The SHEFEX Flight Experiment - Pathfinder Experiment for a Sky Based Test Facility

Abstract

On Thursday, October 27th, 2005 the SHarp Edge Flight EXperiment SHEFEX was successfully launched at the Andøya Rocket Range in northern Norway. The project, being performed under responsibility of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) flew on top of a two-stage solid propellant sounding rocket. One purpose of the experiment was the investigation of possible new shapes for future launcher or re-entry vehicles applying a shape with facetted surfaces and sharp edges and to enable the time accurate investigation of the flow effects and their structural answer during the hypersonic flight from 90 km down to an altitude of 20 km. Additionally, the SHEFEX project was a starting point for a series of experiments which enable the acquisition of important knowledge in hypersonic free flight experimentation and which are an excellent test bed for new technological concepts. The present paper gives an overview about the philosophy and the layout of experiment and introduces some main outcomes of the flight campaign.