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#1
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what TPS on Dream Chaser?
Not really a policy question, but I hope you'll forgive the occasional
not-quite-on-topic thread... Does anyone know what sort of TPS (thermal protection system) SpaceDev is planning to use on its Dream Chaser orbiter? It all sounds like a reasonable design to me so far, but reentry is probably the hardest part for a reusable lifting body, and I'm curious what their approach to that might be. Thanks, - Joe |
#2
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what TPS on Dream Chaser?
The NASA HL-20 was reverse engineered from the Soviet BOR-4 of which
four were launched to obit, successfully autonomously re-entered all four times, and three were recovered at sea (one sank before they got to it). I believe I read a year or so ago that SpaceDev had a Space Act Agreement with NASA Ames, and that after trajectory and re-entry analyses, Ames recommended a specific thermal protection system, more modern than the Shuttle's but I do not recall seeing any details. Hope that helps. Joe Strout wrote: Not really a policy question, but I hope you'll forgive the occasional not-quite-on-topic thread... Does anyone know what sort of TPS (thermal protection system) SpaceDev is planning to use on its Dream Chaser orbiter? It all sounds like a reasonable design to me so far, but reentry is probably the hardest part for a reusable lifting body, and I'm curious what their approach to that might be. Thanks, - Joe |
#3
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what TPS on Dream Chaser?
Wasn't the HL-20 design based on the HL-10 vehicle, which preceded the
BOR-4 by some 10 years? wrote: The NASA HL-20 was reverse engineered from the Soviet BOR-4 of which four were launched to obit, successfully autonomously re-entered all four times, and three were recovered at sea (one sank before they got to it). |
#4
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what TPS on Dream Chaser?
wrote in message ups.com... Wasn't the HL-20 design based on the HL-10 vehicle, which preceded the BOR-4 by some 10 years? wrote: The NASA HL-20 was reverse engineered from the Soviet BOR-4 of which four were launched to obit, successfully autonomously re-entered all four times, and three were recovered at sea (one sank before they got to it). This is what NASA said, publicly, at the time. However, it's pretty clear from the moldlines that the HL-20 is closer to the BOR-4 than the HL-10. BOR-4 (actually a 1/2 scale test copy of Spiral) http://www.buran.ru/htm/molniya4.htm Spiral http://www.buran.ru/htm/molniya3.htm HL-10 (click on the three view drawing) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_HL-10 HL-20 (click on the picture) http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2000-001923.html Here's an old page with a 3-view drawing of HL-20 http://www.friends-partners.org/part...s/graume58.htm Finally, here is the Astronautix.com HL-20 page which adds talks about the HL-20's BOR-4 heritage. http://www.astronautix.com/craft/hl20.htm I think this was a case where BOR-4 flew, and NASA later analyzed the design and refined it a bit and called it the HL-20. After the big stink the press made about the Russians copying the US shuttle, I don't think NASA would be quick to admit they did nearly the same thing with HL-20. Jeff -- "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" - B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919) |
#5
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what TPS on Dream Chaser?
Jeff Findley wrote: [...] HL-20 (click on the picture) http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2000-001923.html Here's an old page with a 3-view drawing of HL-20 http://www.friends-partners.org/part...s/graume58.htm Bigger is better: http://www1.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Graphics/HL-20/Large/EG-0054-01.gif /dps |
#6
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what TPS on Dream Chaser?
In article ,
"Jeff Findley" wrote: Finally, here is the Astronautix.com HL-20 page which adds talks about the HL-20's BOR-4 heritage. http://www.astronautix.com/craft/hl20.htm Thanks. This does shed a bit of light on the TPS question: "The Soviet design had a 2,040 km cross-range capability and an outstandingly benign thermal profile at peak heating conditions." Of course, even "outstandingly benign" means "real damn hot." It looks like the HL-20 uses tiles similar to the shuttle... in fact "The thermal protection system would be similar to the Space Shuttle's, but the much smaller size of the HL-20 would result in major reductions in inspection and maintenance times." Overall, looks like a very neat design. I'm glad SpaceDev is trying to pick it up again and make something of it. |
#7
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what TPS on Dream Chaser?
"snidely" wrote in message oups.com... Jeff Findley wrote: [...] HL-20 (click on the picture) http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2000-001923.html Here's an old page with a 3-view drawing of HL-20 http://www.friends-partners.org/part...s/graume58.htm Bigger is better: http://www1.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Graphics/HL-20/Large/EG-0054-01.gif No doubt. :-) From this it's easy to see the similarities between this and BOR-4. Jeff -- "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" - B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919) |
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