Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
MEMORANDUM
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND
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ERRATA
CLASSIFIED PORTION
I ssued 6-15-64
April 22 - 2 4, 1963
Dallas, Texas
The papers presented in this report represent the classified portion of the Second Manned
Space Flight Meeting which was held in Dallas, Texas, on April 22- 24, 1963. The meeting was co-
sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration. The following subjects are discussed in the report: Manned Space
Flight Programs, Launch Vehciles, Spacecraft Design, and Guidance and Control.
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CONTENTS
Page
roREWORD • • • • ••• i
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THE X- 20 (DYNA- SOAR) PROGRESS REPORT . . • • . . • 17
By Calvin B. Hargis, Jr., Aeronautical Systems Division, U. S. Air Force
APOLLO GUIDANCE AND NAVIGATION - A PROBLEM IN MAN AND MACHINE INl'EJRATION • • . . . . .. 115
By David G. Hoag, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
FACTORS AFFECTING THE DESIGN OF FLIGHT STABILIZATION AND CONTROL SYSTEMS roR MANNED
SPACECRAFT. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ••••••••• 135
By Charles L. Seacord, Minneapolis- Honeywell Regulator Company
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William J . Blatz
Senior Project Engineer, Gemini
McDonnell Aircraft Corporation
The Gemini program, vhich vas initiated by the Each of the stated mission objectives repre -
NASA approximately 16 months ago, is being imple - sents a significant step forvard, and each dictates
mented by the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation as the specific design requirements beyond those imposed
next logical step in the nation's manned spacecraft by the Mercury mission. In Table 1, an attempt is
program. The underlying concept of the Gemini de - made to categorize according to miSSion objective
sign is to utilize the Project Mercury background to the many Gemini subsystems and design features
the fullest possible extent as a stepping stone to a vhich are nev or significantly improved over cor-
practical operational spacecraft. The key vord here responding features in the Mercury spacecraft .
is "operational." Project Mercury's basic objective
vas simply to put man in space and bring him safely Consider first the 14- day mission. This re -
back. Gemini, in contrast, aims at exploring and quires an order of magnitude improvement in mean -
exploiting man's ability to function in space and to time -before -failure in many areas to achieve com-
develop truly operational systems and techniques parable mission reliability to the Mercury program.
applicable to a variety of missions. Retention of Added electrical energy requirements have dictated
the basic Mercury aerodynamic configuration and re - the selection of a fuel cell system for pover vhile
entry heat protection concepts has permitted devel- in orbit. Cryogenic storage of hydrogen and oxygen
opment to proceed vith a minimum of costly and time - fuel cell reactants and breathing oxygen are used
consuming flight demonstration testing . This has to conserve veight and volume . Heat generated by
alloved emphasis to be placed upon development of eqUipment and crev is rejected to space by a radi -
the various spacecraft systems . It is in the latter ator using a liquid coolant vhich is circulated
area that the real advances of Gemini over Mercury through cold plates and heat exchangers in place of
are evident. the vater boiling technique used for the shorter
Mercury missions. Pulse code modulated telemetry
Before going on to a more detailed description gives the high data transmission rates needed to
of the spacecraft and its systems, it might be veIl dump the stored information during the limited time
to first examine the Gemini mission objectives and over ground tracking stations. Due to the bulk of
consider hov they have influenced the spacecraft de - expendable supplies, the adapter betveen the launch
sign . Quoting from the Gemini contract : vehiCle and the spacecraft re - entry module is util -
ized as an equipment compartment and is retained
"The objective of this contract is the research vith the spacecraft in orbit. It is jettisoned
and development of a versatile general purpose just prior to re-entry in contrast to the Mercury
spacecraft for the accomplishment of space missions procedure of leaving the adapter attached to the
of increasing complexity. launch vehicle.
