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The Bumblebee program, was designed to provide a supersonic guided missile. The aerodynamics program included a fundamental research effort in supersonic aerodynamics as well as a design task in developing both test vehicles and prototypes of tactical missiles. An index of aerodynamic missile data developed in this program is presented.
A comparative study was conducted to investigate the performance and cost benefits of future engine concepts for subsonic strategic cruise missile propulsion. Technology advancements were projected for component efficiencies, materials and bearing lubrication. Engine configurations studied were an advanced simple cycle (conventional) turbofan and a recuperated turbofan. Results showed the two engines require virtually the same size missile to fly the designated mission. However, there was lower life cycle cost for the advanced simple cycle turbofan engine.
In accordance with the act of Congress, approved March 3,1915 (U.S. C. title 50, sec. 151), which established the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics the Committee submits its thirty-seventh annual report for the fiscal year 1951. The United States is engaged in expanding military aviation to levels never before reached except in the midst of a major war. In Korea, our military aircraft are engaged in combat with airplanes of an unfriendly nation evidently able to build military aircraft of increasing capabilities. In this environment, the NACA is responsible for conducting an adequate program of scientific research to open the way for the design of aircraft and missile of superior performance. Since World War II the pace of technical development has increased. Until then, improvement in aircraft performance as a result of the application of scientific research proceeded at what. now seems to be a relatively slow and orderly rate. Modest increases in speed, climb, range, or altitude were set as reasonable goals. Compressibility effects at high speeds were just beginning to be encountered and indicated a formidable barrier near the velocity of sound. This barrier has been found by research and experiment to be lees formidable than supposed, and we now see the possibility of radical gains in airplane performance that are of great military significance. Such gains are ak attainable by a potential enemy. The increased complexity of modern high performance
Design, operation and construction of event recorder for monitoring heat ablation data
Lockheed Missiles and Space Company's conceptual designs and programmatics for a Space Station Nonhuman Life Sciences Research Facility (LSRF) are presented. Conceptual designs and programmatics encompass an Initial Orbital Capability (IOC) LSRF, a growth or follow-on Orbital Capability (FOC), and the transitional process required to modify the IOC LSFR to the FOC LSFR. The IOC and FOC LSFRs correspond to missions SAAX0307 and SAAX0302 of the Space Station Mission Requirements Database, respectively.
Due to the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) treaty between the United States and Ex-Soviet Union, 450 Minuteman 2 (MM 2) missiles were recently taken out of service. Minotaur Designs Incorporated (MDI) intends to convert the MM 2 ballistic missile from a nuclear warhead carrier into a small satellite launcher. MDI will perform this conversion by acquiring the Minuteman stages, purchasing currently available control wafers, and designing a new shroud and interfaces for the satellite. MDI is also responsible for properly integrating all systems.
Guide manual for aiding designers in selection of duct, tubing, and gasketing materials for space vehicles and missiles
A low-cost beamformer phased array antenna has been developed for expendable launch vehicles, rockets, and missiles. It utilizes a conformal array antenna of ring or individual radiators (design varies depending on application) that is designed to be fed by the recently developed hybrid electrical/mechanical (vendor-supplied) phased array beamformer. The combination of these new array antennas and the hybrid beamformer results in a conformal phased array antenna that has significantly higher gain than traditional omni antennas, and costs an order of magnitude or more less than traditional phased array designs. Existing omnidirectional antennas for sounding rockets, missiles, and expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) do not have sufficient gain to support the required communication data rates via the space network. Missiles and smaller ELVs are often stabilized in flight by a fast (i.e. 4 Hz) roll rate. This fast roll rate, combined with vehicle attitude changes, greatly increases the complexity of the high-gain antenna beam-tracking problem. Phased arrays for larger ELVs with roll control are prohibitively expensive. Prior techniques involved a traditional fully electronic phased array solution, combined with highly complex and very fast inertial measurement unit phased array beamformers. The functional operation of this phased array is substantially different from traditional phased arrays in that it uses a hybrid electrical/mechanical beamformer that creates the relative time delays for steering the antenna beam via a small physical movement of variable delay lines. This movement is controlled via an innovative antenna control unit that accesses an internal measurement unit for vehicle attitude information, computes a beam-pointing angle to the target, then points the beam via a stepper motor controller. The stepper motor on the beamformer controls the beamformer variable delay lines that apply the appropriate time delays to the individual array elements to properly steer the beam. The array of phased ring radiators is unique in that it provides improved gain for a small rocket or missile that uses spin stabilization for stability. The antenna pattern created is symmetric about the roll axis (like an omnidirectional wraparound), and is thus capable of providing continuous coverage that is compatible with very fast spinning rockets. For larger ELVs with roll control, a linear array of elements can be used for the 1D scanned beamformer and phased array, or a 2D scanned beamformer can be used with an NxN element array.
