A sub orbital hypersonic vehicle preliminary structural sizing

This paper describes the engineering activities of the structural analysis performed to support the preliminary sizing of the Fuselage, Wing and Vertical tail for the HYPERION Program. Hyperion is the acronym of “suborbital HYPERsonic spaceplane capable to support payload In Orbit iNsertion”. The project aims to carry out the preliminary design of a suborbital vehicle intended to operate the entire air space up to 100 km altitude, capable of air-launching into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) a payload in the microsatellite class from altitudes of approximately 60 km or to let fast Point to Point travels. More specifically, HYPERION is a supersonic/hypersonic vehicle with a hybrid turboramjet/rocket propulsion system, designed to perform repeated suborbital flight missions, without the launch-site limitations typical of other systems. Based on the heritage of the HYPLANE project the sizing has been enhanced by a deep study of the Certification Specifications for Normal, Utility, Aerobatic, and Commuter Category Aeroplanes (CS-23) and Certification Specifications and Acceptable Means of Compliance for Large Aeroplanes (CS-25) plus a specific maneuver to let a sub orbital “jump”