"Specific objectives are : (not in order of im - Achievement of the second objective of a con-
portance) trolled land landing at a pre-selected point in -
volves control of both the re - entry trajectory and
a. Fourteen- day earth orbital flights . the final touchdovn maneuvers. Elf offsetting the
center of gravity of the re - entry module approxi -
b. Controlled land landing as primary recovery mately 1 . 75 inches from the longitudinal center
mode. line, an aerodynamic lift- to-dxag ratio of approxi-
mately . 22 is generated. The resulting lift vector
{ c. Demonstrate rendezvous and docking vith a is directed as needed to modulate the re - entry
(
target vehicle in earth orbit as an oper- trajectory by controlling the roll attitude of the
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ational technique. spacecraft. The roll attitude is adjusted in
response to error signals generated by an on -board
d. Develop simplified spacecraft countdovn inertial guidance system consisting primarily of an
techniques and procedures for accomplish - inertial measuring unit and a general purpose
I ing the rendezvous mission vhich are com- digital computer. The inertial guidance system
\ patible vith spacecraft launch vehiCle and also performs orbit navigation functions to keep
target vehicle performance . track of present position and compute the proper
retrograde time to allov touchdovn at any pre-
~ e. Determine man's performance capabilities
in a space environment during extended
selected site vithin the maneuvering capability of
the vehicle . A digital command receiver permits
missions . " periodiC up -dating from ground tracking stations.
ContrOlled landing is accomplished by means of a
Additional major design considerations vere paraglider vith final touchdovn on a 3 - skid landing
the designation of the Titan II as a launch ve - gear. Ejection seats are provided as a backup for
hicle, the selection of the Agena as a rendezvous the paraglider. They also serve as a crev escape
and docking target vehicle, and the requirement for system during the early portion of the launch and
a tva-man crev. pre- launch mission phases.
The third mission objective is to rendezvous system utilizing a 5 psia oxygen atmosphere, UHF
and tben to dock witb an Agena target vebicle. and HF voice communications, S- Band and C-Band
Target bearing, range, and range rate is detected tracking beacons, solid propellant retrograde
by a rendezvous radar system installed on tbe nose rockets, re - entry module attitude control thruster
of tbe spacecraft . An orbit attitude and maneuver - system, silver zinc batteries for re-entry and
ing propulsion system (OAMS) utilizing bypergol1c post- landing electrical power, and various recovery
storable propellants is installed in tbe adapter aids.
module and permits three axis attitude and trans -
lation control . The previously mentioned inertial The remaining portion of tbis paper will dis -
guidance system platform and computer units are cuss the integration of tbe foregoing features into
utilized to convert tbe radar outputs into dis- tbe Gemini spacecraft design and will present a
played thrust and attitude commands wbicb enable more detailed description of some of the major
tbe crew to accomplish tbe rendezvous maneuvers. systems.
The digital command system is used to receive
ground commands to enable tbe crew to maneuver to The full scale mockup photograph in Figure 1
witbin radar range of tbe target . Docking latches serves to relate tbe overall size of tbe spacecraft
mounted in the nose of the spacecraft are utilized to tbe crewmen standing alongside. Worthy of note
in conjunction with a docking adapter mounted on in tbis view are the inset individual windshields
the target vehicle to accomplish tbe final docking for the pilot and crewman. In Figure 2, tbe mock-
operation. Storage of the propellants and thrust - up is arranged to illustrate tbe division points
ers again dictates use of the adapter as an equip - between tbe major structural assemblies . At the
ment bay. right of the photograph is a 5 - foot diameter target
docking adapter which is supplied by McDonnell and
The fourtb mission objective, accomplisbment is bolted to the Lockheed Agena target vehicle.
