SINGLE-STAGE AXISYMMETRIC NON-EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE AND METHOD OF CREATION OF LIFTING FORCE IN THE COURSE OF ITS MOTION Russian patent published in 2004 - IPC

FIELD: rocketry and space engineering; manufacture of launch vehicles including conversion vehicles for placing spacecraft in near-earth orbits. SUBSTANCE: proposed launch vehicle has case with spherically blunted top made in form of three-section taper body. Taper angles of said section decrease from top to bottom. Center of mass of launch vehicle lies in its longitudinal axis at distance from top equal to 0.58-0.67 of length of case. This length is equal to 3.2-3.3 diameters of bottom. In the course of motion of launch vehicle, lifting force is created by turning it in pitching plane followed by stabilization. Before beginning controllable motion, launch vehicle is centered to obtain alternating (from unstable to stable) margin of static stability at hyper-sonic speed and angle of attack increasing from 0 to 180 deg. During controllable motion in atmosphere, launch vehicle is brought into statically unstable position and pitching control is switched-off. Launch vehicle is shifted to mode of self-balancing motion. As soon as, preset parameters of flight have been attained in this mode, controls are switch-on again. EFFECT: enhanced reliability; extended functional and operational capabilities. 4 cl, 4 dwg, 1 tbl