Abstract
Several aerodynamic mechanisms, which will sustain large angle of attack body autorotative motions, are examined. It is shown that auto rotative motion can result in a very large drag force, which may significantly aid missile and booster recovery. A linear theory, which satisfactorily predicts the near-steady-state auto rotative spin characteristics of quasi-axi-sym metric bodies, is presented. The initiation of body autorotative motions under both low altitude and re-entry environments is investigated by a special six-degrees-of-freedom trajectory program. The aerodynamic characteristics of cylinder shaped bodies at angles of attack near 90 degrees are discussed.

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