of simplified countdown techniques, bas signifi - Next in line is the re - entry module. It consists
cantly affected tbe design of tbe spacecraft . A of a conical cabin section housing the crew and
number of tbe major SUbsystems sucb as tbe radar, most of the environmental control and electronics
re - entry attitude control system, paraglider instal- eqUipment, surmounted by a cylindrical section con-
lation, fuel cell and reactant system, cooling pump taining the re - entry attitude control thrusters to
package, environmental control system, and maneuver- which is attached the rendezvous and re -entry
ing propellant system, have been built into separate section in which the paraglider rendezvous radar
subassemblies. This modular concept allows systems and docking provisions are stowed. The spherical
to be cbecked out on tbe bench and quickly installed surface of the ablative heat shield forms tbe base
in the spacecraft. All of tbe electrical and elec - of the re -entry module. The overall length of the
tronics equipment in tbe re - entry module is in - re - entry module is 144 inches, and its maximum
stalled in equipment bays easily accessible througb diameter is 90 inches . For reference, correspond-
doors in tbe outer mold line of tbe spacecraft. ing Mercury dimensions are 90 inches and 74.5
Test points are built into all systems witb neces - incbes, respectively. The adapter shown here in
sary leads brougbt to conveniently accessible two sections is actually built as a single struct-
connectors for tie - in to test equipment. Automatic ural unit and severed during the course of the
cbeckout eqUipment is provided for rapid countdown mission into the two parts illustrated. The com -
operation, and all Aerospace Ground EqUipment has plete adapter is 90 inches long and tapers from the
been carefully integrated witb tbe spacecraft and 120- inch Titan II diameter at one end to the 90- inch )
launcb pad systems . re - entry module base diameter at the other. The
part adjacent to the re -entry module, termed the
The final objective of establisbing man's per - retrograde section, contains the four solid pro-
formance capabilities during extended periods in
orbital rligbt bas led to tbe basic concept of on-
pellant retrograde rocket motors. The equipment
section houses the fuel cells and reactants, OAMS
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board mission command. Decisions and control capa- propellants, coolant circulating pumps, and miscel -
bility are crew functions. The crew makes sucb de - laneous electronics and instrumentation equipment.
cisions as to when to abort, when to initiate The eqUipment section is Jettisoned just prior to
rendezvous and retrograde maneuvers, with tbe the retrograde maneuver by severing the structure at
ground complex serving in a monitoring and advisory the point shown in the photograph by means of a
capacity. Attitude and translation maneuvers are flexible linear shaped charge. A similar shaped
manuallY controlled. All on -board systems are charge at tbe 120- inch diameter base of the adapter
monitored and operated by tbe crew. The space is used to disconnect the spacecraft from tbe launch
suits have been designed such that helmets, arms, vebicle after insertion into orbit. Attachment of
and legs may be removed to approximate a shirt - tbe adapter to the re - entry module is by 3 steel
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sleeve operating condition. Provisions have been straps spaced about tbe peripbery of the re - entry
made in tbe hatches and the pressurization system module. These str aps, along witb wiring and tubing,
to allow egress from the cabin into space when are cut simultaneously by shaped charges when the
properly suited. retrograde section is jettisoned.
This concludes the roll call of new features Figure 3 shows the interior arrangement of tbe
introduced by the specific Gemini mission objec- spacecraft . The crewmen sit side by side but with
tives. To this list can be added those items which each seat canted outboard 12°. This eliminates any
have direct counterparts in the Mercury spacecraft. chance of contact during simultaneous seat ejection
These include the basic aerodynamics shape and re - and also conserves space for eqUipment . The
entry heat protection concepts, the life support pressurized cabin area houses the crew and tbeir
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directly associated equipment and supplies, such as versions of the propulsion, fuel cell, and breath-
food, water, and waste provisions, environmental ing oxygen modules, differing only in tankage
control system, displays, and crew-operated con - capacity, are being built to allow for the differ -
trols . All other equipment needed for re - entry and ent requirements of the 14- day mission and the 2 - day
post - landing is housed in the re - entry module in rendezvous mission. As mission requirements change
equipment bays which are outside the pressurized during the course of the program, it will be pos -
cabin. The major electrical and electronic bays sible to modify the various modules as needed with
are on either side of the cabin and are accessible a minimum of change to the basic spacecraft.
