Flying the Shuttle - Entry

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Note  This article refers to the SpaceShuttle in the FGAddon repository.

This mission phase can directly be started using --aircraft=SpaceShuttle-entry on the command line.

What are we trying to do?

The entry phase of a Shuttle mission lasts from the so-called entry interface at about 400.000 ft to the terminal area energy management (TAEM) interface at 85.000 ft. During that time, the Shuttle decelerates from orbital speed (Mach 26) to supersonic speed (Mach 2.5) and changes from a ballistic flight trajectory to an aerodynamical glide. The deceleration is provided by atmospheric friction which converts the tremendous energy of the propellant burned during launch and used to reach orbit into heat. The goals during entry are hence (in decreasing order of importance):

  • manage the heat load such as to prevent destruction of the orbiter
  • manage the deceleration rate such as to prevent destruction of the orbiter and TAEM interface is reached close to the landing site
  • manage the ground track such that it points towards the landing site

Some theory

The total energy in the friction heat is sufficient to destroy the orbiter (as the Columbia disaster has demonstrated). It is therefore mandatory that most of the energy never reaches the orbiter. This is accomplished by a blunt-body entry - for a streamlined hypersonic body, the shockwave of compressed air is attached to the surface, but for a blunt body it detatches, containing most of the energy, and only a small fraction of a few percent are radiated to the actual spacecraft structure. This remaining heat flow still leads to temperatures close to 3000 F at the nose and leading wing edges, but can be managed by the thermal protection system.

It is hence mandatory that the airstream during an entry never reaches the weakly protected upper fuselage and that the shockwave remains always detatched from the orbiter.

This is accomplished by maintaining a high AoA, i.e. during the hot entry phase, the Shuttle is flown in what is technically close to a stall condition - pitched up at 40 degrees.

Pitch up attitude of the Space Shuttle on entry


As the lift/drag curves of the Shuttle show, at hypersonic speeds, even in that regime, the glide ratio is still about 0.8, so the shuttle will produce lift even at such high AoA.

Lift/Drag of the Space Shuttle


The density of the ambient atmosphere largely sets the deceleration force and thermal load, and the altitude determines the atmosphere density, hence to manage the deceleration force and thermal load, the vertical speed needs to be controlled. As soon as the transition to aerodynamical flight is made, aerodynamical lift provides the means to do so.

As lift builds up, the descent of the Shuttle will slow down, come to a halt and, if no further action is taken, will turn into a rise, i.e. the orbiter is able to 'bounce' off the atmosphere. This is different from the entry trajectory of a non-lifting body (such as the Vostok-1 spacecraft modeled in FG) which undergoes a so-called ballistic entry, i.e. it will penetrate the atmosphere till drag eventually stops it. Ballistic entries consequently are much harder both in peak g and thermal loads. The sinkrate when reaching the upper atmosphere essentially determines how deeply the Shuttle will penetrate at near-orbital velocity and how hard the deceleration will be. On a normal de-orbit, sinkrates are well within acceptable limits, but entry trajectories for scenarios like a three engine failure during launch may not be survivable.

Once the initial vertical descent comes to a halt, the vertical velocity can be actively controlled to manage heat and deceleration force - if the shuttle is steered upward, heat load and deceleration decrease, if downward heat load and deceleration increase. In a normal airplane, one would use the elevator to control AoA and simply steer down. In the Shuttle, this is not an option, because, as explained above, the AoA is fixed by the need to have thermal protection. The solution is to roll the orbiter to a high bank angle (up to 70 degrees) to reduce lift.

High bank roll of the Space Shuttle on entry

The combination of 40 degree upward pitch and 70 degree roll is something not usually experienced by pilots. In such a confguration, the lift now acts sideways, i.e. the orbiter changes course. This may be desirable to steer the trajectory towards a landing site, or it may not. In the second case, the roll needs to be reversed periodically ('roll reversal') to steer the ground track into an S-shape around the desired trajectory.

Using a combination of high bank angle, low bank angle and roll reversals, direction and deceleration rate are managed to steer the orbiter to the landing site.

High bank roll of the Space Shuttle on entry

Note that the heat load is proportional to the dynamical pressure qbar times the velocity relative to the air, whereas the structural load is proportional to qbar. Thermal management is thus most important at the initial high-velocity phase in which the deceleration force is modest, and only when thermal management is over, trajectory deceleration control becomes important. For the same reason, the pitch angle can be gradually reduced with Mach number, ending in a just 14 degree pitch at Mach 2.5 where the TAEM interface is reached.

Since aerodynamical forces push the shuttle into a low AoA configuration, a high pitch angle, once lost, is not easily recoverable. It is best established outside the atmosphere where qbar is low and kept during entry, only to be relaxed in the final phase.


How it feels in FG

Since the Shuttle is pitched up most of the time, you don't see much except the HUD during the entry phase. Currently there's very little support for displaying ground track or estimating the needed deceleration as function of range to target, so try aiming a track only if you're ambitious, otherwise try to survive.

Important HUD readings to monitor are pitch and roll angle, nose temperature, vertical speed, Mach number and acceleration.

Pitch up and wait for the atmosphere to grab the shuttle. This will be felt initially by a very slow drift of the attitude, trying to reduce pitch. Apply thrusters to keep the nose up. The thrust level needed to hold the 40 degrees will increase with increasing qbar, and eventually the controls will revert to aerodynamical surfaces for roll (qbar = 10 psf) and pitch (qbar = 20 psf). The steering characteristics changes quite drastically - initially it is probably easier to make minute thruster adjustments with the keyboard, in the later phase a stick or mouse is a much better option.

Once the Shuttle is under aerodynamical control, watch descent rate slow and reverse. Once the rate comes back up to about -50 m/s, you can initiate the first careful high-bank roll. Do it gently in order not to lose the AoA! Watch the response of nose cone temperature and acceleration and the slow drift in course. The descent rate will fall again, don't let it fall too fast, or you'll get too hot. Allow for some lag, get a feeling for how the trajectory responds to what you're doing. This is actually piloting, and you can influence a lot of what is happening here.

Monitor Mach number and altitude decrease, feel free to reduce pitch angle later in the flight. Around Mach 3.5, you should finally get the rudder back with RCS jets switched completely off, at which point the Shuttle definitely feels like an aircraft. It can now actually change course and turn, although still sluggishly. Steer the course towards the landing site if you're close. Aim for TAEM interface of 85.000 ft, Mach 2.5, around 60 miles before the runway. Don't try to brake too fast, as the manual has it:

It is better to arrive at TAEM interface with too much energy than without wings.

(NASA has a sense of humor...)


Further reading

NASA human space flight page on Shuttle entry

Wikipedia article on atmospheric entry