German Participation in the Aerothermodynamic Design of the Experimental Vehicle X-38

Abstract

The experimental vehicle X-38 is a technology demonstrator for the future Crew Rescue Vehicle of the International Space Station. The program, leads by the US space agency NASA, is the first cooperation for the design of a reusable space vehicle between NASA, the European Space Agency ESA and the German space agency DLR. The paper briefly describes the main objective of the program and its technological goals with emphasis on the German participation. Particularly, the work-methodology adopted by the three agencies to build up the aerodynamic database and to establish the aerothermal environments of the experimental vehicle is presented and discussed. It is shown that the selected functional-scheme successfully work and can be adopted for future transatlantic projects.