Some of the issues that affect the flight control and guidance system designs for vertical-takeoff and horizontal-takeoff vehicles were investigated. A two-stage all-rocket vehicle was used to represent the vertical-takeoff system and a generic aerospace plane concept to represent the horizontal-takeoff vehicle. Two flight control issues for the vertical-takeoff rocket were uncovered. The first was the large gimbal angle range required for pitch trim when using parallel mated vehicles. The second was control during staging. Two issues were also identified for the air-breathing vehicle. The first is that the drag losses due to aerodynamic trim are a significant fraction of the total ideal velocity required to achieve orbit. The second issue is that since the vehicle flies at high dynamic pressure for most of the ascent, the guidance system design will be more difficult to ensure accurate insertion than that for the vertical-takeoff rocket system.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Flight Control Issues of the Next Generation Space Transportation Launch Vehicles


    Contributors:
    R. W. Powell (author) / J. C. Naftel (author) / C. I. Cruz (author)

    Publication date :

    1990


    Size :

    15 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Flight control issues of the next generation space transportation launch vehicles

    Powell, Richard W. / Naftel, J. Christopher / Cruz, Christopher I. | NTRS | 1990



    Next-generation launch vehicles

    Springer Verlag | 2009


    In-Flight Demonstration Plan for the European Next Generation Launch Vehicles

    Deneu, F. / Zgirski, P. / Grimard, M. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1998


    Future Space Transportation Systems and Launch Vehicles

    Noor, Ahmed K. / Venneri, Samuel L. | AIAA | 1997