Aerothermal analysis of the RETALT2 vehicle

In the framework of the Horizon 2020 project RETALT (Retro Propulsion Assisted Landing Technologies), whose main objective was the investigation of technologies for reusable launch systems, a Single Stage To Orbit (SSTO) Vertical Take-off Vertical Landing (VTVL) launcher configuration, called RETALT2, was studied. This paper aims at describing the generation of Aero-Thermal Databases (ATDBs) for surface heat fluxes as fast-response surrogate models for the aero-thermodynamic heating of the vehicle surface over the entire trajectory, i.e. ascent and re-entry. Representative flow field solutions are discussed in terms of flow field topology and resulting heat patterns on the vehicle surface. Furthermore, the time evolution over the entire flight path of area-averaged heat fluxes on the vehicle nose and base plate are shown and analysed