Delta II) class of expendable launch vehicles while commercial design has been targeted to a smaller class. The re-entry vehicle user (government or commercial) has the option of using a fully dedicated launch vehicle, or riding "piggyback" as a secondary payload.

Deceleration for atmospheric re-entry, especially for higher-speed Mars-return missions, benefit from maximizing the drag area of the entry system. The larger the diameter of the aero shell, the bigger the payload can be. An inflatable aero shell provides one alternative for enlarging the drag area with a low-mass design. Furthermore, some of the subsystems have to be applying to a re-entry vehicle such as:

1. Attitude and spin control subsystem that is normally composed of sensors, control electronics and several low thrust assemblies that perform a variety of functions. The functions are to spin the re-entry vehicle to induce artificial gravity and to trim the deorbit manoeuvre to null errors in the performance of the solid rocket burn.

2. Deorbit Propulsion Subsystem provides the required velocity decrement to deorbit the reentry vehicle and place it on a trajectory that is aimed at the landing site. A typical change in velocity requirement to do this may be approximately 290 m/sec for low-altitude satellites in near-circular orbit and for landing sites in the orbital plane.

3. A tracking aid, such as a transponder, is normally required in the re-entry vehicle as an aid in recovery.

4. Re-entry Vehicle Parachute Subsystem (or other retardation system) is designed to retard the re-entry vehicle's vertical velocity and provide a relatively soft touchdown. For systems that have parachutes, two types could be used for this application: a conventional type and a lifting parafoil. The advantages of a conventional parachute are reduced weight and less complexity. The lifting parafoil has three advantages over the conventional type:

a. Be able to reduce the dispersions associated with the deorbit and re-entry trajectories by using its manoeuvrability to glide to a predetermined point,

b. Having the capability of being manually controlled to minimize landing area impact dispersions and, c. By flaring, to reduce the vehicle impact shock at touchdown.

5. Re-entry Thermal Protection Subsystem protects the re-entry vehicle from aerothermodynamic heating during atmospheric entry. Ablative material such as phenolic nylon, elastomeric silicon material (ESM), and white oak have been used in the past to protect against excessive heating. For protection against the considerably lower heating rates that occur on the conical skirt of the vehicle, two types of thermal protection systems have been used: the ablative type or a ceramic-based surface insulation type. Other methods have been investigated, such as reusable heat shields.[2]

3.3

THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEM (TPS)

A thermal protection system or TPS is the barrier that protects a spacecraft during the searing heat of re-entry vehicle. A secondary goal may be to protect the spacecraft from the heat and cold of space while on orbit. Multiple approaches for the thermal protection of spacecraft are in use, among them ablative heat shields, passive cooling and active cooling of spacecraft surfaces.[3] The ablative heat shield functions by lifting the hot shock layer gas away from the heat shield's outer wall (creating a cooler boundary layer). The boundary layer comes from blowing of gaseous reaction products from the heat shield material and provides protection against all forms of heat flux. The

overall process of reducing the heat flux experienced by the heat shield's outer wall by way of a boundary layer is called blockage. Ablation can a provide blockage against radiative heat flux by introducing carbon into the shock layer thus making it optically opaque. Radiative heat flux blockage was the primary thermal protection mechanism of the Galileo Probe TPS material (carbon phenolic). Carbon phenolic was originally developed as a rocket nozzle throat material (used in the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster) and for re-entry vehicle nose tips. Initial experiments typically mounted a mock-up of the ablative material to be analyzed within a hypersonic wind tunnel. The thermal conductivity of a TPS material is proportional to the material's density. Carbon phenolic is a very effective ablative material, but also has high density which is undesirable. If the heat flux experienced by an entry vehicle is insufficient to cause pyrolysis then the TPS material's conductivity could allow heat flux conduction into the TPS bond line material thus leading to TPS failure. Consequently for entry trajectories causing lower heat flux, carbon phenolic is sometimes inappropriate and lower density TPS materials.

[13]

4.0

MECHANISMS

Since the hypersonic inflatable re-entry vehicle is still in the research, NASA has launched the vehicle in many times to get the perfect result in their experiment. A large inflatable heat shield (Figure 6) developed by NASA's Space

Technology Program has successfully survived a trip through Earth's atmosphere while travelling at hypersonic speeds up to 7,600 mph. The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment was Figure 6 launched by sounding rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The purpose of the test was to show that a space capsule can use an inflatable outer shell to slow and protect itself as it enters an atmosphere at hypersonic speed during planetary entry and descent, or as it returns to Earth with cargo from the International Space Station. [4] It was great to see the initial results indicate it was successful test of the hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator. This demonstration flight goes a long way toward showing the value of these technologies to serve as atmospheric entry heat shields for future space. A cone of inflated high-tech rings covered by a thermal blanket of layers of heat resistant materials, launched from a three-stage Black Brant rocket for its suborbital flight. About 6 minutes into the flight, as planned, the 680-pound inflatable aero shell, or heat shield, and its payload separated from the launch vehicle's 22-inch-diameter nose cone about 280 miles over the Atlantic Ocean.

4.1

REENTRY PATH

Figure showing the reentry path of a reentry vehicle from the outer space.

