Design and Numerical Investigation of a Hypersonic Waverider based Entry, Descent, and Landing Architecture Assisted by Supersonic Retro-Propulsion

Developing new technology for descent and soft landing of the future crewed and robotic entry, descent, and landing (EDL) mission of high ballistic coefficient is an urgent necessity. In this paper, a new lifting body architecture is defined, namely a hypersonic waverider capable of deceleration using supersonic retropropulsion (SRP) with multiple nozzles. Aerodynamic performance and flowfields are numerically investigated using RANS-based computational simulation. Based on the preliminary aerodynamic characteristics obtained from the numerical analysis, an optimized entry trajectory for the maximum cross-range is obtained by employing the Hermite-Simpson direct collocation method. The SRP performance is evaluated based on the drag augmentation and pitching moment variations at different throttling conditions. Overall, the results obtained demonstrate advantages and improvements offered by the proposed system over conventional multi-peripheral conical aeroshell design.