Editing Lifting body

{{Short description|Aircraft configuration in which the fuselage produces significant lift}}
[[File:LiftingBodies.jpg|thumb|right|450px|US X-24A, M2-F3 and HL-10 lifting bodies]]

A '''lifting body''' is a [[fixed-wing aircraft]] or [[spacecraft]] configuration in which the body itself produces [[lift (force)|lift]]. In contrast to a [[flying wing]], which is a wing with minimal or no conventional [[fuselage]], a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage with little or no conventional [[wing]]. Whereas a flying wing seeks to maximize cruise efficiency at [[Subsonic flight|subsonic]] speeds by eliminating non-lifting surfaces, lifting bodies generally minimize the drag and structure of a wing for subsonic, [[supersonic]] and [[hypersonic]] flight, or [[spacecraft]] [[re-entry]]. All of these flight regimes pose challenges for proper flight safety.

Lifting bodies were a major area of research in the 1960s and 70s as a means to build a small and lightweight crewed spacecraft. The US built a number of lifting body rocket planes to test the concept, as well as several rocket-launched re-entry vehicles that were tested over the Pacific. Interest waned as the [[US Air Force]] lost interest in the crewed mission, and major development ended during the [[Space Shuttle design process]] when it became clear that the highly shaped fuselages made it difficult to fit fuel tankage.

Advanced [[spaceplane]] concepts in the 1990s and 2000s did use lifting-body designs. Examples include the [[HL-20 Personnel Launch System]] (1990) and the [[Prometheus (spacecraft)|Prometheus spaceplane]] (2010). The [[Dream Chaser]] lifting-body spaceplane, an extension of HL-20 technology, was proposed as one of three vehicles to potentially carry [[US]] crew to and from the [[International Space Station]], but eventually was selected as a resupply vehicle instead. In 2015 the [[ESA]] [[Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle]] performed the first ever successful reentry of a lifting body spacecraft.<ref name="ESABulletin161">{{cite web|url=http://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA_Publications/ESA_Bulletin_161_1st_quarter_2015|title=ESA Bulletin 161 (1st quarter 2015)|format=PDF|issn=0376-4265|publisher=[[ESA]]|page=23|date=2015|access-date=30 May 2015}}</ref>

==History==
The lifting body had been imagined by 1917, in which year an aircraft with something like a delta wing plan form with a thick included fuselage was described in a patent by [[Scroggs The Last Laugh|Roy Scroggs]].<ref>[https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=US&NR=1250033A&KC=A&FT=D&ND=3&date=19171211&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_EP# US patent 1,250,033].</ref> However at low airspeeds the lifting body is inefficient and did not enter mainstream airplane design.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}

[[Aerospace]]-related lifting body research arose from the idea of [[spacecraft]] [[Atmospheric reentry|re-entering]] the Earth's atmosphere and landing much like a regular [[airplane]]. Following atmospheric re-entry, the capsule spacecraft from the [[Project Mercury|Mercury]], [[Project Gemini|Gemini]], and [[Apollo Program|Apollo]] series had very little control over where they landed. A steerable spacecraft with wings could significantly extend its landing envelope. However, the vehicle's wings would have to be designed to withstand the dynamic and thermal stresses of both re-entry and hypersonic flight. One proposal eliminated wings altogether: design the fuselage body to produce lift by itself.

[[Image:X24.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The Martin Aircraft Company [[Martin-Marietta X-24|X-24]] built as part of a 1963 to 1975 experimental US military program]]

[[NASA]]'s refinements of the lifting body concept began in 1962 with [[R. Dale Reed]] of [[NASA]]'s [[Armstrong Flight Research Center]].<ref name="Reed97" /> The first full-size model to come out of Reed's program was the [[NASA M2-F1]], an unpowered craft made of wood. Initial tests were performed by towing the M2-F1 along a dry lakebed at [[Edwards Air Force Base]] California, behind a [[Hot rod|modified]] [[Pontiac Catalina]].<ref>[http://www.classicalpontiac.com/articles/nasa.html Classical Pontiac and NASA]</ref> Later the craft was towed behind a [[C-47]] and released. Since the M2-F1 was a [[glider aircraft|glider]], a small [[rocket motor]] was added in order to extend the landing envelope. The M2-F1 was soon nicknamed the "Flying Bathtub".

