Kinetic energy vehicle with attitude control system having paired thrusters
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsHuy P. Nguyen, Rob J. Fuentes, Michael Schmidt
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A kinetic energy vehicle (or warhead) has a divert thruster system and an attitude control system, both operatively coupled to receive pressurized gasses from a solid rocket motor that is operatively coupled to both systems. The attitude control system may have two pairs of attitude control thrusters, with one of the pairs diametrically opposed from the other pair, on opposite sides of an end (such as a rear end) of the vehicle. The attitude control thrusters all have radial and circumferential components to their thrust, and various combinations of the attitude control thrusters may be used to achieve desired roll, pitch, and/or yaw.
Claims20
A kinetic energy vehicle comprising:
- a solid rocket motor;
- a divert thruster system;
- and
- an attitude control system;
- wherein the divert thruster system and the attitude control system are operatively coupled to the solid rocket motor to receive pressurized gasses output by the solid rocket motor;
- wherein the attitude control system includes two pairs of attitude control thrusters, with one pair diametrically opposed to the other pair, and with the attitude control thrusters of each pair having radial thrust components in an outward radial direction and circumferential thrust components in opposite circumferential directions;
- and
- wherein a first flow passage provides pressurized gas from the solid rocket motor to the attitude control thrusters of one of the pairs of attitude control thrusters;
- and
- wherein a second flow passage provides pressurized gas from the solid rocket motor to the attitude control thrusters of another of the pairs of attitude control thrusters.
A kinetic energy vehicle comprising:
- a solid rocket motor;
- a divert thruster system;
- an attitude control system;
- and
- an axially-aligned thruster operatively coupled to the solid rocket motor to receive pressurized gasses output by the solid rocket motor;
- wherein the divert thruster system and the attitude control system are operatively coupled to the solid rocket motor to receive pressurized gasses output by the solid rocket motor;
- and
- wherein the attitude control system includes two pairs of attitude control thrusters, with one pair diametrically opposed to the other pair, and with the attitude control thrusters of each pair having radial thrust components in an outward radial direction and circumferential thrust components in opposite circumferential directions.
A method of flying a kinetic energy vehicle, the method comprising:
- launching the kinetic energy vehicle;
- and
- adjusting orientation by selectively actuating attitude control thrusters of kinetic energy vehicle to produce pitch, yaw, and roll moments;
- wherein the attitude control thrusters are in two pairs of attitude control thrusters, with one pair diametrically opposed to the other pair, and with the attitude control thrusters each pair having radial thrust components in an outward radial direction and circumferential thrust components in opposite circumferential directions;
- and
- wherein the adjusting orientation includes providing pressurized gasses from a solid rocket motor of the vehicle to one of the pairs of attitude control thrusters through a first flow passage, and providing pressurized gasses from the solid rocket motor to another of the pairs of attitude control thrusters through a second flow passage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.