Investigation of the Performance Characteristics of Re-Entry Vehicles

Abstract

When a non-US spacecraft reenters the Earth's atmosphere, having the ability to accurately determine its performance characteristics is a primary concern. This study investigated the atmospheric re-entry profiles of a maneuverable re-entry vehicle. The re-entry vehicle was modeled as a point mass with aerodynamic properties. Equations of motion were numerically integrated, giving the time histories of position, velocity and flight path angle. The algorithm is able to generate a complete and feasible entry trajectory of a approximately 25-minute flight time in about 5 to 10 seconds on a desktop computer, given the entry conditions and values of constraint parameters. This preliminary study shows the feasibility of identifying and further exploring the technical challenges involved in using a mathemathical model to simulate the performance characteristics of the maneuvering re-entry vehicle.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA440191

Entities

People

  • Charles A. Bilbey

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Differential Equations
  • Dynamic Pressure
  • Equations
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Flight
  • Flight Paths
  • Guidance
  • Inertial Navigation
  • Orbits
  • Space Systems
  • Spacecraft
  • Three Dimensional
  • Trajectories
  • United States
  • Vehicles

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Combustion science or combustion engineering.
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Robotics and Automation.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Orbital Debris
  • Space - Spacecraft Maneuvers