UNIT I

The Standard Atmosphere

Aerospace vehicles can be divided into two basic categories: atmospheric vehicles such as
airplanes and helicopters, which always fly within the sensible atmosphere; and space
vehicles such as satellites, the Apollo lunar vehicle, and deep-space probes, which operate
outside the sensible atmosphere. However, space vehicles do encounter the earth's atmosphere
during their blastoffs from the earth's surface and again during their reentries and recoveries after completion of
their missions. If the vehicle is a planetary probe, it may encounter the atmospheres of Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and so
forth. Therefore, during the design and performance of any aerospace vehicle, the properties of the atmosphere
must be taken into account. The earth's atmosphere is a dynamically changing system, constantly in a state of fl. ux.
The pressure and temperature of the atmosphere depend on altitude, location on the globe (longitude and latitude),
time of day, season, and even solar sunspot activity. To take all these variations into account when considering the
design and performance of flight vehicles is impractical. Therefore, a standard atmosphere is defined in order to
relate flight tests, wind tunnel results, and general airplane design and performance to a common reference. The
standard atmosphere gives mean values of pressure, temperature, density, and other properties as functions of
altitude; these values are obtained from experimental balloon and sounding-rocket measurements combined with a
mathematical model of the atmosphere. To a reasonable degree, the standard atmosphere reflects average
atmospheric conditions, but this is not its main importance. Rather, its main function is to provide tables of common
reference conditions that can be used in an organized fashion by aerospace engineers everywhere. The purpose of
this chapter is to give you some feeling for what the standard atmosphere is all about and how it can be used for
aerospace vehicle analyses.
Kepler’s laws of Planetary Motion

Johannes Kepler was a 16th century astronomer who established three laws which govern the
motion of planets around the sun. These are known as Kepler’s laws of planetary motion.

1. The Law of Orbits: All planets move in elliptical orbits, with the sun at one of the
foci.
2. The Law of Areas: A line that connects a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in
equal times.
3. The Law of Periods: The square of the period of any planet is proportional to the
cube of the semimajor axis of its orbit.

Kepler's laws were derived for orbits around the sun, but they apply to satellite orbits as well.
The detailed description is given bellow,

1. Kepler’s first law:

The planets move in elliptical orbits around the sun, with the sun at one of the two foci of the
elliptical orbit. This means that the orbit or path of a planet around the sun is an ellipse i.e. an
oval-shaped and not an exact circle. An elliptical path has two foci and the sun is at one of the
two foci of the elliptical path. This law is important for us as it helps us discover if other stars
have planets.

Figure-1
 2. Kepler’s second law:

Each planet revolves around the sun in such a way that the line joining the planet to the sun
sweeps over equal areas in equal intervals of time. We know that a planet moves around the
sun in an elliptical orbit with sun at one of its focus. Now, since the line joining the planet
and the sun sweeps over equal areas in equal intervals of time, it means that a planet moves
faster when it is closer to the sun and moves slowly when it is farther from the sun.

Figure-2

In the above figure a planet P is moving in an elliptical orbit around the sun. When the planet
is nearer to the sun at position A, it travels faster and sweeps over an area ABC in time t. On
the other hand, when the same planet is farther from the sun at position X, then it moves
slowly but sweeps over an equal area XYC in the same time t. Thus the Kepler's second law
states that a planet does not move with constant speed around the sun. The speed is greater
when the planet is nearer the sun and less when the planet is farther away from the sun. A
planet could move around the sun with constant speed only if its orbit were a true circle and
not an ellipse.

3. Kepler’s third law:

The cube of the mean distance of a planet from the sun is directly proportional to the square
of time it takes to move around the sun. With the help of Kepler’s third law of planetary
motion we can show how long does it takes to reach Mars, how long would it take for a
spacecraft from earth to reach the Sun.
Though Kepler gave the laws of planetary motion but he could not give an explanation about
the motion of planets. It was Newton who showed that the cause of motion of planets is the
gravitational force which the sun exerts on them. In fact, Newton used the Kepler’s third law
of planetary motion to develop the law of universal gravitation
 Newton's Laws of Motion

Newton’s First Law

Newton’s First Law: An object at rest or an object in motion at constant speed will remain at
rest or at constant speed in the absence of a resultant force. (The law of Inertia)
If the object is at rest, it remains at rest (velocity = 0).
If the object is in motion (v= constant), it continues to move in a straight line with the same
velocity.
No force is required to keep a body in straight line motion when effects such as friction are
negligible.
An object is in translational equilibrium if the net force on it is zero:
Newton’s Second Law:
Newton’s Second Law: Whenever a resultant force acts on an object, it produces an
acceleration: an acceleration that is directly proportional to the force and inversely
proportional to the mass.

