Shroud driven deployable flight surfaces and method

A nose assembly for a flight vehicle, comprising:

• a nose cone;
• a shroud including a plurality of segments that define an external volume between the nose cone and the shroud, said segments detachably mounted for in flight release;
• a base mounted on the nose cone within the external volume;
• a tip section rotatably attached to the base at a pivot point such that the tip section moves between a stowed position within the external volume forward of the base and a deployed position such that the base and tip section form a complete canard;
• and
• a drive feature on an interior surface of one of the segments of the shroud such that the drive feature moves from a stowed position forward of the pivot point adjacent an edge of the tip section to engage and rotate the tip section to its deployed position.

A method of deploying a flight surface on a flight vehicle, said flight vehicle including a body, a tapered section positioned fore or aft of the body, and a shroud including a plurality of detachable segments that define an external volume between the tapered section and the shroud, the method comprising:

• attaching a base to the tapered section within the external volume;
• rotatably coupling a tip section to the base at a pivot point,
• stowing the tip section within the external volume forward of the base in a stowed position;
• mounting a drive feature on an interior surface of one of the segments of the shroud forward of the pivot point adjacent an edge of the tip section in the stowed-position;
• and
• detaching the shroud segments in flight such that the drive feature engages the edge and rotates the tip section about the pivot point into a deployed position such that the base and tip section form a complete flight surface.