The lifting body is an aircraft configuration where the body itself produces lift. In the context of a Fluid flow relative to a body the lift force is the component of the Aerodynamic force that is Perpendicular to the flow It is related to flying wing which is a wing without a conventional fuselage. A flying wing is a Fixed-wing aircraft which has no definite Fuselage, with most of the crew payload and equipment being housed inside the main wing structure A lifting body is a fuselage that generates lift without the shape of a typical thin and flat wing structure. A flying wing seeks to maximize cruise efficiency at subsonic speeds by eliminating non-lifting surfaces. By contrast, lifting bodies generally minimize the drag and structure of a wing for very high supersonic, hypersonic flight or spacecraft re-entry. Both designs pose challenges for controlled, stable flight.

The Martin Aircraft Company X-24 built as part of a 1963 to 1975 experimental US military program

X-24A, M2-F3 and HL-10 Lifting bodies (NASA)

In 1921 pioneering aviator and aircraft designer Vincent Justus Burnelli patented the simple concept of an airfoil shaped airframe to increase the lift and load capacity of aircraft. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Year 1921 ( MCMXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1921 calendar of the Gregorian calendar Vincent Justus Burnelli ( November 22 1895 &ndash June 22, 1964) was an American aeronautics engineer instrumental in furthering the [1] Despite a number of business and political setbacks, Burnelli continued to refine and license his designs making a number of refinements to the concept up until his death in 1964. [2] [3]

Development

Aerospace-related lifting body research arose from the idea of spacecraft re-entering the Earth's atmosphere and landing much like a regular aircraft. A spacecraft is a Vehicle or machine designed for Spaceflight. Following atmospheric re-entry, the traditional capsule-like spacecraft from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo series had very little control over where they landed. A steerable spacecraft with wings could significantly extend its landing envelope. However, the vehicle's wings would have to be designed to withstand the dynamic and thermal stresses of both re-entry and hypersonic flight. In Aerodynamics, hypersonic speeds are speeds that are highly Supersonic. A proposed solution eliminated wings altogether: Design the fuselage body itself to produce lift. The Space Shuttle implements some of the proven lifting body principles, although it's design relies more on the delta wing concept. NASA 's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System ( STS) is the Spacecraft currently used by the United States The delta wing is a Wing Planform in the form of a triangle named after the Greek uppercase delta which is a triangle (Δ

NASA's refinements of the lifting body concept began in 1962 with Dale Reed of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program The Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC located inside Edwards Air Force Base, is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. The first full-size model to come out of Reed's program was the NASA M2-F1, an unpowered craft made of wood. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Initial tests were performed by towing the M2-F1 along a California dry lakebed at present-day Edwards Air Force Base, behind a modified Pontiac Catalina [4]. Hot rods are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed The Pontiac Catalina was part of Pontiac 's Full-sized Automobile line Later the craft was towed behind a C-47 and released. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Since the M2-F1 was a glider, a small rocket motor was added in order to extend the landing envelope. Terminology A "glider" is an unpowered Aircraft. The most common types of glider are today used for sporting purposes A rocket engine is a Jet engine that uses only Propellant mass for forming its high speed propulsive jet. The M2-F1 was soon nicknamed the "Flying Bathtub".

In 1963, NASA began experimenting with heavier rocket powered craft carried aloft by and dropped from under the port wing of a B-52 aircraft. Of the Dryden lifting bodies, all but the unpowered NASA M2-F1 used an XLR-11 rocket engine as was used on the famous Bell X-1. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Development of XLR11 Rocket engine began in 1944 at Reaction Motors, Inc WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout ) A follow-on design designated the Northrop HL-10 was developed at NASA Langley Research Center. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Langley Research Center (LaRC is the oldest of NASA 's field centers located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. The X-24A and X-24B lifting body designs were based on the M2 concept originated in 1957 by Alfred Eggers of NASA Ames Aeronautical Laboratory. Alfred J Eggers Jr (June 24 1922 - September 22 2006 was NASA 's Assistant Administrator for Policy and devoted efforts to determine the influence of aviation technology NASA Ames Research Center (ARC is a NASA facility located at Moffett Federal Airfield, which covers 43 acres at the borders of the cities of Mountain View The M-2 competed in the design of the Space Shuttle.

A major instability problem with these designs was discovered during the course of flight testing and was determined to be induced by air flow separation whereby the air stream would become very turbulent, causing loss of control and lift. All solid objects travelling through a Fluid (or alternatively a stationary object exposed to a moving fluid acquire a Boundary layer of fluid around them where viscous The HL-10 attempted to solve part of this problem by angling the port and starboard vertical stabilizers outward and enlarging the center one. Port is the nautical term (used on Boats and Ships) that refers to the left side of a ship as perceived by a person on board the ship and Starboard is the nautical term that refers to the right side of a vessel as perceived by a person on board a vessel and facing the bow (front The vertical stabilizers, or fins, of Aircraft, Missiles or Bombs are typically found on the aft end of the Fuselage or body Air flow separation caused the crash of the Northrop M2-F2 lifting body. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The successor Northrop M2-F3 added a third (central) vertical stabilizer to the aerodynamically flawed M2-F2 design in an attempt to correct the flow separation instabilities. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout

The X-38 program, developed under leadership of NASA Johnson Space Center, built an incremental series of flight demonstrators pursuant to the proposed Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) for the International Space Station. The X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV was a prototype for a wingless Lifting body reentry vehicle that was to be used as a Crew Return Vehicle for the International The X-38 was a lifting body based on the outer mold line of the X-24. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout

Aerospace applications

Lifting bodies pose complex control, structural, and internal configuration issues. Lifting bodies were eventually rejected in favor of a delta wing design for the Space Shuttle. Data acquired in flight test using high-speed landing approaches at very steep descent angles and high sink rates was used for modeling Shuttle flight and landing profiles.

In planning for atmospheric re-entry, the landing site is selected in advance. For reusable reentry vehicles, typically a primary site is preferred that is closest to the launch site in order to reduce costs and improve launch turnaround time. However, weather near the landing site is a major factor in flight safety. In some seasons, weather at landing sites can change quickly relative to the time necessary to initiate and execute re-entry and safe landing. Due to weather, it is possible the vehicle may have to execute a landing at an alternate site. Furthermore, most airports do not have runways of sufficient length to support the approach landing speed and roll distance required by spacecraft. Few airports exist in the world that can support or be modified to support this type of requirement. Therefore, alternate landing sites are very widely spaced across the U. S. and around the world.

The Shuttle's delta wing design was driven by these issues. These requirements were further exacerbated by military requirements (the USAF would use the future shuttle for defense satellite payloads and other missions) that extended the Shuttle's flight landing envelope.

Although a lifting body configuration may have been less vulnerable to the wing leading edge failure that caused the second shuttle loss. , such a configuration could not meet the flight envelope requirements of both NASA and the military.

Nonetheless, the lifting body concept has been implemented in a number of other aerospace programs such as the Lockheed Martin X-33, BAC's Multi Unit Space Transport And Recovery Device, Europe's EADS Phoenix and the joint Russian-European Kliper spacecraft. This article is about the field of research and industry for the corporation see The Aerospace Corporation Aerospace comprises the The X-33 was an unmanned sub-scale technology demonstrator for the VentureStar under the Space Launch Initiative. The British Aircraft Corporation ( BAC) was a British Aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation For other uses see Mustard. The Multi-Unit Space Transport And Recovery Device or MUSTARD was a concept explored by the British Kliper ( Клипер, English: Clipper) is a Russian-proposed next generation manned Spacecraft that was almost selected as the successor Of the three basic design shapes usually analyzed for such programs (capsule, lifting body, aircraft) the lifting body may offer the best trade-off in terms of maneuverability and thermodynamics while meeting it's customers' mission requirements.

