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Reconfigurable Guidance for Energy Management of Hypersonic Vehicles

Award Information
Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Branch: N/A
Contract: N/A
Agency Tracking Number: NASA1305
Amount: $69,215.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: N/A
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: N/A
Award Year: 2001
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): N/A
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
1160 Pepsi Place, Suite 300
Charlottesville, VA 22901
United States
DUNS: N/A
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 John Schierman
 Research Scientist
 (804) 973-1215
 schierman@bainet.com
Business Contact
 B. Eugene Parker Jr.
Title: Chairman
Phone: (804) 973-1215
Email: barron@bainet.com
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

The flight envelope for X-34 ranges from subsonic to hypersonic with altitudes up to 50 miles. Designing a guidance law that performs across this broad flight envelope presents several challenges. Robustness to uncertain aerodynamics is of paramount importance because of the sparse amount of wind tunnel and flight test data that exists for reusable launch vehicles at hypersonic Mach numbers. The need to compensate for potential control surface failures imposes additional guidance requirements. Barron Associates, Inc. (BAI) has teamed with Orbital Sciences Corporation to develop control and guidance systems that can reconfigure in real time to significantly increase the reliability of reusable launch vehicles. An innovative modular architecture, presently under development, will be used to reshape trajectories on-line. We believe that leveraging this concurrent effort is a main strength of the proposal. The approach autonomously identifies the closed-inner-loop dynamics and adapts the guidance for off-nominal performance. In Phase I, a modification of the existing X-34 energy management approach will be investigated. A more formal optimization technique developed and matured by BAI will also be considered. Studies will focus on aerodynamic uncertainties and control failures that primarily affect lateral-directional maneuvering capabilities, which are critical in managing vehicle energy for unpowered descent.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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