Conical nose shape effects on drag and static stability at Mach 10

The effects of conical and spherical nose shapes on the drag and static stability of 6.3 deg and 9 deg slender cones were investigated experimentally at Mach 10 in a hypersonic wind tunnel. It is shown that during reentry, the ablative nose cap of a reentry vehicle will recede and may change shape from an initially spherical to a conical ablated shape. It is also shown that perturbations in forebody axial force coefficient of plus or minus 20% about the sphere-cone value occur for the conical nose caps affixed to the larger model bluntness ratios.