Popular Culture

Much of the general public had never heard of nor seen anything about these lifting body designs until watching the 1970s television show The Six Million Dollar Man. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. A television program (US television programme (UK or television show (U The Six Million Dollar Man is an American Television series about a fictional Cyborg working for the OSI (which was usually said to refer The show's introduction footage showed the M2-F2, piloted by Bruce Peterson, crashing and tumbling violently along the Edwards dry lakebed runway. Bruce Peterson ( May 23, 1933 – May 1, 2006) was a Test pilot for NASA. The cause of the crash was attributed to the onset of Dutch roll stemming from control instability as induced by flow separation. Dutch roll is a type of Aircraft motion consisting of an out-of- phase combination of "tail-wagging" and rocking from side to side Bruce Peterson survived to fly again and the craft was rebuilt as the M2-F3.

Lifting bodies have appeared in some science fiction works, including the book The Mote in God's Eye and the movie Marooned (Special Effects Oscar Winner) with Gregory Peck and David Jannsen. The Mote in God's Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, is a Science fiction Novel that was first published in 1974 The Discovery Channel TV series conjectured using lifting bodies to deliver a probe to a distant earth-like planet in the computer animated Alien Planet. Discovery Channel is an American Satellite and Cable TV channel (also delivered via IPTV, Terrestrial television and Alien Planet is a 94 minute special on Discovery Channel about two internationally built Robot probes investigating for alien life on the fictional planet Gerry Anderson's 1969 Doppelgänger used a VTOL lifting body lander / ascender to visit an earth-like planet, only to crash in both attempts. Doppelgänger is a 1969 British science fiction film directed by Robert Parrish. VTOL is an abbreviation for Vertical Take-Off and Landing. VTOL describes Fixed-wing aircraft that can lift off vertically In the Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space computer game, a modified X-24A becomes an alternative lunar capable spacecraft that the player can choose over the Gemini or Apollo capsule. Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space, frequently abbreviated BARIS, is a space simulation and strategy game for MS-DOS. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Team The Gemini program was managed by the Manned Spacecraft Center Houston Texas under direction of the Office of Manned Space Flight NASA Headquarters Washington

Body lift

Some aircraft with wings also employ bodies that generate lift. The Short SC.7 Skyvan produces 30% of the total lift from the fuselage, almost as much as the 35% each of the wings produces. The Skyvan is a 19-seater twin Turboprop aircraft manufactured by Short Brothers, at the time Short Brothers & Harland Ltd, and used mainly for short-haul Fighters like the F-15 Eagle also produce substantial lift from the wide fuselage between the wings.

Apparently, because the F-15 Eagle's wide fuselage is so efficient at lift, an F-15 was able to land successfully with only one wing.

On the summer of 1983, an Israeli F-15 staged a mock dogfight with Skyhawks for training purposes, near Nahal Tzin in the Negev desert. During the exercise, one of the Skyhawks miscalculated and collided forcefully with the F-15's wing root. The F-15's pilot was aware that the wing had been seriously damaged, but decided to try and land in a nearby airbase, not knowing the extent of his wing damage. It was only after he had landed, when he climbed out of the cockpit and looked backward, that the pilot realized what had happened: the wing had been completely torn off the plane, and he had landed the plane with only one wing attached. A few months later, the damaged F-15 had been given a new wing, and returned to operational duty in the squadron. The engineers at McDonnell Douglas had a hard time believing the story of the one-winged landing: as far as their planning models were concerned, this was an impossibility.

List of Dryden Flight Research Center lifting body vehicles (1963 to 1975)

• M2-F1
• M2-F2
• M2-F3
• HL-10
• X-24A
• X-24B

Lifting body pilots and flights

* Wood, Haise and Engle each made a single, car-towed, ground flight of the M2-F1.

See also

• Kliper
• HL-20 Personnel Launch System
• Facetmobile
• Blended wing body
• Flying wing

External links

• Lifting Bodies Fact Sheet (NASA)
• NASA Tech Paper 3101: Numerical Analysis and Simulation of an Assured Crew Return Vehicle Flow Field (The math of airflow over a lifting body)
• NASA Photo Collections from Dryden Flight Research Center
  • HL-10
  • M2-F1
  • M2-F2
  • M2-F3
  • X-24A and X24B
  • Short M2-F1 history
  • Some history of lifting body flight
  • Wingless Flight: The Lifting Body Story. NASA History Series SP-4220 1997 PDF