A Flight Test Challenge: Aeroassist for Reuseable, Space-Based Transportation

NASA and its predecessor, NACA, have relied on testing to address challenges ranging from early aeronautics to the lunar landing. This is a necessary ingredient to success. Current and future challenges, coupled with technology advances, dictate reliance on productive combinations of testing and analysis. An example of this is provided by the necessary combination of ground test, flight test and computational fluid dynamic analyses required to achieve an efficient, space-based aerobraking orbital transfer vehicle. As the Space Shuttle is key to the Space Station, the Space Station is key to transportation beyond low earth orbit. Now is the time to develop the level of understanding adequate for the next generation of space transportation systems.