An inflation system pumped nitrogen into the vehicle aero shell until it expanded to a mushroom shape almost 10 feet in diameter. Then the aero shell plummeted at hypersonic speeds through Earth's atmosphere. Engineers in the Wallops control room watched as four onboard cameras confirmed the inflatable shield held its shape despite the force and high heat of reentry. Onboard instruments provided temperature and pressure data. After its flight, the vehicle fell into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina. From launch to splashdown, the flight lasted about 20 minutes. A high-speed U.S. Navy Stiletto boat is in the area with a crew that will attempt to retrieve it. The Stiletto is a maritime demonstration craft operated by the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock, Combatant Craft Division, and is based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Ft Story. The team of NASA engineers and technicians spent the last three years preparing for the vehicle flight. They are pushing the boundaries with this flight and look forward to future test launches of even bigger inflatable aero shells. This test was follow-on to the successful IRVE-2, which showed an inflatable heat shield could survive intact after coming through Earth's atmosphere. IRVE-3 was the same size as IRVE-2, but had a heavier payload and was subjected to a much higher re-entry heat, more like what a heat shield might encounter in space.

4.2

INFLATABLE REENTRY VEHICLE EXPERIMENT (IRVE-3)

Figure 7 Figure 7 shows that the Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3), a large inflatable heat shield, survived a fall through Earths atmosphere at hypersonic speeds up to 7,600 mph, reports NASA. The IRVE-3 was launched from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on July 23, 2012. The IRVE-3 tested the inflatable air beam heat shield that will be used for spacecraft reentry through the atmosphere. It is part of NASAs Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) Project and is designed to land at any destination with an atmosphere. The test showed that the inflatable outer shell was able to slow and protect a space capsule as it enters an atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. The 680 pound inflatable aero shell (heat shield), along with its payload, separated from the launch vehicle 280 miles above the Atlantic Ocean. Nitrogen was pumped into the aero shell as it expanded into a 10 foot wide mushroom shape. Onboard cameras and instruments showed that the shield held its shape through the heat and force of the 20 minute reentry. It then splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina. The goal of the HIAD project is to land cargo and people on planets with an atmosphere and return to Earth. It will also be able to return payloads to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS).

4.3

ADVANTAGES OF INFLATABLE RE-ENTRY VEHICLE

Inflatable aero shells offer several advantages over traditional rigid aero shells for atmospheric entry. Inflatables offer increased payload volume fraction of the launch vehicle shroud and the possibility to deliver more payload mass to the surface for equivalent trajectory constraints. An inflatables diameter is not constrained by the launch vehicle shroud. The resultant larger drag area can provide deceleration equivalent to a rigid system at higher atmospheric altitudes, thus offering access to higher landing sites. When stowed for launch and cruise, inflatable aero shells allow access to the payload after the vehicle is integrated for launch and offer direct access to vehicle structure for structural attachment with the launch vehicle. They also offer an opportunity to eliminate system duplication between the cruise stage and entry vehicle. There are however several potential technical challenges for inflatable aero shells. First and foremost is the fact that they are flexible structures. That flexibility could lead to unpredictable drag performance or an aero structural dynamic instability. In addition, durability of large inflatable structures may limit their application. They are susceptible to puncture, a potentially catastrophic insult, from many possible sources. Finally, aero thermal heating during planetary entry poses a significant challenge to a thin membrane. Structural integrity and structural response of the inflatable will be verified with photogrammetric measurements of the back side of the aero shell in flight. Aerodynamic stability as well as drag performance will be verified with on board inertial measurements and radar tracking from multiple ground radar stations.[5]

5.0

FUTURE PLANS

Re-entry vehicle demonstrated the stability and acceptable flight dynamics of inflatable aerodynamics decelerators, corroborating methods and design principals used in the vehicle flight dynamics and aero thermal analyses. Future flights will be needed to test the technology at higher re-entry heat rates and at larger scales, for eventual use with re-entry and descent of larger payloads. The integrated re-entry vehicle is planned for launch on three stage sounding rocket, with the mission objective of increasing the previous re-entry vehicle peak heat flux by a factor of five to ten. Re-entry vehicle improvements envisioned for integrated re-entry vehicle span the range of onboard systems. The aero shell structure and thermal protection will be improved using designs developed and tested in parallel with the previous vehicle project. The inflation system will include a reseal able control valve, to reduce the inflation gas lost through the pressure relief valves.[6] An attitude control system will be added to remove the previous vehicles reliance on passive aerodynamics, and the associated inertial measurement unit will provide more accurate trajectory and attitude data. Additional thermal sensors will be used, heat flux gauges on the rigid nose of the vehicle and thermocouples secured between the inflation aero shell, far from seams in the fabric. Also, the integrated re-entry vehicle plan to continue thermal protection system development and to manufacture a large scale development unit, working toward a future large scale flight.

6.0

REFERENCES

1. http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/media/survey.pdf 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_entry 3. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/humaninspace/humansinspacethermalprotectionsystem.html 4. http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20050182124_2005183200.pdf 5. http://www.planetaryprobe.eu/IPPW7/proceedings/IPPW7%20Proceedings/Presentations/S ession6B/pr484.pdf 6. Introduction to Flight, 7th Edition, John D. Anderson, Jr., Mc Graw Hill International Edition 2012 7. http://www.space.com/16695-nasa-launches-hypersonic-inflatable-heat-shield.html 8. http://science.howstuffworks.com/spacecraft-reentry.htm 9. http://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/designees_delegations/designee_types/a me/media/Section%20III.4.1.7%20Returning%20from%20Space.pdf 10. http://www.ask.com/wiki/Multiple_independently_targetable_reentry_vehicle 11. http://www.icas-proceedings.net/ICAS2008/PAPERS/146.PDF 12. http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/R/reentry_vehicle.html 13. http://www.space.com/19601-how-intercontinental-ballistic-missiles-work-infographic.html