Trajectory Control for Vehicles Entering the Earth's Atmosphere at Small Flight-path Angles

Book excerpt: Methods of controlling the trajectories of high-drag--low-lift vehicles entering the earth's atmosphere at angles of attack near 90° and at initial entry angles up to --3° are studied. The trajectories are calculated for vehicles whose angle of attack can be held constant at some specified value or can be perfectly controlled as a function of some measured quantity along the trajectory. The results might be applied in the design of automatic control systems or in the design of instruments which will give the human pilot sufficient information to control his trajectory properly during an atmospheric entry. Trajectory data are compared on the basis of the deceleration, range, angle of attack, and, in some cases, the rate of descent. The aerodynamic heat-transfer rate and skin temperature of a vehicle with a simple heat-sink type of structure are calculated for trajectories made with several types of control functions.