Onorbit flight control design for the Kistler K-1 reusable launch vehicle

by consolidating launch and landing processes and minimizing vehicle-servicing requirements. This paper describes the onorbit control design for the Kistler K-l Reusable Launch Vehicle Orbiting Vehicle (OV) stage. To meet the K-l design goals, the control must provide fully autonomous operation with minimal pre-flight reconfiguration. The onorbit guidance, navigation and control targets, guides and controls the vehicle to and from orbit, maintains orientation to adequately deploy payloads, separates from the payloads to avoid collision and provides spinstabilization prior to long periods of orbital “sleep” operations. For control, the OV relies. on a gimbaled Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) and cold-gas thrusters. The flight control algorithms are derived from the US Space Shuttle and Russian Mir Space Station control algorithms.. -This, paper overviews the onorbit mission operations for the ‘K-l vehicle, presents the control algorithms developed and summarizes predicted onorbit control performance. A key concept in the design of the K-l vehicle is to utilize proven hardware systems and to rely on the software to provide significant autonomy, robustness and performance. The onboard software must be designed to require minimal pre-launch mission definition to reduce flight operation costs. These requirements place a significant burden on the Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) software. The K-l relies on a. minimal set of proven hardware for onorbit control. Orbital, adjustments are made with , Orbital Maneuvering System’ (OMS) engines. Attitude maintenance during orbit ,‘.and -entry is provided via twelve 150 lb-f thrusters located in four clusters in the aft. State measurements. are provided through an Embedded GPS INS (EGI).