Valkyrie shuttle reentry

[MarkD]

I asked a few fellow space shuttle enthusiasts on this and they said the design would be the cause of a reentry failure with the Valkyrie TAV. The wings should be on the bottom of the fuselage, not on top as in the movie. The plasma created would breach the sides easily since there is no thermal protection in the midbody of the TAV. Look at this photo of it http://www.kitmaker.net/photos/news/...r__medium_.jpg

Now compare to this model of a shuttle reentry http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/212_fall...onis/page1.htm This link has a good detail set on the space shuttle reentry.

[ScottWashburn]

Well, no telling what they built the thing out of over a hundred years in the future Better materials, lower orbital speeds (due to Pandora's lower gravity) and thicker air. But I'm sure primary the design consideration for the movie team was to make it look different than current space shuttles

[MarkD]

Well the people I asked were engineers and that's what they said to me. I see what they mean too. For Aerodynamic purposes would the wings need to be at the bottom instead of the top of the Valkyrie's fuselage? I see some problems with how it reenters the atmosphere in how the air flow would envelop the TAV. As best I can see the Valkyrie entry would be very turbulent and not smooth like the space shuttle is.

[AC130StandingBy]

Well, notice that the Valkyrie TAV's reentry method is a nosedive (which doesn't make much sense in my opinion). In that case, there won't be quite as much load on the wings, since the airframe itself wouldn't be used as a speedbrake. This would allow faster reentry, since the plasma would flow aerodynamically around the nose of the shuttle.

[Scott]

The wings were on top so that during the climax battle scene there was plenty of room for gun bunkers. More importantly, the engines needed to be visible and accessible to Jake Sully's Avatar for the grenade toss.

I am not saying that with 140 years of technology on the present the Valkyrie wouldn't work, I'm just saying theatrical presentation was the priority in its design. Wings look better up for the Ikran attack passes along the rear cargo door too, it gives the sensation of suspension.

[ScottWashburn]

If we look at the Valkyrie shuttles as what they are: cargo aircraft then the design makes more sense. Nearly all present-day cargo aircraft are a 'high wing' configuration. It makes it easier for loading and unloading and as a VTOL vehicle, it gets the wings up and out of the way when landing. If the designers did have much stronger materials than are available now they may have put those considerations first. But I agree that cinematic considerations were the first priority.

[AC130StandingBy]

I agree about cinematic considerations as well.

Thinking about it, perhaps nosediving isn't necessarily a bad thing for atmospheric reentry. There are a lot of considerations such as landing zone, landing environment, and atmospheric cruising.