If One Advances Confidently in the Direction of His Dreams, and Endeavors to Live The

A.3.1 Introduction pg. #

A. 3.1: Introduction

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

- Henry David Thoreau

The control of a launch vehicle as it ascends into the heavens represents a complex problem that is critical to the success of any launch. Proving that the launch vehicle configuration was controllable and that the trajectory designed by the trajectory group could be followed was paramount to the design process as a vehicle that can not be controlled is worthless. With that in mind we ventured to prove that the launch vehicles designed could be controlled into orbit with the same confidence that Thoreau describes. From a dynamics and controls perspective we faced several challenges throughout the course of the design process and in an extremely short time period developed the tools necessary to prove the capabilities required to meet the mission requirements. These tools include a simulator designed in MATLAB Simulink. This simulator solves the six degree of freedom dynamics of the launch vehicle and implements a control scheme to follow steering and stability requirements. This simulator is then implemented in a Monte Carlo method to prove 99.86% probability of meeting the mission requirements. Also included in our software design is a tool which solves the equations of motion governing spin up to prove the stability of the uncontrolled third stage. The design process behind these tools and the results achieved, as well as analysis for these results, are outlined in this section. As a group we set lofty goals and pursued them with great vigor. The determination exhibited by every member of the dynamics and controls group lead us to achieving more than we could have dreamed at the outset.

Author: Michael Walker