In 1963, NASA began programs with heavier rocket-powered lifting-body vehicles to be air launched from under the starboard wing of a NB-52B, a derivative of the [[B-52]] jet bomber. The first flights started in 1966. Of the Dryden lifting bodies, all but the unpowered NASA M2-F1 used an [[XLR11]] rocket engine as was used on the [[Bell X-1]].<ref>[http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-011-DFRC.html NASA Dryden fact sheet - lifting bodies]</ref>  A follow-on design designated the [[Northrop HL-10]] was developed at NASA [[Langley Research Center]].
Air flow separation caused the crash of the [[Northrop M2-F2]] lifting body.{{citation needed|date=November 2012}}
The HL-10 attempted to solve part of this problem by angling the [[Port (nautical)|port]] and [[starboard]] [[vertical stabilizer]]s outward and enlarging the center one.{{citation needed|date=November 2012}}

Starting 1965 the Russian lifting-body [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-105]] or EPOS (Russian acronym for Experimental Passenger Orbital Aircraft) was developed and several test flights made. Work ended in 1978 when the efforts shifted to the [[Buran program]], while work on another small-scale spacecraft partly continued in the [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-105#BOR|Bor]] program.

The [[IXV]] is a [[European Space Agency]] lifting body experimental [[re-entry]] vehicle intended to validate European reusable launchers which could be evaluated in the frame of the [[FLPP]] program. The IXV made its first flight in February 2015, launched by a [[Vega (rocket)|Vega]] rocket.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31421200 |title=Europe's mini-space shuttle returns |work=BBC News |date=11 February 2015 |access-date=12 February 2015}}</ref>

Orbital Sciences proposed a commercial lifting-body spaceplane in 2010.<ref name=osc2011/>  The [[Prometheus (spacecraft)|Prometheus]] is more fully described below.

==Aerospace applications==

Lifting bodies pose complex control, structural, and internal configuration issues. Lifting bodies were eventually rejected in favor of a delta wing design for the Space Shuttle. Data acquired in flight test using high-speed landing approaches at very steep descent angles and high sink rates was used for modeling Shuttle flight and landing profiles.

In planning for atmospheric re-entry, the landing site is selected in advance. For reusable reentry vehicles, typically a primary site is preferred that is closest to the launch site in order to reduce costs and improve launch turnaround time. However, weather near the landing site is a major factor in flight safety. In some seasons, weather at landing sites can change quickly relative to the time necessary to initiate and execute re-entry and safe landing. Due to weather, it is possible the vehicle may have to execute a landing at an alternate site.  Furthermore, most airports do not have runways of sufficient length to support the approach landing speed and roll distance required by spacecraft. Few airports exist in the world that can support or be modified to support this type of requirement. Therefore, alternate landing sites are very widely spaced across the U.S. and around the world. The Shuttle's delta wing design was driven by these issues. These requirements were further exacerbated by requirements that extended the Shuttle's flight landing envelope.

Nonetheless, the lifting body concept has been implemented in a number of other [[aerospace]] programs, the previously mentioned [[NASA X-38]], [[Lockheed Martin X-33]], [[British Aircraft Corporation|BAC]]'s [[Multi Unit Space Transport And Recovery Device]], Europe's [[EADS Phoenix]], and the joint Russian-European [[Kliper]] spacecraft. Of the three basic design shapes usually analyzed for such programs (capsule, lifting body, aircraft) the lifting body may offer the best trade-off in terms of maneuverability and thermodynamics while meeting its customers' mission requirements.

==Current systems==
The [[Dream Chaser]] is a [[suborbital]] and [[orbital spaceflight|orbital]]<ref name=sdc20110207>
{{cite web |title = Private Spaceflight Innovators Attract NASA's Attention |website = [[Space.com]] |date = 7 February 2011 |quote = ''Dream Chaser will become a fully capable suborbital vehicle on the way to reaching orbital capability.'' |url = http://www.space.com/10785-nasa-commercial-space-innovators.html |access-date=2012-09-05 }}
</ref> [[VTHL|vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing]] (VTHL) lifting-body [[spaceplane]] being developed by [[Sierra Nevada Corporation]] (SNC). The Dream Chaser design is planned to eventually carry up to seven people to and from [[low Earth orbit]], and the spaceplane is currently planned to be used for delivering cargo to the [[International Space Station]] under the [[Commercial Resupply Services]] program. The vehicle will launch vertically on a [[Vulcan Centaur]] and [[VTHL|land horizontally]] on conventional runways.<ref name=nasa20101217> 
{{cite web | title = SNC Selects ULA for Dream Chaser® Spacecraft Launches | publisher = Sierra Nevada Corporation | date = 19 August 2019 | url = https://www.sncorp.com/news-archive/snc-selects-ula-for-dream-chaser-spacecraft-launches/ | access-date = 6 October 2024 }}</ref>

