Boost through reentry trajectory planning for maneuvering reentry vehicles

Abstract

New trajectory planning concepts are explored for rapidly planning a long range, boost-through- reentry mission, using a lightweight, highly maneuverable reentry vehicle. An Aimpoint Map, a set of all possible piercepoints through which a boost-through-reentry trajectory can be flown to a fixed target, contains valuable information about the joint capabilities of the booster and the reentry vehicle. At each piercepoint in the Aimpoint Map, a set of velocities and flight path angles exist that can be reached from launch as well as a set of velocities and flight path angles that allow the target to be reached from the piercepoint. The intersection of these velocity and flight path angle sets provides important information for the trajectory planner about the margins available at each piercepoint in the Aimpoint Map. Boost-through-reentry trajectory optimization is used with a six degrees-of-freedom (6DOF) vehicle model to provide a quantitative assessment of the limiting capabilities of the vehicle flight subject to complex terminal and path constraints. Particular constraints of interest include energy management, max g's, heating rate, final velocity and flight path angle, angle of attack, over-flight considerations, approach azimuth, and booster stage disposal.