TY - JOUR
T1 - Arresting-cable system for robust terminal landing of reusable rockets
AU - Zhang, Huan
AU - Zhao, Zhihua
AU - Ren, Gexue
AU - Hu, Pengxiang
AU - Yang, Yunfei
AU - Pan, Zhongwen
AU - Sanfedino, Francesco
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by The Authors. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Recent successful recovery techniques for rockets require that rockets maintain a vertical configuration with zero vertical and lateral velocities; otherwise, landings may fail. To relax this requirement, a new active-arresting system (inspired by the arresting gears used on aircraft carriers) is proposed herein to achieve a robust landing, even if the rocket deviates from the target position or has notable residual velocities and inclinations. The system consists of four deployable onboard hooks above the rocket’s center of mass, an on-ground apparatus containing four arresting cables forming a square capture frame, and four buffer devices to actively catch and passively decelerate the landing rocket. To catch the rocket, the capture frame was controlled by servo motors via a simple proportional-derivative controller. After catching, the buffer devices generate decelerating forces to stop its motion. A flexible multibody model of the proposed system was built to evaluate its robust performance under various combinations of multiple uncertainties, such as noise measurement, time delay in the motor, initial conditions, and wind excitation. Using a quasi-Monte Carlo method, hundreds of deviated landing cases were generated and simulated. The results confirmed the robustness of the proposed system for achieving successful terminal landings.
AB - Recent successful recovery techniques for rockets require that rockets maintain a vertical configuration with zero vertical and lateral velocities; otherwise, landings may fail. To relax this requirement, a new active-arresting system (inspired by the arresting gears used on aircraft carriers) is proposed herein to achieve a robust landing, even if the rocket deviates from the target position or has notable residual velocities and inclinations. The system consists of four deployable onboard hooks above the rocket’s center of mass, an on-ground apparatus containing four arresting cables forming a square capture frame, and four buffer devices to actively catch and passively decelerate the landing rocket. To catch the rocket, the capture frame was controlled by servo motors via a simple proportional-derivative controller. After catching, the buffer devices generate decelerating forces to stop its motion. A flexible multibody model of the proposed system was built to evaluate its robust performance under various combinations of multiple uncertainties, such as noise measurement, time delay in the motor, initial conditions, and wind excitation. Using a quasi-Monte Carlo method, hundreds of deviated landing cases were generated and simulated. The results confirmed the robustness of the proposed system for achieving successful terminal landings.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102791064&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2514/1.A34646
DO - 10.2514/1.A34646
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85102791064
SN - 0022-4650
VL - 58
SP - 425
EP - 443
JO - Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets
JF - Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets
IS - 2
ER -