==Body lift==
[[File:General Airborne Transport XCG-16 -- 2000-3085 (flight).jpg|thumb|Burnelli General Airborne Transport XCG-16, a lifting body aircraft (1944)]]{{More citations needed|section|date=April 2025}}
Some aircraft with wings also employ bodies that generate lift. Some of the early 1930s high-wing monoplane designs of the [[Bellanca Aircraft Company]], such as the [[Bellanca Aircruiser]], had vaguely airfoil-shaped fuselages capable of generating some lift, with even the wing struts on some versions given widened fairings to give them some lift-generating capability.  The [[Gee Bee Model R|Gee Bee R-1 Super Sportster]] racing plane of the 1930s, likewise, from more modern aerodynamic studies, has been shown to have had considerable ability to generate lift with its fuselage design, important for the R-1's intended racing role, while in highly banked pylon turns while racing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=384 |title=Granville Gee Bee (series) Racing Aircraft |date=June 8, 2009 |publisher=Militayrfactory.com |access-date=20 December 2011}}</ref> [[Vincent Burnelli]] developed several aircraft between the 1920s and 1950 that used fuselage lift. Like the earlier Bellanca monoplanes, the [[Short SC.7 Skyvan]] produces a substantial amount of lift from its fuselage shape, almost as much as the 35% each of the wings produces. 

Fighters like the [[F-15 Eagle]] also produce substantial lift from the wide fuselage between the wings. Because the F-15 Eagle's wide fuselage is so efficient at lift, an F-15 is able to land successfully with only one wing, albeit under nearly full power, with thrust contributing significantly to lift. In the summer of 1983, an Israeli F-15 staged a mock dogfight with Skyhawks for training purposes, near Nahal Tzin in the Negev desert. During the exercise, one of the Skyhawks miscalculated and [[1983 Negev mid-air collision|collided forcefully with the F-15's wing root]]. The F-15's pilot was aware that the wing had been seriously damaged, but decided to try and land in a nearby airbase, not knowing the extent of his wing damage. It was only after he had landed, when he climbed out of the cockpit and looked backward, that the pilot realized what had happened: the wing had been completely torn off the plane, and he had landed the plane with only one wing attached. A few months later, the damaged F-15 had been given a new wing, and returned to operational duty in the squadron. The engineers at McDonnell Douglas had a hard time believing the story of the one-winged landing: as far as their planning models were concerned, this was an impossibility.<ref name= noWingF15 >Jon Easley [http://www.uss-bennington.org/phz-nowing-f15.html (9 Aug 2001 09:01:17 EDT) NO WING F15] JEasley198@aol.com</ref>

