Hi.
Here are some other info complementing Flaterics' great find:
VERAS was a French, experimenal hypersonic boost-glider project started in 1964 and managed by the DREM (Direction des Recherches des Moyens d'Essais) of the Ministere des Armées (French Department of Defense).
This project was actually built upon an earlier series of theoretical studies from three types of organizations: (1) the Service Technique de l'Aéronautique (also known as STA or STAé); (2) the "Bureau des Plans à Long Terme" du "Centre de Prospective et d''Evaluations" of the French armed forces; (3) in-house studies from advanced engineering teams within the industry. I have not been able to find / locate this last set of references yet which might have been trashed out, as often happens.
In 1965, DREM awarded NORD-AVIATION a contract to study VERAS.
The VERAS effort was an ambitious initiative as it both adressed, at least initially, the booster / launcher AND its payload (the BG vehicle). The launcher could have been a sounding rocket or
Emeraude, i.e. the first stage of the
Diamant space launcher also known as
Diamant A). As time went by, the project name gradually came to only refer to the non-recoverable, experimental hypersonic glider… This experimental boost-glide vehicle was supposed to weight 1500 kg, fly at M=10 during 45s, with a max temperature of 1100°C on its lower surface. Several test articles (TA) were built along the way: the nose was made of pyrolized carbon. The vehicle structure was made of RENE 41. The body was made of refractory materials (TZM and P333).
The DREM oversaw and coordinated no less than a dozen organizations in this low-visibility or almost forgotten effort. In 1968, the VERAS program was scaled-down, i.e. limited to a laboratory, ground-effort testing. It is my understanding that it was terminated sometimes in around 1969 or early 1970 at the latest. I'll check that out and revise this post when a clearer answer surfaces.
In late 1970, VERAS program participants claimed that the knowledge and skills built during that project could be helpful to offer some sort of cooperation with the USA on their nascent Space Shuttle project and specifically refered to material sciences, oxydation prevention, structure computation, etc. Those insights were supposedly most helpful in the field of high-speed propulsion, as other follow-on spaceplane studies, which eventualy led to the Hermes project, experienced an even lower visibility.
Seeking international cooperation led team-member to market their skills and publish more information in open conferences such as:
Leroy, G. L.; N'Guyen; Perrais, M.; and Loiseau, H., "Thermal Ground Testing of Concorde and Veras or Improvement in French Test Methods and Facilities" (1971). The Space Congress, Proceedings, 1971 available from:
https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings/proceedings-1971-8th/session-7/2
Also see:
Perez, Syre, Billon, Pichoir, Guyot. Utilisation d'un alliage de niobium dans la réalisation d'un véhicule hypersonique
Revue de Physique Appliquée, Société française de physique / EDP, 1970, 5 (3), pp.455-465. ⟨10.1051/rphysap:0197000503045500⟩
L'utilisation d'un alliage de Niobium pour une étude de structure d'un planeur hypersonique (projet VERAS) a nécessité des études spécifiques pour les divers participants. Le Groupe PECHINEY a mis au point la formulation et la transformation de l'alliage et en a déterminé les caractéristiques...
hal.archives-ouvertes.fr
A.
PS) I'll try to scan the picture of the nose and those of the leading edges which are not reproduced in this 1971 Space Congress proceedings.
PS2) See below