Load relief system for a launch vehicle

A load relief system for a launch vehicle comprising:

• a wind sensing system responsive to wind speed and direction at selected locations for providing an output of sensed wind speed and wind direction at said selected locations;
• a plant model responsive to the sensed wind speed and direction within a finite horizon, a current state of the launch vehicle, and control commands of the launch vehicle to predict the future trajectory of the launch vehicle by integrating equations of motion;
• an error circuit responsive to said predicted trajectory and a reference trajectory to produce a trajectory error;
• and
• an optimizer responsive to said trajectory error, vehicle constraints, a cost function, and said current state of said launch vehicle, said optimizer configured to provide control commands to compensate for wind load over the finite horizon of the launch vehicle by determining said control commands that approximately minimize said cost function.

A method for providing load relief to a launch vehicle, the method comprising:

• sensing the wind speed and direction at selected locations;
• predicting the trajectory of the launch vehicle with a plant model responsive to the sensed wind speed and direction within a finite horizon, a current state of the launched vehicle, and control commands of the launch vehicle;
• determining a trajectory error by comparing a reference trajectory to said predicted trajectory;
• and
• generating from said trajectory error, control commands to compensate for wind load at the finite horizon of the launch vehicle by reducing the total angle of attack.