Nicole Viola

Assessment of hypersonic flights operation scenarios: Analysis of launch and reentry trajectories, and derived top level vehicle system and support infrastructure concepts and requirements

This paper deals with a methodology approach that supports the identification and verification of system level requirements for hypersonic vehicles. The methodology is typical of the system engineering but it features, as a new characteristic, a particular integration with an ad-hoc developed simulation tool in order to obtain, and to examine in depth, useful performance data on a chosen vehicle. The working principles of the simulation tool are discussed in order to show how it can deal with different vehicles and mission typologies using customized versions of known mathematical models, highlighting the flexibility of this approach. The paper also exhibits some of the obtainable outputs that can be exploited in the verification processes of the requirements occurring in the preliminary design phases of the vehicle and the support infrastructures.