Author Topic: Details of Shuttle Wing Design  (Read 4323 times)

Offline kfsorensen

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Details of Shuttle Wing Design
« on: 04/14/2010 01:26 pm »
Hello to the shuttle experts on this site--I could use some of your expertise for a moment.  Could someone describe, in some level of detail, the design of the shuttle wing?  I am particularly interested in the length of the chord, the style of the chords, how they intersect (geometrically) at the base of the vehicle, whether the airfoils are different across the wingspan, and so forth.

Any information you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Offline DMeader

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Re: Details of Shuttle Wing Design
« Reply #1 on: 04/14/2010 07:17 pm »
Anything in the Jenkins book?

Offline Jim

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Offline RG-4

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Offline kfsorensen

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Re: Details of Shuttle Wing Design
« Reply #4 on: 04/18/2010 01:05 pm »
Anything in the Jenkins book?

Yes, thank you.  That had the info I was looking for.

Offline DMeader

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Re: Details of Shuttle Wing Design
« Reply #5 on: 04/18/2010 04:36 pm »
You're very welcome!  :)

Offline Bowman

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Re: Details of Shuttle Wing Design
« Reply #6 on: 04/22/2010 12:02 am »
  Many years ago I heard from a JSC Engineer that the wings were "longer and wider" than was needed, as DOD/ Air Force use required that design for operations at lower and higher latitudes.

Offline Jim

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Re: Details of Shuttle Wing Design
« Reply #7 on: 04/22/2010 12:58 am »
  Many years ago I heard from a JSC Engineer that the wings were "longer and wider" than was needed, as DOD/ Air Force use required that design for operations at lower and higher latitudes.

It had nothing to do with latitude.

It was for higher cross range which also would have been a NASA requirement too for launches out of VAFB

Offline gwiz

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Re: Details of Shuttle Wing Design
« Reply #8 on: 04/22/2010 08:57 am »
Back at the Phase B stage, two alternative designs were to be considered, a low-cross-range option with a straight high-aspect-ratio wing that would be folded up for re-entry and deployed for landing, and a slender delta which would give high cross-range for re-entry but poorer landing performance.  It was the McDonnell-Douglas team that came up with the double-delta planform at this stage, giving improved landing performance while keeping the cross-range.

Offline simonbp

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Re: Details of Shuttle Wing Design
« Reply #9 on: 04/29/2010 06:01 am »
It had nothing to do with latitude.

It was for higher cross range which also would have been a NASA requirement too for launches out of VAFB

IIRC it wasn't to do with VAFB specifically, but rather the general requirement that the shuttle be able to land almost anywhere in the contiguous US from a reasonable range of orbits. The high cross-range decision was in 1971, back when it was still fully reusable, and thus several different inland launch sites (e.g. White Sands) where still in the mix.

Also, this being the cold war, the USAF wanted a certain degree of unpredictability in the landing site, so as to throw off the Soviets...
« Last Edit: 04/29/2010 06:03 am by simonbp »

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