Glide back booster wind tunnel model testing

Affordable space access requires partial or ideally full launch vehicle reuse, which is in line with clean environment requirement. Although the idea is old, the practical use is difficult, requiring very large technology investment for qualification. Rocket gliders like Space Shuttle have been successfullyoperated but the price and correspondingly the energy footprint were found not sustainable. For medium launchers, finally there is a very promising platform as Falcon 9. For very small launchers the situation is more complex, because the performance index (payload to start mass) is already small, versus medium and heavy launchers. For partial reusable micro launchers this index is even smaller. However the challenge has to be taken because it is likely that in a multiyear effort, technology is going to enable the performance recovery to make such a system economically and environmentally feasible. The current paper is devoted to a small unitary glide back booster which is foreseen to be assembled in a number of possible configurations. Although the level of analysis is not deep, the solution is analyzed from the aerodynamic point of view. A wind tunnel model is designed, with an active canard, to enablea more efficient wind tunnel campaign, as a national level premiere.