Abteilung Raumfahrzeuge (RF)
01.12.2008
Aerodynamic Analysis and Design
The aerothermodynamic analysis and design activities of the Spacecraft Department mainly address research for hypersonic vehicles and spacecraft. The Department has been involved in all major German and European Space Technology programs during the last two decades. The major objective of the Department is the virtual design of space vehicles and their ground and flight qualification.
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| SHEFEX-I flight hardware |
With respect to space transportation, since the end of the 1980s the Department is participating in almost all conceptual design studies of re-entry vehicles in several national and European programs, such as HSTS, AREV, SPHYNK, PARES, PHOENIX/HOPPER, PRE-X, CARV, FLPP-IXV, and CSTS. It led the aerothermodynamics activities in the German national program TETRA (the largest German space program since 1994), and the aerodynamic design of the liquid fly-back booster (LFBB) concept of the German program ASTRA. The Department had the leading role in the DLR SHEFEX-I project (Sharp Edge Flight Experiment, the first hypersonic flight experiment of DLR), and now leads the advisory committee of the SHEFEX program.
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| Liftoff of the European launcher Ariane 5 |
The research activities related to rocket propulsion and launchers have been initiated in 2002, and comprise the investigation of nozzle flows and their interaction with the launcher’s base flow, and the simulation of combustion processes. The studies are performed in the framework of the MoU “Propulsion 2010” between DLR and EADS Astrium, the DLR projects IMENS+, IMENS-3C, and the European Flow Separation Control Device Working Group (FSCD).
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| Density contours of a supersonic double cross missile |
The Department’s efforts with respect to hypersonic technologies have been performed under bi-lateral cooperation agreements with ONERA and the University of Queensland, Australia. Further activities took place within Technology Research Projects (TRP) of the European Space Agency (ESA), and the EC projects LAPCAT I and II (Long Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies) and ATLLAS (Aerodynamic and Thermal Load Interactions with Lightweight Advanced Materials for High Speed Flight).
Spacecraft need thruster systems for attitude and orbit control. For a successful design, the plume characterization of chemical thrusters and the plume impingement with corresponding surface contamination are required. The Department has invested continuous effort in this area and operates the unique vacuum plume test facility STG. Further investigations are concerned with micro-thrusters for precision formation flight of satellites.
Research for hypersonic and spacecraft design in conducted within DLR programmatics, in cooperation with German universities like e.g. Aachen, Braunschweig, München and Stuttgart, in national and European projects (ESA and EC), international cooperations with the US Air Force, the University of Queensland in Australia, and JAXA in Japan and through industry contracts.
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| Satellite reaction control engine during firing test in the STG Vacuum chamber |