The present work addresses a sensitivity analysis investigation of the aeroelastic stability margins for the VSB-30 sounding rocket during the atmospheric flight phase. Parametric stability analyses are performed considering variations of the inertia properties of the modular payload. Such variations can be caused by different type and/or number of experiments (payload modules). The aerodynamic model is based on a supersonic unsteady potential aerodynamic method. Freestream conditions depend on the flight speed and atmosphere. An equivalent structural dynamic model of the rocket is represented by a beam-like structure. The objective of this investigation is to establish an aeroelastic model for aeroelastic stability and response analyses, as well as a procedure for the identification of stability margins for rockets. The resulting aeroelastic model should be further used in MDO processes for the improvement of the vehicle flight performance. The results of the present effort indicate that the flutter behavior of the VSB-30 sounding rocket is sufficiently robust inside the operational envelope, even considering the environmental and loading conditions. The spinning effect, in this case, does not play a significant role, because the flutter margins remain almost unaltered with and without VSB-30 body spin.

The atmospheric hypersonic flight of sub-orbital and space vehicles generates aerodynamic heating and high wall heat fluxes, inducing high temperatures on the vehicle's structures and affecting their mechanical behavior, besides degrading the operation of board equipment. Furthermore, since payload preservation is always mandatory, the use of efficient Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) is a key-requirement for any spacecraft design. As an outcome, designing the TPS is a critical aspect of any rocket development program, since an undersized system may result in catastrophic failure, and an oversized one implies increased mass and cost. Sub-orbital platforms are a low-cost alternative for microgravity research. A sub-orbital platform (SARA) is being developed by Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço (IAE) for such an application, and its current design uses a conventional layer of cork as TPS to protect its lateral surface, with the trade-off of large mass. Alternatively, a Thermally Integrated Structural Sandwich Core (TISSC), which consists of a structural sandwich panel in a three-layer plate with two face sheets and the core, presents advantages such as lightweight, low maintenance, insulation as well as load bearing capabilities, and low life-cycle cost. In this work, a TISSC is proposed to replace SARA's current TPS. The main contribution of the presented methodology is to couple the aerodynamic heating, heat transfer in porous insulation and thermo-structural analyses of the proposed configuration in order to evaluate the TISSC TPS performance. The results are compared with those obtained for the current SARA TPS design, showing improvements in thermal insulation and structural strength, as well as a remarkable mass reduction.