Abstract
This paper proposes an algorithm for modeling a three-dimensional tethered environment for testing vertical-take off, vertical landing vehicles. The method is able to take several geometrical configurations into account and combines the classical catenary model with the elasticity theory to predict the forces acting on the lander in quasistatic conditions, i.e., in conditions of hovering, where the motion of the vehicle is reduced. Numerical results confirm that the method is potentially able to provide real-time solutions, which can be included as feedforward contributions in the design of tethered experiments.
Highlights
Recent and future missions involve a precise descent and landing in addition to the ascent phase to reach the target orbit
This paper addresses the problem of modeling the tethered testbed during the hovering experiments of the VTVL vehicle EAGLE (Environment for Autonomous GNC Landing Experiments) developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) [9,10,11]
Every position in the allowed flight area can be analyzed but in this context two possible motions of EAGLE are considered as test cases
Summary
Recent and future missions involve a precise descent and landing in addition to the ascent phase to reach the target orbit. Several ideas to support and accelerate the GNC development using demonstrators have been conceived in the past, for example NASA’s Morpheus lander [1, 2] or the HOMER demonstrator of Airbus Defense and Space [3, 4]. In these and other developments of space systems, a wide variety of tethered experimental setups has been created [1, 2, 5,6,7,8]
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