Implications of Re-Entry Trajectory Control on Vehicle Design Criteria at Superorbital Speeds

For preliminary studies of space vehicle configurations during entry into planetary atmospheres, it is convenient to obtain rapid estimates of heating data from simple desk calculations. A method for making these estimates is presented in this paper as the first phase of a continuing effort to develop preliminary studies of lifting re-entry configurations independent of rigid numerical trajectory analyses. This method, of course, provides only an approximate solution to the two simultaneous nonlinear differential equations that characterize the trajectory problem. In the final analyses, recourse must be made to the computers for an exact solution.