A mathematical model to predict the trajectory of tornado born objects postulated to be in the vicinity of nuclear power plants is developed. An improved tornado wind field model satisfied the no slip ground boundary condition of fluid mechanics and includes the functional dependence of eddy viscosity with altitude. Subscale wind tunnel data are obtained for all of the missiles currently specified for nuclear plant design. Confirmatory full-scale data are obtained for a 12 inch pipe and automobile. The original six degree of freedom trajectory model is modified to include the improved wind field and increased capability as to body shapes and inertial characteristics that can be handled. The improved trajectory model is used to calculate maximum credible speeds, which for all of the heavy missiles are considerably less than those currently specified for design. Equivalent coefficients for use in three degree of freedom models are developed and the sensitivity of range and speed to various trajectory parameters for the 12 inch diameter pipe are examined.
ASALM (Advanced Strategic Air-Launched Missile) is a supersonic air vehicle designed to be air-launched from a carrier aircraft. The four aft aerodynamic control vanes are folded to maximize the number of missiles carried on-board. The unfolding (erection) system must be small, energetic, fast, and strong. The materials selected and problems that arose during development of the unfolding system are described.
Trends toward the automation of the design process for airplanes and missiles accentuate the need for analytic techniques for the prediction of aerodynamic characteristics. A number of computer codes have been developed or are under development which show promise of significantly improving the estimation of aerodynamic characteristics for arbitrarily-shaped bodies at supersonic speeds. The programs considered range in complexity from a simple linearized solution employing slender body theory to an exact finite difference solution of the Euler equations. The results from five computer codes are compared with experimental data to determine the accuracy, range of applicability, ease of use, and computer time and cost of the programs. The results provide a useful guide for selecting the appropriate method for treating bodies at the various levels of an automated design process.
California Polytechnic State University's design project for the 1990-91 school year was the design of a close air support aircraft. There were eight design groups that participated and were given requests for proposals. These proposals contained mission specifications, particular performance and payload requirements, as well as the main design drivers. The mission specifications called for a single pilot weighing 225 lb with equipment. The design mission profile consisted of the following: (1) warm-up, taxi, take off, and accelerate to cruise speed; (2) dash at sea level at 500 knots to a point 250 nmi from take off; (3) combat phase, requiring two combat passes at 450 knots that each consist of a 360 deg turn and an energy increase of 4000 ft. - at each pass, half of air-to-surface ordnance is released; (4) dash at sea level at 500 knots 250 nmi back to base; and (5) land with 20 min of reserve fuel. The request for proposal also specified the following performance requirements with 50 percent internal fuel and standard stores: (1) the aircraft must be able to accelerate from Mach 0.3 to 0.5 at sea level in less than 20 sec; (2) required turn rates are 4.5 sustained g at 450 knots at sea level; (3) the aircraft must have a reattack time of 25 sec or less (reattack time was defined as the time between the first and second weapon drops); (4) the aircraft is allowed a maximum take off and landing ground roll of 2000 ft. The payload requirements were 20 Mk 82 general-purpose free-fall bombs and racks; 1 GAU-8A 30-mm cannon with 1350 rounds; and 2 AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles and racks. The main design drivers expressed in the request for proposal were that the aircraft should be survivable and maintainable. It must be able to operate in remote areas with little or no maintenance. Simplicity was considered the most important factor in achieving the former goal. In addition, the aircraft must be low cost both in acquisition and operation. The summaries of the aircraft configurations developed by the eight groups are presented.
