SHEFEX – Hypersonic Re-entry Flight Experiment Vehicle and Subsystem Design, Flight Performance and Prospects

The purpose of the Sharp Edge Flight Experiment (SHEFEX) was to investigate the aerodynamic behavior and thermal problems of an unconventional shape for re-entry vehicles comprising multi-facetted surfaces with sharp edges. The main object of this experiment was the correlation of numerical analysis with real flight data with respect to the aerodynamic effects and structural concept for the thermal protection system (TPS). The Mobile Rocket Base of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) was responsible for the test flight of SHEFEX on a two-stage unguided solid propellant sounding rocket, which was required to provide a velocity of the order of Mach 7. The SHEFEX vehicle was launched on the 27th of October 2005 from the Andoya Rocket Range, Norway. This paper presents the main design features of the vehicle and subsystems, the flight performance and the current plans for our next hypersonic project.