Title:
Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Techniques for Branching Trajectories
Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Techniques for Branching Trajectories
Author(s)
Ledsinger, Laura Anne
Olds, John R.
Olds, John R.
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Abstract
Fully reusable two-stage-to-orbit vehicle designs
that incorporate ‘branching’ trajectories during their
ascent are of current interest in the advanced launch
vehicle design community. Unlike expendable vehicle
designs, the booster of a reusable system must fly to a
designated landing site after staging. Therefore, both
the booster return branch and the orbital upper stage
branch along with the lower ascent trajectory are of
interest after the staging point and must be
simultaneously optimized in order to achieve an
overall system objective. Current and notable designs
in this class include the U. S. Air Force Space
Operations Vehicle designs with their ‘pop-up’
trajectories, the Kelly Astroliner, the Kistler K-1, one
of the preliminary designs for NASA’s Bantam-X
study, and NASA’s proposed liquid flyback booster
designs (Space Shuttle solid booster upgrade).
The solution to this problem using an industrystandard
trajectory optimization code (POST) typically
requires at least two separate computer jobs — one for
the orbital branch from the ground to orbit and one for
the booster branch from the staging point to the
landing site. In some cases, three computer jobs may
be desired: one from launch to staging, one for the
upper stage, and one for the booster flyback.
However, these jobs are tightly coupled and their data
requirements are interdependent. This paper expounds
upon the research necessary to improve the accuracy,
computational efficiency, and data consistency with
which the branching trajectory problem can be solved.
In particular, the proposed methods originate from the
field of Multidisciplinary Design Optimization
(MDO).
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Date Issued
1998-09
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263913 bytes
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Text
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Paper