through removable doors in the outer mold line . A
third bay is located under the floor. The equip - Structure and Heat Protection. Figure 5 shows
ment in these compartments is so arranged that each the basic structural arrangement of the re - entry
unit may be removed and replaced without disturbing module. The design concept is to provide a basic
any other. load-carrying structure of titanium which is pro-
tected from the heat of re - entry by an outer sheath
EqUipment and supplies which are not needed of high temperature material. The pressurized
for re - entry and post - landing phases of the mission cabin walls are of a double layer of .010 inch
are stowed in the jettisonable adapter. This re - titanium, reinforced by stiffeners and by the
sults in a first -order reduction in the weight and equipment shelves as shown. The cylindrical re -
size of the re - entry module, plus a second- order entry control module is bolted to a ring at the
reduction in the weight and size of such items as small end of the conical cabin section with 9
retrograde rockets, heat protection, paraglider, attachment bolts . The ablation shield is fastened
and landing gear which are involved in recovery of to a ring at the opposite end of the cabin section .
the spacecraft from orbit. The jettisonable rendezvous and recovery section is
fastened to the re - entry control module by a ring
As noted earlier, the modular concept has been of bolts whose heads are blown off by a mild deton -
adopted in a number of areas to facilitate fabri - ating fuse assembly to deploy the paraglider.
cation as well as to expedite checkout and mainten -
ance. The extent to which this principle has been The main landing gear skids fold into two
applied is illustrated in Figure 4. In the re - longitudinal bays which extend the length of the
entry module, the radar is installed as a unit in conical section immediately below the equipment
the nose of the rendezvous and radar section which, bays on either side of the cabin. The main gear
in turn, is installed as a module complete with the struts extend outward and downward under the action
paragl1der wing. The paragl1der inflation bottle of a pyrotechnic actuator . Forged fittings trans -
and fittings, along with its forward cable reel mit the trunnion loads into the cabin walls and the
assemblies, are mounted on the nose landing gear, aft bulkhead. The landing gear doors are bolted on
and the entire assembly is installed as a unit . The and are jettisoned pyrotechnically in a similar
re -entry attitude control system is completely con - manner to the rendezvous and re - entry section. The
tained in a cylindrical module which bolts on to nose landing skid is attached to the forward fac e
the front end of the cabin section. This module of the re - entry control section and, when retracted,
includes propellant and pressurization tanks, is covered by the rendezvous and re - entry canister.
pressure regulators, valves, and thrust chamber The heat shield which covers the face of the re -
assemblies. The greater part of the environmental entry module consists of a fiber glass honeycomb
3
The afterbody heat protection used on Gemini Environmental Control System. As noted in
is almost identical to that proven on the Mercury Figure 10, the basic concepts of the Gemini environ-
spacecraft. As shown in Figure 7, high temperature
Rene 41 shingles .016" thick are used over the
conical section. Withstanding temperatures of up
to 1800·F, these shingles achieve a thermal balance
mental control system are similar to those of
Mercury. Points of similarity include the use of
a 5 psia pure oxYgen atmosphere, use of a space
suit to back up the pressurized cabin, CO removal
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by radiation to the atmosphere. The shingles are 2
by lithium hydroxide . Two significant departures
attached to the basic structure using bolts and from the Mercury system are incorporated in Gemini.
washers through oversized holes to allow for therm - These are the use of cryogenic rather than gaseous
al expansion. Small blocks of Min - K insulation are storage for primary oxYgen, and the use of a cool-
used at the support points, and a layer of Thermo - ant fluid and space radiator as the primary means
flex insulation is used between supports to keep of heat removal rather than water boiling.
substructural temperatures within limits . Over the
cylindrical sections of the afterbody, heating rates With the exception of the radiator, the en -
are too high for efficient radiation cooling and, vironmental control system is supplied by the
therefore, a heat sink principle is utilized. Beryl- AiResearch Division of the Garrett Corporation.
lium shingles .24 inches thick on the windward side AiResearch also supplied the Mercury system, and is
and .09 inches thick on the leeward side are in - thus able to draw upon this back- log of experience.
stalled over this area. Again, provisions for
thermal expansion are included. The suit and cabin are pressurized with oxYgen
supplied from either the primary cryogenic source
As a matter of interest, the heat distribution or a secondary gaseous supply. The secondary
pattern over the afterbody, based upon wind tunnel supply is stored at 5,000 psi in two 7 -lb . capacity
model data at a Mach number of 10 and an angle of bottles in the re -entry module, and serves both as
attack of 20·, is shown in Figure 8 . The isotherms an emergency supply in orbit and as a normal supply
shown represent constant values of the ratio of the during re - entry. Either of the two bottles will
local to the stagnation heat transfer coefficients, permit at least one full orbit plus re-entry. The
where cryogenic supply, stored in the adapter, contains
up to 104 Ibs . of super -critical oxYgen.
