US 9,429,105 B2 · Rocket vehicle with integrated attitude control and thrust vectoring

Abstract

A rocket vehicle includes a controller that integrates operation of a variable-vector main thruster and attitude control thrusters. When the main thruster is firing and roll is commanded, the controller can provide roll moment by firing only a single attitude control thruster, while changing the thrust vector of the main thruster to offset any pitch/yaw moments induced by the firing of the single attitude control thruster. The single attitude control thruster may be a thruster on the leeward side of the rocket vehicle. Since there is a lower wall pressure on the leeward side of the rocket vehicle, the thruster efficiency is improved by accomplishing roll by use of a single thruster (which may be one of a pair of thrusters used to achieve roll in one direction). A significant reduction in fuel use may be accomplished.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A rocket vehicle comprising:

a fuselage;
a main thruster coupled to the fuselage, wherein the main thruster provides forward thrust to the rocket vehicle;
an attitude control system that includes pairs of attitude control thrusters for providing roll moments in opposite directions;
and
a controller operatively coupled to the attitude control system and the main thruster,
wherein the main thruster is a vector control thruster that allows variation in thrust direction of the main thruster;
and
wherein the controller, at least when the rocket vehicle is operating in atmosphere, changes the thrust direction of the main thruster to compensate for the lateral moment created when developing the roll moment by using only one attitude control thruster of the one of the pairs of attitude control thrusters.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Rocket vehicle with integrated attitude control and thrust vectoring

Life of this patent

Rocket vehicle with integrated attitude control and thrust vectoring

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims16