Flight Management System for Unmanned Reusable Space Vehicle Atmospheric and Re-Entry Trajectory Optimisation

Abstract

The design and trajectory computation algorithms of an innovative Flight Management System (FMS) for Unmanned Reusable Space Vehicle (URSV) are presented. The proposed FMS features a number of common functionalities with modern aircraft FMS that enable flight planning in non-segregated airspace, as well as specific features for optimal trajectory generation and space segment monitoring of the flight mission. The general avionics architecture of URSV is presented and the specific FMS algorithms are developed to cope with the flight vehicle optimal trajectory planning and monitoring. Simulation case studies are performed in a realistic operational scenario resulting in the rapid generation of feasible trajectories, ensuring no violation of the defined mission and vehicle dynamics constraints. Additionally, error budget analysis is performed on longitudinal profile trajectories to evaluate the URSV performance.