In 2010, [[Orbital Sciences]] proposed the [[Prometheus (spacecraft)|Prometheus]] "blended lifting-body" [[spaceplane]] vehicle, about one-quarter the size of the [[Space Shuttle]], as a [[private spaceflight|commercial]] option for carrying astronauts to [[low Earth orbit]] under the [[CCDev|commercial crew program]].<ref name=osc2011>{{Cite web |url=http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Publications/OrbitalQuarterly_Winter2011.pdf?prid=762#search=%22prometheus%22 |title=The Shape of Things to Come – Orbital's Prometheus™ Space Plane Ready for NASA's Commercial Crew Development Initiative}}</ref>
The [[VTVL#Other approaches|Vertical Takeoff, Horizontal Landing]] (VTHL) vehicle was to have been launched on a human-rated [[Atlas V]] rocket but would land on a runway.<ref name=wsj20101214>[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704694004576020192942362626?mod=WSJ_topics_obama Orbital Proposes Spaceplan for Astronauts], ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'', December 14, 2010, accessed December 15, 2010.</ref>
The initial design was to have carried a crew of 4, but it could carry up to 6, or a combination of crew and cargo. In addition to Orbital Sciences, the consortium behind the proposal included [[Northrop Grumman]], which would have built the spaceplane, and the [[United Launch Alliance]], which would have provided the launch vehicle.<ref name=ps20101216>[http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-12/jumping-new-space-race-orbital-sciences-unveils-mini-shuttle-spaceplane-design Jumping into the New Space Race, Orbital Sciences Unveils Mini-Shuttle Spaceplane Design], ''[[Popular Science]]'', 2010-12-16, accessed 2010-12-18. ''"Orbital Sciences isn’t the kind of independent, private, “new space” enterprise as, say, SpaceX. It’s a consortium of defense and aviation heavy-hitters: Northrop would build the plane, and the rockets would be provided by United Launch Alliance (read: Boeing and Lockheed)."''</ref>
Failing to be selected for a CCDev phase 2 award by NASA, Orbital announced in April 2011 that they would likely wind down their efforts to develop a commercial crew vehicle.<ref name=nsj20110422>{{cite journal |title=Orbital may wind down its commercial crew effort |journal=NewSpace Journal |date=2011-04-22 |url=http://www.newspacejournal.com/2011/04/22/orbital-may-wind-down-its-commercial-crew-effort/|access-date=2011-04-25 |quote=''CEO Dave Thompson said ... "I don’t, at this time, anticipate that we’ll continue to pursue our own project in that race. We’ll watch it and if an opportunity develops we may reconsider. But at this point, I would not anticipate a lot of activity on our part in the commercial crew market."''}}</ref>

Design principles of lifting bodies are used also in the construction of [[hybrid airship]]s.

==Armstrong Flight Research Center==

The [[US government]] developed a variety of [[proof-of-concept]] and [[flight-test]] vehicle lifting body designs from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s at [[Armstrong Flight Research Center]].<ref name="Reed97">{{Cite web|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19980169231  |title=Wingless Flight: The Lifting Body Story  | date=1997-01-01  |access-date=2014-12-13 |publisher = [[NASA]]}}</ref> These included:
*[[M2-F1]]
*[[M2-F2]]
*[[M2-F3]]
*[[HL-10]]
*[[Martin-Marietta X-24|X-24A]]
*[[X-24B]]

===Pilots and flights===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Pilot
! M2-F1
! M2-F2
! HL-10
! HL-10<br>mod
! M2-F3
! X-24A
! X-24B
! Total
|-
| [[Milton O. Thompson]]
| 45
| 5
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 50
|-
| [[Bruce Peterson]]
| 17
| 3
| 1
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 21{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}
|-
| [[Chuck Yeager]]
| 5
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 5
|-
| Donald L. Mallick
| 2
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 2{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}
|-
| [[James W. Wood]]
| 1*
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 1*
|-
| Donald M. Sorlie
| 5
| 3
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 8
|-
| [[William H. Dana]]
| 1
| -
| -
| 9
| 19
| -
| 2
| 31{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}
|-
| [[Jerauld R. Gentry]]
| 2
| 5
| -
| 9
| 1
| 13
| -
| 30{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}
|-
| [[Fred Haise]]
| 1*
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 1*
|-
| [[Joe Engle]]
| 1*
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 1*
|-
| John A. Manke
| -
| -
| -
| 10
| 4
| 12
| 16
| 42
|-
| Peter C. Hoag
| -
| -
| -
| 8
| -
| -
| -
| 8
|-
| Cecil W. Powell
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 3
| 3
| -
| 6
|-
| Michael V. Love
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 12
| 12
|-
| [[Einar K. Enevoldson]]
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 2
| 2
|-
| [[Francis Scobee]]
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 2
| 2
|-
| Thomas C. McMurtry
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 2
| 2
|-
| '''TOTAL'''
| 80
| 16
| 37<ref name="HL-10facts">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/history/pastprojects/Lifting/HL10/ |title=NASA Dryden Past Projects: Lifting Bodies, HL-10 | date=2009-08-14 |access-date=2014-12-13 |publisher = [[NASA]]}}</ref>
| 36
| 27
| 28
| 36
| 224{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}
|}

:* Wood, Haise and Engle each made a single car-towed flight of the M2-F1.

