The thermal environment of transatmospheric vehicles

A transatmospheric vehicle using primarily air-breathing propulsion must fly in the denser part of the atmosphere to achieve adequate acceleration to reach orbital speed. The potentially long ascent times, combined with the need for a low-drag configuration, result in a severe aerothermodynamics environment. To achieve low drag, the vehicle must have a relatively sharp nose and wing leading edges. The ascent peak stagnation point and equilibrium wall temperatures for the wing leading edge can reach values of 4000 K and 3000 K, respectively, for high dynamic pressure trajectories, making some form of mass addition cooling mandatory. The corresponding temperatures during entry are about 1500 K lower. The vehicle windward centerline temperatures are more moderate, however, with values peaking around 1500 K. Therefore, radiative cooling should be effective over large areas of the vehicle. The windward, centerline heat loads are relatively insensitive to the dynamic pressure of the ascent trajectory, in contrast to the stagnation point and wing leading edge. The windward surface entry heat loads are much lower, but depend strongly on the flightpath.