Aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic design of Future Launchers Preparatory Program concepts

In the frame of the Future Launchers Preparatory Program, being developed by the European Space Agency, several Reusable Launch Vehicle concepts are under investigation. In this paper the current design activities at phase-A level, carried out by Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali, are described. The goal has been to define the preliminary hypersonic aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic databases of each vehicle for concept competition. To this end, different design approaches have been addressed as engineering methods and computational fluid dynamics. The re-entry scenario with the corresponding loading environment for each launcher concept is reported and analyzed. The final results, applicable for the prosecution of the launcher design activities, are that, at the condition of descent trajectory peak heating, the vehicle features a stagnation point heat flux ranging form about 500 to 40 kW/m2 whereas the aerodynamic lift-to-drag ratio at 40 deg angle of attach is about 1.0.