Newton’s Third Law

• Third Law: For every action force, there must be an equal and opposite reaction force.
Forces occur in pairs.
Newton's Laws of Motion
Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation
Newton formulated the law of gravity by stating that any two bodies attract one another with a
force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of
the distance between them

where Summation F is the vector sum of all the forces acting on the mass m and r- is the
vector acceleration of the mass measured relative to an inertial reference frame
ASTEROIDS AND METEOROIDS

Comet: A body of ice, rock and dust that can be several miles in diameter and
orbits the sun. Debris from comets is the source of many meteoroids.
Meteoroid: A small rocky or metal object, usually between the size of a grain of
sand or a boulder, that orbits the sun. It originates from a comet or asteroid.
Meteor: A meteoroid that enters the earth’s atmosphere and vaporizes. Also
called a “shooting star.”
Meteorite: A meteor that hits Earth without burning up in the atmosphere.
Meteor shower: A collection of meteors visible when Earth passes through a
trail of debris left by a comet.
Asteroid: An object larger than a meteoroid that orbits the sun and is made of
rock or metal. Historically, objects larger than 10 meters across have been called
asteroids.
CLASSIFICATION OF AIRCRAFT AND SPACECRAFT
An aircraft may be defined as a vehicle which is able to fly by being
supported by the air, or in general, the atmosphere of a planet.
In the following figure, a general classification of aircraft is shown

LIGHTER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT
Any aircraft kept aloft by gas, which is lighter than air, contained in the craft is known as an
aerostat.
Examples of aerostats are balloons and airships.
Today, lighter-than-air aircraft are used almost only for recreational purposes.
Aerostats are further classified as follows, airships, free balloons and kite balloons. • Airships
- These are aerostats having power plant for propulsion and means of steering the craft. They
are made buoyant by enclosing a volume of gas which is lighter than air. In the case of
airships, the internal pressure of the gas keeps maintains the shape of the envelope without the
need of any longitudinal members.
• Free balloons - These are balloons which are not anchored to the ground and are free to
move with the wind. Kite balloons - A Kite balloon is a balloon which is shaped and trimmed
so as to derive stability from wind.

HEAVIER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT
Aerodyne is the technical name for any type of heavier than air aircraft. This covers all
aircraft that derive lift in flight principally from aerodynamic forces. Examples are
conventional planes, gliders, helicopters etc. Aerodynes can be with or without engines.
Aerodynes with engines are classified as airplanes, rotary wing aircraft and ornithopters.
Airplane - This is an engine driven aerodyne that achieves lift from the dynamic action of air
against fixed wings. Rotary wing aircraft - These are aerodynes that achieve lift through the
dynamic action of air against rotating wings.
Ornithopter - This is an aircraft that flies due to the lift generated by flapping wings.
Airplanes can be further classified as amphibians, land and sea planes.
Amphibians - These are airplanes which can take off and land on both land and water.
Land planes - These can take off and land only on a land surface.
Sea planes - These are aircraft that take off and land only on sea. Sea planes are classified
further as float seaplanes and flying boats.
Float seaplane - This is a seaplane supported on water by a pair of floats instead of a hull.
Flying boat - This is an aircraft which has a hull as its main body. The hull also supports the
aircraft on water.
Rotary wing aircraft are classified into two types as gyroplanes and helicopter.
Gyroplane - This is a power-driven aerodyne which derives lift mainly from a rotor freely
rotating in the horizontal plane, but thrust is obtained from a conventional engine.
Helicopter - This is an aerodyne which derives both lift and thrust from rotating rotors.
Helicopters can be classified into various types depending on the type of rotor like,
o Single main rotor with tail rotor,
o Side-by-side non intermeshing rotors,
o Torque less single rotor,
o Side-by-side intermeshing rotors,
o Tandem rotors,
o Three rotors,
o Coaxial rotors etc
Aerodynes without engine are classified as gliders, sailplanes and kites.
Glider - This is an aerodyne which flies without any applied power due to aerodynamic lift
generated by its wings and initial thrust given by some launching mechanism
Sailplanes - These are high performance gliders that soar, maintain and direct their flight over
extended periods of time and distance.
Kites - A kite is any non-power-driven structure which is anchored to the earth, and which
derives lift from aerodynamic forces

Mach Number
One important parameter in describing high-speed flight is the Mach number. The Mach
number is simply the speed of the airplane, or speed of the air, measured in units of the speed
of sound. Thus, an airplane traveling at a speed of Mach 2 is going twice the speed of sound.
The speed of sound is fundamental for flight because it is the speed of communication
between the airplane and the air, and between one part of the air and another. As will be seen
in later chapters, as the speed of an airplane approaches Mach 1 there are dramatic changes in
its performance. One change that affects performance is that the air ceases to separate before
the wing arrives and instead collides energetically with the wing.
The speed of sound is not a constant in air. In particular it changes with air temperature and
thus with altitude. As the air temperature decreases with altitude, so does the speed of sound,
though not as quickly. At sea level the value of Mach 1 is about 760 mi/h (1220 km/h). The
speed of sound decreases with altitude to about 35,000 ft (about 11,000 m), where the value is
about 660 mi/h (1060 km/h). The speed of sound then remains essentially constant to an
altitude of 80,000 ft (24,000 m). No airplanes fly above this altitude, with the exception of the
Space Shuttle on its way back from space.
BASIC OF HYPERVELOCITY FLOW

Hypervelocity is very high velocity, approximately over 3,000 meters per

second. This is especially relevant in the field of space exploration and
military use of space, where hypervelocity impacts can result in anything
from minor component degradation to the complete destruction of a
spacecraft or missile. The impactor, as well as the surface it hits, can
undergo temporary liquefaction. The impact process can generate plasma
discharges, which can interfere with spacecraft electronics. Escape velocity is
the minimum speed needed for an object to escape from the gravitational
influence of a massive body. The escape velocity from Earth is about 11.186
km/s at the surface
 UNIT II
FLIGHT VEHICLE COMPONENTS AND
SYSTEM