==Popular culture==
{{unreferenced section|date=April 2015}}

[[File:Facetmobile.png|thumb| [[Wainfan Facetmobile FMX-4]] homebuilt lifting-body aircraft, photographed from above in flight ]]
Lifting bodies have appeared in some [[science fiction]] works, including the movie ''[[Marooned (1969 film)|Marooned]]'', and as John Crichton's spacecraft Farscape-1 in the TV series ''[[Farscape]]''. The [[Discovery Channel]] TV series conjectured using lifting bodies to deliver a probe to a distant earth-like planet in the animated ''[[Alien Planet]].'' [[Gerry Anderson]]'s 1969 ''[[Doppelgänger (1969 film)|Doppelgänger]]'' used a [[VTOL]] lifting body lander / ascender to visit an Earth-like planet, only to crash in both attempts. His series [[UFO (British TV series)|UFO]] featured a lifting body craft visually similar to the M2-F2 for orbital operations ("The Man Who Came Back"). In the ''[[Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space]]'' computer game, a modified [[Martin Marietta X-24A|X-24A]] becomes an alternative lunar capable spacecraft that the player can choose over the [[Project Gemini|Gemini]] or [[Apollo program|Apollo]] capsule.

The 1970s [[television program]] ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'' used footage of a lifting body aircraft, culled from actual NASA exercises, in the show's [[title sequence]].  The scenes included an HL-10's separation from its carrier plane—a modified B-52—and an M2-F2 piloted by [[Bruce Peterson]], crashing and tumbling violently along the Edwards dry lakebed runway. The cause of the crash was attributed to the onset of ''[[Dutch roll]]'' stemming from control instability as induced by flow separation.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

The episode "The Deadly Replay" (season 2 episode 8 aired 9/22/1974) features the HL-10 as a prop of the story.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Deadly Replay |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0702102/ |publisher=IMDb.com, Inc. |access-date=October 22, 2021}}</ref>

==See also==

*[[Martin X-23 PRIME]]
*[[BOR-4]]
*[[Kliper]]
*[[Lockheed Star Clipper]]
*[[Lockheed Martin X-33]]
*[[HL-20 Personnel Launch System]]
*[[Dream Chaser (spacecraft)]]
*[[Space Rider|Space Rider (spacecraft)]]
*[[Prometheus (spacecraft)]]
*[[Facetmobile]]
*[[Blended wing body]]
*[[Flying wing]]
*[[MUSTARD]]
* 1953 Horton "Wingless" http://aerospacelegacyfoundation.com/aviation-history-flying-wings/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114204725/http://aerospacelegacyfoundation.com/aviation-history-flying-wings |date=2018-01-14 }}
* [[Arup S-2]] 1932, Snyder "Arup" (blurs the boundary between "flying wing" and lifting body)
* [[Burnelli RB-1]]

==References==

===References===
{{Reflist|2}}

===Other sources===
*[[McPhee, John]] (1973), ''The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed''; {{ISBN|0-374-51635-9}}. (Story of the [[Aereon]], a combination [[Heavier-than-air aircraft|aerodyne]]/[[aerostat]], a.k.a. [[hybrid airship]].)

==External links==
{{Commons category|Lifting body aircraft}}
*[http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-011-DFRC.html Lifting Bodies Fact Sheet (NASA)]
*[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19920000943_1992000943.pdf NASA Tech Paper 3101: ''Numerical Analysis and Simulation of an Assured Crew Return Vehicle Flow Field''] (The math of airflow over a lifting body)
*NASA Photo Collections from [[Dryden Flight Research Center]]
**[http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/multimedia/imagegallery/HL-10/index.html HL-10]
**[http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/multimedia/imagegallery/M2-F1/index.html M2-F1]
**[http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/multimedia/imagegallery/M2-F2/index.html M2-F2]
**[http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/multimedia/imagegallery/M2-F3/index.html M2-F3]
**[http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/multimedia/imagegallery/X-24/index.html X-24A and X24B]
**[https://web.archive.org/web/20090310033817/http://members.lycos.co.uk/derekhorne/m2f1.html Short M2-F1 history]
**[https://web.archive.org/web/20041105001911/http://centennialofflight.gov/essay/Evolution_of_Technology/lifting_bodies/Tech29.htm Some history of lifting body flight]
**[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19980169231_1998082126.pdf Wingless Flight: The Lifting Body Story. NASA History Series SP-4220 1997 PDF]

{{Use American English|date=January 2014}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lifting Body}}
[[Category:Lifting bodies| ]]
[[Category:Aircraft configurations]]
[[Category:Wing configurations]]