Bidirectional control surfaces for use with high speed vehicles, and associated systems and methods
AssigneeBlue Origin, LLC
InventorMark Featherstone
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Vehicles with bidirectional control surfaces and associated systems and methods are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, a rocket can include a plurality of bidirectional control surfaces positioned toward an aft portion of the rocket. In this embodiment, the bidirectional control surfaces can be operable to control the orientation and/or flight path of the rocket during both ascent, in a nose-first orientation, and descent, in a tail-first orientation for, e.g., a tail-down landing.
Claims26
A rocket comprising:
- a first end portion;
- a second end portion;
- one or more bidirectional aerodynamic control surfaces, wherein each of the one or more aerodynamic control surfaces spans between a root portion and a distal tip portion;
- and
- a control system configured to pivot each of the one or more aerodynamic control surfaces about a pivot axis extending from the root portion toward the tip portion to steer the rocket when the rocket is flying in a first orientation in which the first end portion leads the second end portion, and to steer the rocket when the rocket is flying in a second orientation in which the second end portion leads the first end portion.
A rocket for transporting at least one of humans and cargo into space, the rocket comprising:
- a first end portion;
- a second end portion;
- and
- a plurality of movable bidirectional control surfaces that steer the rocket when the rocket is flying in a first orientation in which the first end portion leads the second end portion, and when the rocket is flying in a second orientation in which the second end portion leads the first end portion, wherein each of the bidirectional control surfaces includes:
- a root portion;
- a distal tip portion spaced apart from the root portion;
- a first edge portion extending between the root portion and the tip portion;
- and
- a second edge portion extending between the root portion and the tip portion, wherein a chord extends between the first edge portion and the second edge portion;
- wherein the first edge portion leads the second edge portion when the rocket is flying in the first orientation.
A space launch vehicle having a nose portion spaced apart from a tail portion, the vehicle comprising:
- a rocket exhaust nozzle;
- a plurality of fins extending outwardly from the vehicle, each of the plurality of fins having a first edge portion closer to the nose portion than the tail portion, a second edge portion closer to the tail portion than the nose portion, and an axis extending between the first and second edge portions;
- and
- a control system configured to pivot each fin about each fin's respective axis to provide active aerodynamic control of the vehicle when the vehicle is in nose-first airflow and when the vehicle is in tail-first airflow.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.