The reusability of launch vehicles or booster stages is a wide field of interest in aerospace design. One conceptual idea to return a booster stage is the so-called “in-air capturing”, where the stage is captured by an aerial vehicle and towed back to a destination point. In this paper a controllable docking device that is supposed to perform the actual coupling of these vehicles is presented and tested for its basic functionality to displace a drogue vertically and laterally. The flight mechanical and aerodynamical principles involved in the design of the coupling device are discussed. The implementation of roll stabilization and results of first flight tests with a sub-scale coupling device and an unmanned towing aircraft are presented to analyze the concept and controllability of the device.


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    Title :

    FIRST DEVELOPMENT STEPS OF AN ACTIVELY CONTROLLED DROGUE


    Contributors:
    Cain, S. (author) / Krause, S. (author) / Binger, J. (author)


    Publication date :

    2018-06-01


    Size :

    2245154 byte





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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