Low Temperature Liquids as Coolants in Guided Missiles

Abstract

Meteors shooting through space at relative velocities of about 20 miles per second and approaching the earth’s atmosphere obtain temperatures so high that the trajectory appears as an illuminated trail in the evening skies. Man-made vehicles traveling through air at velocities larger than the speed of sound are also heated up and completely enveloped by a thin layer of hot air. The temperature of the hot air layer is called the recovery temperature and is given by the relation:

$$ {T_i} = {T_s}\left( {1 + \frac{{Y - 1}}{2} \cdot r \cdot {M^2}} \right)$$