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Optimal flight paths for a winged supersonic rocket vehicle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

E. Large
E. Large*
Affiliation:
Marconi Space and Defence Systems Ltd
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Extract

In 1951, Tsien and Evans successfully solved the problem of finding the optimum flight path for a vertically ascending sounding rocket (Ref. 1). Hibbs, in 1952, solved the problem of finding the optimum burning program for horizontal flight of a winged, rocket-propelled vehicle (Ref. 2). Since then work on optimal flight paths within the atmosphere has stagnated, most work being done for constant thrust, programmed in angle, in vacuo.

The present work extends Tsien and Evans', and Hibbs' work, to flight paths off the vertical. Although the simpler paths produced analytical solutions in the time domain, the present solution is not analytic and is carried out numerically using distance or path length as the independent variable.

Type
Technical Notes
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 82 , Issue 816 , December 1978 , pp. 517 - 522
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1978 

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References

1. Tsien, H. S. and Evans, R. C. Optimum thrust programming for a sounding rocket. ARS Journal 21, No 5 (1951).Google Scholar
2. Hibbs, Albert R. Optimum burning program for horizontal flight. ARS Journal 22, No 4 (1952).Google Scholar
3. Leitman, G. Ed. Optimisation techniques—with application to aerospace systems. Academic Press, 1962.Google Scholar