Lunar descent using sequential engine shutdown

The notion of sequential engine shutdown is introduced and its application to lunar descent is motivated. The concept calls for the utilization of multiple fixed thrust engines in place of a single continuously throttleable engine. Downrange position control is provided by properly timed engine shutdowns. The principle advantage offered is the potential cost savings that would result from the elimination of the development cost of a throttleable rocket engine. Past lunar landing efforts are reviewed and provide the foundation for a baseline vehicle definition. A descent from a lunar parking orbit is assumed. The powered descent is divided into two phases, and a sequential engine shutdown-based guidance scheme is developed for the earlier phase. The guidance scheme consists of a biased ignition point and an algorithm for calculating shutdown times combined with a linear tangent steering law to provide full terminal position control. The performance of the sequential engine shutdown guidance scheme is assessed against two alternative approaches.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Springmann, Philip N

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ronald J. Proulx.

• Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35563

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/35563