Strategies for preliminary re-design of a LH2 Mach 5 cruiser concept originally conceived for Mach 8 mission

This paper aims at presenting some aircraft design activities currently carried out in the framework of the H2020 MORE&LESS project. Specifically, benefitting of the latest outcomes of the H2020 STRATOFLY project, POLITO, CIRA and VKI are currently working at the re-design of the original Mach 8 waverider (MR3 vehicle concept) to derive a sustainable Mach 5 vehicle and mission concept. This paper presents the preliminary re-design of the Mach 5 waverider concept (MR5), keeping the same vehicle configuration and the same propulsive technologies (operating in different modes). The envisaged multidisciplinary methodology is here reported, focusing on the unavoidable links among aircraft and mission design, subsystems integration, aerothermodynamics and propulsion. First, the same configuration of the MR3 vehicle is considered, to evaluate the best solution in terms of propellant mass to be stored on-board. Then, a preliminary study on the possible modifications of the air-intake, to improve its performance in the supersonic range, is presented. Each configuration is validated through mission analysis. The capability to perform the Mach 5 mission is verified. However, further steps are needed to move towards a scaling down of the MR3 vehicle, while keeping the overall shape and proportion of the vehicle unchanged, to allow for a full exploitation of the outcomes of the STRATOFLY project.