Organizational Unit:
Space Systems Design Laboratory (SSDL)

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Initial Characterization for LIDAR Remote Sensing from an UAV Platform
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-12) Lacerda, Michel Alves
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    Initial Characterization for LIDAR Remote Sensing from an UAV Platform
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-12) Lacerda, Michel Alves
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    Design and Application of a Circular Aperture Sun Sensor
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016-12) Herman, Michael
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    Rapid Robust Design of a Deployable System for Boost-Glide Vehicles
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013-01) Steinfeldt, Bradley A. ; Rossman, Grant A. ; Braun, Robert D. ; Barton, Gregg H.
    Deployable devices have the potential to reduce or eliminate physical constraints placed on vehicle design while enhancing the aerodynamics characteristics of the system. This investigation looks at augmenting an existing boost-glide system with a deployable device to increase the system's range or accuracy by varying design parameters. Two different configurations are considered, one which has a single-delta shape and one with a double- delta. A rapid robust design methodology that views the multidisciplinary design problem as a dynamical system is implemented to robustly design the deployable. This method- ology allows concepts from dynamical system theory to be used in order to broaden the computational tools available to the MDO problem. In addition to the physical parameters of the deployable device, the impact of the guidance algorithm is also considered. The product of this investigation is a family of designs which compare favorably to those obtained through traditional Monte Carlo methods and are achievable in less than 5% of the computational time. The obtained deployable designs have the capability to enhance the baseline boost-glide system's 1σ range by 50% and improve the 1σ accuracy by an order of magnitude. It is seen that the single-delta configuration provides similar accuracy as the double-delta; however, the double-delta configuration is capable of providing ranges that are twice that of the single-delta.
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    Preliminary Analysis of the Mars Science Laboratory's Entry Aerothermodynamic Environment and Thermal Protection System Performance
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013-01) Mahzari, Milad ; Braun, Robert D. ; White, Todd R. ; Bose, Deepak
    The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) entry vehicle successfully landed on the Martian surface on August 5, 2012. A phenolic impregnated carbon ablator heatshield was used to protect the spacecraft against the severe aeroheating environments of atmospheric entry. This heatshield was instrumented with a comprehensive set of pressure and temperature sensors. The objective of this paper is to present the thermal flight data returned and provide a preliminary post-flight analysis of MSL's aerothermal environment and heatshield thermal response. The flight temperature data are compared with the thermal response predictions by the same analytical models used in heatshield design. In addition to this direct comparison, a preliminary inverse analysis is performed where the time-dependent surface heating is estimated from flight-measured subsurface temperature data.
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    Initial Assessment of Mars Science Laboratory Heatshield Instrumentation Flight Data
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013-01) Bose, Deepak ; White, Todd ; Santos, Jose A. ; Feldman, Jay ; Mahzari, Milad ; Olson, Michael ; Laub, Bernard
    The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Entry Descent and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI) suite on MSL entry vehicle heatshield has successfully returned pressure, temperature, and thermal protection system (TPS) ablation data acquired during entry. This paper provides an initial assessment of MEDLI thermal instrumentation data that is comprised of in-depth temperatures in the TPS made of Phenolic-Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA). Temperatures are measured in-depth at seven different locations on the surface. The thermal sensor plugs are also characterized in arc jet facilities to quantify measurement uncertainties and biases. The assessment of flight data provides key insights into boundary layer transition to turbulence, surface recession, turbulent heating augmentation, stagnation point and apex laminar heating, and in-depth thermal response. A preliminary comparison with model results highlights inadequacies in our predictive capability. The peak temperature measured by near surface thermocouples was found to be 1049 C in the vicinity of apex region. Initial estimate of peak surface temperature with nominal model settings is about 1575 C. The peak heat flux was found to be on the leeside of the vehicle as predicted, but its value is sensitive to the recession model.