Anose cone is theconically shaped forwardmost section of arocket,guided missile oraircraft, designed to modulate oncomingairflow behaviors and minimizeaerodynamic drag. Nose cones are also designed for submergedwatercraft such assubmarines,submersibles andtorpedoes, and in high-speedland vehicles such asrocket cars andvelomobiles.
On asuborbital rocket vehicle it consists of a chamber or chambers in which instruments, animals, plants, or auxiliary equipment may be carried, and an outer surface built to withstand high temperatures generated byaerodynamic heating. Much of the fundamental research related tohypersonic flight was done towards creating viable nose cone designs for theatmospheric reentry of spacecraft andICBMreentry vehicles.
In asatellite launch vehicle, the nose cone may become the satellite itself after separating from the finalstage of the rocket, or it may be used as apayload fairing to shield the satellite until out of the atmosphere, then separating (often in two halves) from the satellite.
On airliners the nose cone is also aradome protecting theweather radar from aerodynamic forces.
The shape of the nose cone must be chosen for minimum drag so asolid of revolution is used that gives least resistance to motion. The article onnose cone design contains possible shapes and formulas.
Due to the extreme temperatures involved, nose cones for high-speed applications (e.g. Supersonic speeds or atmospheric reentry oforbital vehicles) have to be made ofrefractory materials.Pyrolytic carbon is one choice,reinforced carbon-carbon composite orHRSI ceramics are other popular choices. Another design strategy is usingablative heat shields, which get consumed during operation, disposing of excess heat that way. Materials used for ablative shields include, for examplecarbon phenolic,polydimethylsiloxanecomposite withsilica filler andcarbon fibers, or as in of some ChineseFSW reentry vehicles,oakwood.[1]
In general, the constraints and goals for atmospheric reentry conflict with those for other high-speed flight applications; during reentry a high-drag blunt reentry shape is frequently used, which minimises theheat transfer by creating ashock wave that stands off from the vehicle, but some very-high-temperature materials may permit sharper-edged designs.
Given the problem of theaerodynamicdesign of the nose cone section of any vehicle or body meant to travel through a compressible fluid medium (such as arocket oraircraft,missile orbullet), an important problem is the determination of the nose cone geometrical shape for optimum performance. For many applications, such a task requires the definition of asolid of revolution shape that experiences minimal resistance to rapid motion through such a fluid medium, which consists of elastic particles.