Omar Amer

By Omar A. Fadhil

There are two entry methods that control the design of vehicles to return to the atmosphere from outer space: ballistic entry and lifting entry. In this chapter, we will study the process of entering the space shuttle into the Earth’s atmosphere. In the case of ballistic entry without lift at sufficiently large angle of inclination, both the gravity force and centrifugal force are neglected. The term ballistic entry is applied to the relatively steep atmosphere entry of non-lifting bodies, which involves linear paths through the atmosphere during the major deceleration, with assumptions: (1) A constant path angle. (2) A constant drag coefficient. (3) Gravitational force small compared to drag force. Program was designed by the author to calculate variation of velocity with altitude for various values of drag-weight parameter, variation of deceleration with altitude for various values of drag-weight parameter, variation of velocity with altitude for various values of initial angle of inclination, variation of deceleration with altitude for various values of initial angle of inclination, variation of velocity with altitude for various values of initial velocity and variation of deceleration with altitude for various values of initial velocity.

Part of the book: Ionosphere