Verification of the Controllability and Control Algorithms for VS-50
- Paper number
IAC-20,A2,5,6,x59057
- Author
Dr. Alexander Schmidt, Germany, German Aerospace Center (DLR)
- Year
2020
- Abstract
The VS-50 is a two stage rocket, consisting of one solid S50 and one solid S44 motor stage. This rocket is currently developed by Aeronautics and Space Institute (IAE) in Brazil and German Aerospace Center (DLR). The aims of this vehicle are to use this rocket for hypersonic research programs, for long term microgravity missions (>15 min) and to bring instrumentations (telescopes) above the atmosphere for more than 15 minutes. The VS-50 has a big cargo volume in a cylindrical shape with a diameter of 1.3 m and a length of 3 m. The payload mass could be in the order of 500 kg. Furthermore, this 2-stage rocket can be extended by a third stage (S50-S50-S44) for putting microsatellites into the LEO orbit. For the control of the VS-50 vehicle a thrust vector assembly (TVA) and cold gas systems on-board are foreseen. To save extra weight a roll control system for the first stage is renounced. The control system on-board passed a variety of tests in order to verify the capability and robustness of the control loops, also considering a wide range of applications, uncertainties of aerodynamic models and variations of motor performance. These tests included hardware in the loop tests (HiL) and a bundle of software simulations on the basis of Monte Carlo and worst case scenarios. This paper gives a detailed overview of the control challenges and the kind of tests which have been necessary to verify the controllability of the rocket, the robustness of the control loops and to cover the related safety aspects as well.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)