Title:
Supersonic Vehicle Configuration Transitions to Enable
Supersonic Retropropulsion during Mars Entry, Descent,
and Landing
Supersonic Vehicle Configuration Transitions to Enable
Supersonic Retropropulsion during Mars Entry, Descent,
and Landing
Author(s)
Blette, David J.
Advisor(s)
Braun, Robert D.
Editor(s)
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Abstract
This paper investigates types of supersonic vehicle configuration transition events nec essary to initiation supersonic retropropulsion as part of human-class Mars entry, descent,
and landing. This research assumes an entry vehicle with a 105 mT entry mass and an
ellipsled aeroshell similar to the NASA EDL Design Reference Architecture 5.0. All entry
architectures are assumed all-propulsive. Three transition architectures are considered: a
pitch-around maneuver, an aeroshell front-exit, and an aeroshell hinged-exit. Propulsive
subsystem thrust requirements are defined for the pitch-around maneuver. For transitions
involving solid mass ejections, debris flight envelopes are determined and compared to a
descent vehicle trajectory under a modified gravity turn. It is shown that far-field recon tact risks exist for the proposed architectures involving solid mass ejections and recontact
mitigation schemes are required.
Sponsor
Date Issued
2016-02-29
Extent
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Masters Project
Rights Statement
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