An extendable boom consisting of a series of telescopic cylindrical tube segments and overlapping lock joints developed for use as an aerodynamic spike mounted atop a missile is described. Two candidate design concepts differing mainly in the particular overlapping lock joint designs are undergoing a combined analytical/experimental evaluation. Some of the results of this evaluation are presented.
An aerodynamic prediction method for missile aerodynamic performance and preliminary design has been developed to utilize a newly available systematic fin data base and an improved equivalent angle of attack methodology. The method predicts total aerodynamic loads and individual fin forces and moments for body-tail (wing-body) and canard-body-tail configurations with cruciform fin arrangements. The data base and the prediction method are valid for angles of attack up to 45 deg, arbitrary roll angles, fin deflection angles between -40 deg and 40 deg, Mach numbers between 0.6 and 4.5, and fin aspect ratios between 0.25 and 4.0. The equivalent angle of attack concept is employed to include the effects of vorticity and geometric scaling.
The coherent lidar airborne shear sensor (CLASS) is an airborne CO2 lidar system being designed and developed by Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, Inc. (LMSC) under contract to NASA Langley Research Center. The goal of this program is to develop a system with a 2- to 4-kilometer range that will provide a warning time of 20 to 40 seconds, so that the pilot can avoid the hazards of low-altitude wind shear under all weather conditions. It is a predictive system which will warn the pilot about a hazard that the aircraft will experience at some later time. The ability of the system to provide predictive warnings of clear air turbulence will also be evaluated. A one-year flight evaluation program will measure the line-of-sight wind velocity from a wide variety of wind fields obtained by an airborne radar, an accelerometer-based reactive wind-sensing system, and a ground-based Doppler radar. The success of the airborne lidar system will be determined by its correlation with the windfield as indicated by the onboard reactive system, which indicates the winds actually experienced by the NASA Boeing 737 aircraft.
Analyses were performed on a high-speed composite blade set for the Department of Defense Propfan Missile Interactions Project. The final design iteration, which resulted in the CM2D-2 blade design, is described in this report. Mode shapes, integral order excitation, and stress margins were examined. In addition, geometric corrections were performed to compensate for blade deflection under operating conditions with respect to the aerodynamic design shape.
The MSAT Reflector Assembly is a state of the art subsystem for Mobile Satellite (MSAT), a geosynchronous-based commercial mobile telecommunication satellite program serving North America. The Reflector Assembly consisted of a deployable, three-hinge, folding-segment Boom, deployable 5.7 x 5.3-meter 16-rib Wrap-Rib Reflector, and a Reflector Pointing Mechanism (RPM). The MSAT spacecraft was based on a Hughes HS601 spacecraft bus carrying two Reflector Assemblies independently dedicated for L-band transmit and receive operations. Lockheed Missiles and Space Company (LMSC) designed and built the Reflector Assembly for MSAT under contract to SPAR Aerospace Ltd. Two MSAT satellites were built jointly by SPAR Aerospace Ltd. and Hughes Space and Communications Co. for this program, the first scheduled for launch in 1994. When scaled for wavelength, the assembly and alignment requirements for the Reflector Assembly were in many instances equivalent to or exceeded that of a diffraction-limited visible light optical system. Combined with logistical constraints inherent to large, compliant, lightweight structures; 'bolt-on' alignment; and remote, indirect spacecraft access; the technical challenges were formidable. This document describes the alignment methods, the special test equipment, and fixturing for Reflector Assembly assembly and alignment.
The Wright Brothers used wind tunnel data to refine their design for the first successful airplane back in 1903. Today, wind tunnels are still in use all over the world gathering data to improve the design of cars, trucks, airplanes, missiles and spacecraft. Ames Research Center is home to many wind tunnels, including the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel complex. Built in the early 1950s, it is one of the premiere transonic and supersonic testing facilities in the country. Every manned spacecraft has been tested in the wind tunnels at Ames. This is a testing history from past to present.