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Electrical System. A block diagram of the
mum of connections . This arrangement not only electrical system is shown in Figure 11. Primary
saves weight, but results in a superior design from electrical power during launch and orbit phases of
the meteoroid puncture standpoint, since the cool- the mission is supplied from a hydrogen -oxYgen fuel
ant tubes are protected both by the outer skin and cell battery stowed in the adapter. This unit,
the legs of the extrusions .
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currently under development by the General Electric Attitude and Maneuver Propulsion Systems. A
Company, is of the ion exchange membrane type . total of 32 bi -propellant liquid rocket thrust
Actually, the installation in Gemini consists of chambers are used for controlling attitude and
two separate, identical packages - or sections, as maneuvering the Gemini spacecraft . Thrust chamber
they are called - each of which bas redundant sizes and locations are shown in Figure 12 . As
coolant loops, its own reactant control valves, shown in the left - hand sketch, three independent
electrical controls, and instrumentation. Each attitude control systems are provided. Each con -
section is made up of three stacks of 32 individual sists of eight 25 - lb. thrust units arranged to fire
cells. Each stack bas a rated output of 350 watts in parallel pairs for yaw and pitch control or,
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the mission even if one complete section is lost. ver propulsion systems, generally referred to as
In the event of complete fuel cell system failure, the OAMS, share a common propellant supply. The
the batteries will provide for at least one orbit OAMS thruster arrangement permits attitude and ma -
followed by a normal re-entry and a minimum of 12 neuver control in the event of the loss of any
I hours post-landing eqUipment operation. single thruster. Complete redundancy is not pro -
vided because mission safety is not directly
A second battery system consisting of three involved, and because of the high weight penalties
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the several AC powered devices such as the control vide attitude control throughout a rendezvous
system electronics, inertial guidance system, suit mission plus a 700 foot / second maneuvering velOCity
and cabin fans, and coolant pumps. This allows increment. For the non - rendezvous, long duration
electrical characteristics of each inverter to be mission, smaller OAMS tanks are used to save weight
matched in its particular application. Off design and allow extra oxygen and fuel cell reactant s to
operation with resulting penalties in conversion be carried.
efficiency is thereby minimized.
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The RCS and OAMS thrust chambers and propel- angular rates about all three axes are damped to
lant systems are being supplied to McDonnell by less than .1° per second. Since .1° per second is
the Rocketdyne Division of North American Aviation . equal to the angular rate of the large hand on a
clock, this mode is equivalent - for short time
Guidance and Control Electronics. A detailed periods, at least - to an attitude hold mode. The
description of the Gemini guidance and control single pulse mode is one in vhich a single minimum
system and its operation is beyond the scope of duration thruster pulse results each time the con -
this report. A series of reports could be, and in trol handle is deflected from neutral. It is used
fact has been, written on this phase of the space - for precise attitude control; for example, vhen
craft design . Therefore, only a brief description preparing to align the inertial platform, or for
of the system and its components, along vith a very making minor adjustments to angular rates during
cursory reviev of its functions, vill be attempted. extended orbital flight. The direct or fly -by -
vire mode, as previously noted, is essentially a
Figure 14 presents a very simplified block backup method of operating the thrusters and re -
diagram of the guidance and control system. Pilot sults in a constant angular acceleration any time
inputs are made through either the attitude control the control handle is deflected.
or the maneuver control handle. These are proc -
essed through the attitude control and maneuver The automatic orbital attitude control mode is
electronics (ACME) vhich contains the logic cir - a coarse slaving of the spacecraft attitude to the
cuitry needed to select the proper thruster valves . vertical as detected by the horizon scanner . It
Resulting spacecraft dynamics are sensed by rate holds roll and pitch attitude to within approxi -
gyros, by the horizon scanners and inertial measur - mately 5° during extended periods of orbital flight
ing unit of the inertial guidance system and, in without the need for operation of the complete
the case of motion v ith respect to the target, by inertial guidance and associated electronics sys -
the rendezvous radar. Outputs from the sensing tems. Since no yaw reference is available in this
units are fed either directly or through the com - mode , yaw attitude is manually controlled by the
puter to the several displays to command pilot pilot using the single pulse mode for control and
action. Depending upon the particular control mode visual observation of the ground as a reference.
