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This thesis presents a new method for trajectory design, optimisation and guidance of reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) during the terminal area flight phases. The terminal area flight phase is the transitional phase from hypersonic re-entry to the approach and landing phase. The trajectory design, optimisation and guidance methods within this thesis are an evolution of previous work conducted on the ascent and re-entry flight phases of RLVs. The methods are modified to incorporate the terminal area flight phase through the adaption of the problem definition and the inclusion of the speed brake setting as a steering parameter. The results of this study include a detailed analysis of the terminal area flight phase highlighting the major influences for vehicle and trajectory design. The study also confirms the applicability of the non-linear programming method utilising the vehicle steering parameters as a viable option for trajectory design and guidance. A comparison to other available results highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed method.
This open access book highlights the autonomous and intelligent flight control of future launch vehicles for improving flight autonomy to plan ascent and descent trajectories onboard, and autonomously handle unexpected events or failures during the flight. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, space launch activities worldwide have grown vigorously. Meanwhile, commercial launches also account for the booming trend. Unfortunately, the risk of space launches still exists and is gradually increasing in line with the rapidly rising launch activities and commercial rockets. In the history of space launches, propulsion and control systems are the two main contributors to launch failures. With the development of information technologies, the increase of the functional density of hardware products, the application of redundant or fault-tolerant solutions, and the improvement of the testability of avionics, the launch losses caused by control systems exhibit a downward trend, and the failures induced by propulsion systems become the focus of attention. Under these failures, the autonomous planning and guidance control may save the missions. This book focuses on the latest progress of relevant projects and academic studies of autonomous guidance, especially on some advanced methods which can be potentially real-time implemented in the future control system of launch vehicles. In Chapter 1, the prospect and technical challenges are summarized by reviewing the development of launch vehicles. Chapters 2 to 4 mainly focus on the flight in the ascent phase, in which the autonomous guidance is mainly reflected in the online planning. Chapters 5 and 6 mainly discuss the powered descent guidance technologies. Finally, since aerodynamic uncertainties exert a significant impact on the performance of the ascent / landing guidance control systems, the estimation of aerodynamic parameters, which are helpful to improve flight autonomy, is discussed in Chapter 7. The book serves as a valuable reference for researchers and engineers working on launch vehicles. It is also a timely source of information for graduate students interested in the subject.
Realizing a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) that is low cost with highly effective launch capability has become the "Holy Grail" within the aerospace community world-wide. Clear understanding of the vehicle's operational limitations and flight characteristics in all phases of the flight are preponderant components in developing such a launch system. This dissertation focuses on characterizing and designing the RLV optimal trajectories in order to aid in strategic decision making during mission planning in four areas: 1) nominal ascent phase, 2) abort scenarios and trajectories during ascent phase including abort-to-orbit (ATO), transoceanic-abort-landing (TAL) and return-to-launch-site (RTLS), 3) entry phase (including footprint), and 4) systems engineering aspects of such flight trajectory design. The vehicle chosen for this study is the Lockheed Martin X-33 lifting-body design that lifts off vertically with two linear aerospike rocket engines and lands horizontally. An in-depth investigation of the optimal endo-atmospheric ascent guidance parameters such as earliest abort time, engine throttle setting, number of flight phases, flight characteristics and structural design limitations will be performed and analyzed to establish a set of benchmarks for making better trade-off decisions. Parametric analysis of the entry guidance will also be investigated to allow the trajectory designer to pinpoint relevant parameters and to generate optimal constrained trajectories. Optimal ascent and entry trajectories will be generated using a direct transcription method to cast the optimal control problem as a nonlinear programming problem. The solution to the sparse nonlinear programming problem is then solved using sequential quadratic programming. Finally, guidance system hierarchy studies such as work breakdown structure, functional analysis, fault-tree analysis, and configuration management will be developed to ensure that the guidance system meets the definition of vehicle design requirements and constraints.
Much effort has been put into developing technologies for next generation re-usable launch vehicles. Fully re-usable launch vehicles include a booster stage that is designed to land, usually near the launch site, after it has released the upper-stage, which continues to orbit. The fuel reserve needed to turn the booster stage around will usually be minimal For this reason, once the booster stage has completed a rocket-back maneuver, it will typically be at a high altitude (exo-atmospheric) but with low kinetic energy and a steep flight path angle on re-entry. Traditional re-entry guidance is designed for vehicles with a high velocity, and shallow flight path angle, and thus these traditional approaches are not appropriate for a low energy re-entry (LOER). The current research presents a set of guidance algorithms that will successfully guide a vehicle to landing starting from LOER condition. The guidance algorithms are designed to ensure the vehicle can achieve near optimal range performance when required and also to execute a sharp pull-up maneuver that balances the load factor constraint against the need to pull-up quickly before the dynamic pressure constraint is exceeded. The guidance approach has been tested for a wide variety of vehicles and mission scenarios, including more traditional initial conditions that would occur at the end of a High Energy Re-entry (HIER) from orbit. Thus, the guidance approach we have developed can be used as a more robust version of Terminal Area Energy Management (TAEM) guidance, as well as for LOER and has been tested for a wide range of vehicles, including the Space Shuttle and vehicles with a wide variety of L/D capability. Significant development has also gone into the engineering considerations needed to implement the guidance algorithms on a real vehicle. Program execution time, application of vehicle constraints, trajectory repeatability and other factors are all addressed in order to meet this need.
"This thesis presents a guidance scheme for the Terminal Area Energy Management (TAEM) and Approach and Landing phases of flight for the next generation of reusable launch vehicles (RLVs). The guidance scheme presented is developed in two parts, the kappa guidance section and the touchdown trajectory section."--Abstract, p. iii.
To enable autonomous operations in future Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLVs), reconfigurable control and adaptive guidance will often be required to facilitate recovery of the mission following a major anomalous event such as an effector failure. An adaptive guidance system that works in conjunction with a reconfigurable controller and an autonomous trajectory command reshaping algorithm is presented. The guidance law utilizes a backstepping architecture to generate pitch rate commands that drive the inner-loop control system. Under extreme failure conditions the control surfaces can saturate in an attempt to meet commanded moments. In these cases, the guidance feedback gains are reduced to preserve stability margins in the guidance loops. A case study is presented that shows the benefits of the guidance gain adaptation. Without adjusting the gains, the guidance loops go unstable, whereas stability is maintained with gain reduction.
This book explores the design of optimal trajectories for space maneuver vehicles (SMVs) using optimal control-based techniques. It begins with a comprehensive introduction to and overview of three main approaches to trajectory optimization, and subsequently focuses on the design of a novel hybrid optimization strategy that combines an initial guess generator with an improved gradient-based inner optimizer. Further, it highlights the development of multi-objective spacecraft trajectory optimization problems, with a particular focus on multi-objective transcription methods and multi-objective evolutionary algorithms. In its final sections, the book studies spacecraft flight scenarios with noise-perturbed dynamics and probabilistic constraints, and designs and validates new chance-constrained optimal control frameworks. The comprehensive and systematic treatment of practical issues in spacecraft trajectory optimization is one of the book’s major features, making it particularly suited for readers who are seeking practical solutions in spacecraft trajectory optimization. It offers a valuable asset for researchers, engineers, and graduate students in GNC systems, engineering optimization, applied optimal control theory, etc.