Subsonic aerodynamic characteristics of a proposed advanced manned launch system orbiter configuration

The Advanced Manned Launch System is a proposed near-term technology, two-stage, fully reusable launch system that consists of an unmanned glide-back booster and a manned orbiter. An orbiter model that featured a large fuselage and an aft delta wing with tip fins was tested in the Langley 7- by 10-Foot High-Speed Tunnel. A crew cabin, large payload fairing, and crew access tunnel were mounted on the upper body. The results of the investigation indicated that the configuration was longitudinally stable to an angle of attack of about 6 deg about a center-of-gravity position of 0.7 body length. The model had an untrimmed lift-drag ratio of 6.6, but could not be trimmed at positive lift. The orbiter model was also directionally unstable. The payload fairing was responsible for about half the instability. The tip-fin controllers, which are designed as active controls to produce artificial directional stability, were effective in producing yawing moment, but sizable adverse rolling moment occurred at angles of attack above 6 deg. Differential deflection of the elevon surfaces was effective in producing rolling moment with only small values of adverse yawing moment