selected, outputs from the sensors may also be fed The automatic re - entry attitude control mode pro -
directly into the ACME to provide automatic or vides rate damping in pitch and yaw about the aero -
mixed control modes . In the case of re - entry atti - dynamic trim point of the spacecraft, and roll
tude control, a direct mode exists in which control attitude control in response to error signals from
signals may be fed directly from the control handle the inertial guidance system.
into the thruster chamber solenoid valves.
Only one mode of translation thruster control
Responsibility for the overall concept , defi - is provided. This is a manual direct control mode
nition and final integration of the guidance and in vhich thrusters are simply turned on or off by
control system into the spacecraft rests vith motion of the maneuver handle .
McDonnell. Component suppliers include Minneapolis -
Honeywell, Minneapolis, for the ACME and rate gyro The heart of the guidance and control system
systems ; Minneapolis - Honeywell, St . Petersburg, for is the inertial guidance system. As noted earlier
the inertial measuring unit; International Business in this report, it is basically required to perform
Machine Corporation for the computer and 6V indi - the mission objectives of rendezvous and controlled
cator; Advanced Technology Laboratories for the re - entry. However, as shovn in Figure 15, its
horizon sensors ; Westinghouse for the radar and versatility has been exploited to perform a number
range rate display; Lear - Siegler fur the attitude of other important mission functions. A most sig -
and rate indicator ; and Rocketdyne for the thruster nificant one is backup for the basic radio guidance
system. IBM also has responsibility for integra- used for the Titan II launch vehicle. Although not
tion of the overall inertial guidance system and for indicated on the block diagram, error signals from
analYtical studies in areas of mission planning the lilertial guidance system may be fed to the
associated vith computer programing . launch vehicle autopilot to control its engine
gimbal actuators . Another function to be pro -
Although not shovn on the diagram , a number of gramed in the computer is a launch abort naviga -
redundancies exist in the system . For example, tion mode vhich vill enable touchdovn from launch
crew selectable backup units are provided for the abort to be made at pre - selected points . Orbital
horizon scanner, rate gyros, and attitude control navigation vhich is essentially keeping track of
electronics. As previously discussed, redundant present position in orbit may also be accomplished.
re - entry attitude control thrusters are available This program is carried a step further to allov
and redundant control signals are provided to them calculation of the retrograde time required to
from the control handle . touch dovn at any pre- selected point vithin the
maneuver capability of the spacecraft in the event
The pilot has available three different manual of an abort from orbit. Rendezvous maneuver com -
attitude control modes: rate command, single pulse, mands are generated vith the aid of the rendezvous
and direct; and tvo automatic modes : orbital and tracking and ranging radar. The re - entry control
re -entry. The rate command mode provides a space- program generates the error signals necessary to
craft angular rate which is proportional to the accomplish roll attitude control during re- entry.
control handle deflection. This mode is the pri -
mary attitude control mode used during maneuvers . Docking System. One of the major objectives
With the control handle centered in this mode,
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of the Gemini spacecraft program is to actually on the latter . In the early part of this paper, the
dock with the target vehicle. The docking and addition of the ejection seat was listed as a design
latching procedure is shown in Figure 16. A target feature added to back up the paraglider. Once
docking adapter (TDA) supplied by McDonnell bolts having accepted this requirement, extension of the
on to the upper equipment bay of the Agena target seat's capabilities to enable creW escape on the pad
vehicle. This adapter contains a radar transponder and during the early phases of launch was natural.
