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Throttle
Leveraging the Space 700 35 Dynamic Pressure Constraints
100%
Shuttle Experience
600 30 Points at which the
Never before in the history of flight had actual dynamic pressure
meets the constraints 95%
such a complex vehicle and challenging 500 25
Throttle (Percent)
Throttle Up
Throttle Down
During ascent, the shuttles main engines were throttled down due to dynamic pressure
constraints. The goal was to get as close as possible to the constraints to maximize performance.
Abort To Orbit
Transatlantic Abort
Abort Once Around
Return To
Launch Site
Pacific Ocean
Near Hawaii Dryden
Flight
Launch Research
Site Europe Center,
Kennedy Space Western Eastern or Africa California
Center, Florida Atlantic Atlantic
External Tank
Separation
2.2g Control
2.2g Control
vehicle telemetry and complex vehicle
d 2 (Feet/Second
Systtem Limit
System L
performance predictor algorithms to Surface
Surfacce
Dynamic
10 Temperatur
ature
Temperature Constant
assist the crew in choosing the best Limitts
Limits Drag Pressure
Pressure
Phase C
Constraint
abort guidance targets and a safe 30 (overheating
(overheaating
due to high
h drag) Equilibrium
Eq
quilibrium
brium
landing site. The Abort Region Glid
de
Glide
Meters/Second
8 Transition
Transition
Drag Acceleration, Meters/Secon
Undershoot
Undersh
hoot Phasese
Determinator was the primary ground Phase
Pre-entry
Pre entry
e-e
e y
Summary 0 0
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
The shuttle ascent and ascent flight 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
design were complex. NASA Relative Velocity
Velocity,
Velocity
y, Kilometers/Second (Thousands of Feet/Second)
developed and verified many
innovative guidance algorithms to Shuttle re-entry guidance was segmented into several phaseseach designed to satisfy
accomplish mission objectives and unique constraints during flight. The narrow region of acceptable flight conditions was called
maintain vehicle and crew safety. the flight corridor. The surface temperature constraints resided at the lower altitude and
This legacy of flight techniques and high drag undershoot side of the flight corridor. In contrast, if the vehicle flew too close to
the overshoot boundary, it would not have enough drag acceleration to reach the landing
computer tools will prove invaluable site and could possibly skip back into orbit. As the vehicle penetrated deeper into the
to all new spacecraft developments. atmosphere, the undershoot corridor was redefined by the vehicle control system and dynamic
pressure constraints.
Forward Center-of-Gravity
Static Margin Control Limit
exceeded. Even after a successful Higher Drag and Heat Rate
45 Cros
ss Range
Reduced Range and Cross
landing, structural damage from heating
Control Limit
could make the vehicle un-reuseable; 40
therefore, it was essential that the
ees
Angle of Attack (Alpha), Degrees
grre
surface remain within those limits.
Degr
35
To accomplish this, different parts of
the vehicle were covered with different 30
types of protective material, depending
on local heating. 25
Lower D
Drag
The objective of the re-entry guidance 20
Increased
Increased Range
e and Static Margin Control Limit
Cross Ra
Cross Range
design during this phase was to ensure
that the heat-rate constraints of the 15
Forward Center-of-Gravity Control Limit
Thermal Protection System were not
compromised. That is why the constant 10
Landing
Site
80
Bank Angle, Degrees
40
Azimuth
0
Error
Error
-40
-80
30
20
muth Errorr, Degrees
R
Roll
oll R
10 Shuttle
Reversal
Banking
eversal
0
Azimuth
Equilibrium Glide Phase balance gravitational and centrifugal communication and tracking loss due
forces on the vehicle. During this to plasma shield interference) and also
As the speed of the shuttle dropped phase, only the reference drag profile in change runway landing direction due
below about 6,200 m/s (20,500 ft/s), the equilibrium glide phase was to landing wind changes.
the constant heat-rate phase ended and modified to correct range errors. All
the equilibrium glide phase began. This future phases were left at their nominal
was an intermediate phase between setting. This ranging approach was Constant Drag Phase
high heating and the rapidly increasing designed into the shuttle re-entry The constant drag phase began and
deceleration that occurred as the guidance to reserve ranging capability. the equilibrium glide phase ended
vehicle penetrated deeper into the This enabled the vehicle to when either the desired constant drag
atmosphere. This phase determined the accommodate large navigation errors acceleration target of 10 m/s2 (33 ft/s2)
drag-velocity reference required to post ionization blackout (ground