Hydraulic thrust vector yaw control for rocket catapult motor assembly

An ejection seat, comprising:

• a seat pan;
• a seat back coupled to the seat pan;
• and
• a rocket catapult assembly coupled to the seat back, the rocket catapult assembly including:
• a motor assembly configured to generate a high pressure gas,
• a nozzle assembly coupled to the motor assembly and configured to receive the high pressure gas, and
• a motor cap assembly coupled to the motor assembly distal of the nozzle assembly and configured to receive the high pressure gas, the motor cap assembly comprising:
• a servo valve assembly,
• a reservoir;
• a gas block;
• a motor cap manifold housing comprising a monolithic body having an internal manifold structure integral to the monolithic body configured to communicate the high pressure gas between the motor assembly and the gas block;
• a rack piston disposed within a cylinder defined by the motor cap manifold housing, the rack piston being configured to translate axially within the cylinder, wherein the internal manifold structure of the motor cap manifold housing is configured to communicate a hydraulic fluid between, the reservoir, the servo valve assembly, and the cylinder;
• and
• a motor cap outer housing coupled circumferentially about the motor cap manifold housing, wherein the motor cap outer housing is configured to rotate circumferentially about the motor cap manifold housing in response to an axial translation of the rack piston.

An article of manufacture including a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• transitioning, by the processor, a rocket catapult assembly from an inactive to an active state;
• retracting, by the processor, a gas nipple piston and breaking a fluid communication between a gas cylinder and a gas port;
• determining, by the processor, a current yaw angle based on a yaw rate signal;
• determining, by the processor, a desired yaw angle based on a first pressure signal;
• and
• controlling, by the processor, a motor cap assembly to a yaw command angle based on the desired yaw angle.