which operates in conjunction with the spacecraft This was accomplished by incorporating a rocket - type
rendezvous radar, flashing lights for visual target catapult in the seat. This gives sufficient alti-
acquisition, and a docking cone. The latter is a tude and velocity to deploy the parachute and land
funnel - shaped assembly supported by shock absorbers the man at a minimum of 600 feet from the base of
which damp out impact loads and prevent rebound . A the launch vehicle. Application of the ejection to
V-shaped slot in the cone mates with an indexing off- the -pad operation is really made poss ible by the
bar on the spacecraft to align the two vehicles. fact that with the Titan II launch vehicle, there is
This permits three latches in the cone to engage no violent detonation associated with deflagration
fittings in the nose of the spacecraft. The cone of the propellants. Therefore, the primary con-
is then retracted and locked tight to rigidize the sideration is to achieve sufficient clearance from
connection between the Gemini and the Agena . The the fire which might result from a launch vehicle
process is reversed to separate the two vehicles. malfunction, rather than blast effects.
The latching fittings on the spacecraft may be
blown free by pyrotechnic charges as a backup means During the early phases of the launch, ejection
of separation. conditions are essentially the same as from an air -
craft. In fact, the maximum dynamic pressure of
The Gemini crew can command the Agena attitude approximately 750 Ibs / sq. foot encountered during a
and propulsion systems as well as the docking Gemini launch is only about one - half of the value
mechanism by an RF link either before or after dock - which can be achieved with curr ent fighter type
ing . Just prior to final docking and while attached aircraft . However, as the launch vehicle acceler-
to the Agena, the status of the target vehicle is ates, temperature rather than pressure becomes the
ascertained from displays mounted above the docking limiting condition for ejection . A maximum alti-
ring (not shown in the sketch). tude of 70,000 feet has therefore been established
for operation of the Gemini ejection seat. As shown
Landing System. The paraglider is the only in Figure 18, there are two additional modes of
major Gemini system being provided as government- escape during the launch phase. The first of these,
furnished equipment to McDonnell. It is being which extends from the ejection seat altitude of
developed under a separate contract to NASA-MSC by 70,000 feet to an altitude of 522,000 feet, utilizes
North American's Space and Missile Systems Division. the spacecraft retrorockets to separate the space -
Detailed design insofar as installation in the craft from the launch vehicle. To achieve this
spacecraft is concerned is being closely coordinated capability, the ratio of maximum retrograde thrust
with that of the spacecraft. Certain portions of to mass for the Gemini spacecraft is increased to
the system such as the gas supply for inflation are almost double that of Mercury. In the abort mode,
being provided by McDonnell. the 4 rockets are fired in salvo to give a total of
10,000 Ibs. of thrust. Above an altitude of 522,000
Figure 17 presents a brief summary of the para- feet, which corresponds to the point where the veloc -
glider deployment and performance characteristics . ity is approximately 20,000 feet / second, separation
The paraglider in conjunction with the re - entry is accomplished in the same manner as a normal in-
\ trajectory control system permits touchdown at the jection in orbit. In this third mode , the retro -
pre - selected site. It is flown much like a two - ~ockets are retained for possible use in the normal
I control airplane using the same hand controller as
for orbit attitude control.
retrograde mode to enable more flexibility in selec -
tion of a touchdown site.
The landing gear, as previously described, is In conclUSion, it should be noted that space
a tricycle skid type . The nose gear is extended at has not permitted a description of several im -
paraglider deployment and the main gear by pilot portant Gemini systems, including communications,
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flights, pending final qualification of the para-
glider. Touchdown will be in water when the para-
chute is used.
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TABLE 1
GEMINI SPACECRAFr
MISSION
OBJECTIVES
Long MeI1Il Life Offset Center of Orbital Attitude Modular Concept On-Board
Gravity Decisions
Fuel Cells Radar Accessible
Inertial Measuring Equipment Manual Control
Cryogenics Unit Inertial Measuring
New Unit .Butlt-in Test Partially
Design Space Radiator Computer Points Removable
Features Computer Space Suit
Resulting PCM Telemetry Digital COJIJlll6nd Automatic
System Digital Command Checkout Egress to Space
Equipment Adapter System
Paraglider Integrated AGE
Docking
Landing Gear Mechanism
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Figure 1. - Mock-up of Gemini spacecraft. 'I
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8
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Figure 2. - Division points between major structural assembly points of Gemini spacecraft.
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: ~ RETROGRADE SECTION, ADAPTER
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9
EL ECTRONICS
RETR O GRA DE SYSTEM
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ACCISS DOOR 9? -- 'C. LANDING SKID DOOR
Figure 5. - Re-entry module structure.
10
TITANIUM
FIBERITE
TITANIUM MX 2625
FIBERGLASS
HONEy.cOMB
FIBERGLASS -
1I
00
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SIDEVIEW
FIBERGLASS
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FIBERGLASS
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11
RE-ENTRY CONFIGURATION ___ 0'. = 20°
BASED ON AEDC TUNNEL C DATA --- M .,. =10
20
Re "" 0 =1.08 x 10·
30
40
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80
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110
120
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100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230
SPACECRAFT Z STATION -INCHES
TYPICAL SECTION
A-A
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.25 IN. INSIDE DIA.
4 INCHES (APPROXI
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BASIC SYSTEM CONCEPTS SIMII.AR TO MERCURY:
PRIMARY SYSTEM
HYDROGEN POTABLE
&
OXYGEN
h
I r WATER
I '----_ _ _-'
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PRE-LAUNCH SYSTEM
DUAL FUEL MAIN
AND ORBIT /------ ELECTRICAL
CELL BUS
SUPPLY LOADS
BATTERIES
FOUR
RE-ENTRY, POST
LANDING AND SILVER -
I- -
EMERGENCY ZINC
SUPPLY BAnERIES -
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ISOLATED SYSTEM
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BAnERIES
CONTROL
CONTROL
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BUS
SOLENOIDS
Figure 11 . - El ectr ical p ower s y stem.
13 I
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RE-ENTRY
MODULE
RE-ENTRY ADAPTER
MODULE MODUlE
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Figure 12. - Thrust chamber arrangement.
NOTE:
VALVE SECTION ROTATED 90% WITH RESPECT
TO CHAMIER FOR CLARITV. I
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Figure 13. - Typical thrust chamber 25 lb. OAMS
14
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ATTITUDE
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L. ATTITUDE I
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ATTITUDE
CONTROL AND t--o AND HSPACECRAFTi
MANEUVER MANEUVER I DYNAMICS
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: CONTROL I
: HANDLE I
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CONTROLLED RENDEZVOUS
LANDING AND DOCKING
OBJECTIVE OBJECTIVE
LAUNCH
ABORT MANEUVER
NAVIGATION COMMANDS
ORBITAL
ORBITAL
ABORT
NAVIGATION
NAVIGATION
15
I
APPROACH
MODE 3
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TOUCHDOWN CONTaOl THltU --.....
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~ ~
1. X-20 (Dyna-Soar ) background encompasses an hypersonic heating regime ~hich occurs between
extensive time period from 1957 to date (see 18 , 000 and 22,000 ft/ sec.
Figure 1). Active research and development bas
been accomplished during dusl phase I competition 7. The sscond sts p of the three-step program
batween Boeing and Martin between mid-1958 and was planned to utilize the s ame basic glider in
mid-1959, end during the current Dyna-Sosr program. conjunction with a lerger, but undefined boos t er
which was placed under contract in May 1960. to achieve the orbital vel ocities necessary for
complete re-entry tests. Studies were authorized
2. It is to be noted that the active R&D has to examine all possible candidates for this step
been accompanied by considerBble planning end of the program and to examine possible military
study efforts. These studies have examined equipment tests which could be carried on during
numerous alternate plans for conducting the pro- the orbital phase of the flights.
gram, as well as a large number bf possible alter-
nate vehicle configurations. Relationship of the 8. The third step envisioned futur e use of
X-20A program with other national space programs the technology developed by the fir st two steps
and ~ith the Air Force Space Plan has been to develop a ~ea pon system.
ext ens ively examined in various studies.
9 . Incres sed glider wei ght a nd safe ty
3. The initiation of the program in November considerat i ons r e sulted in a change to the Titan
1957. was preceded by approximately 4 years of II booster in January 1961. This change in
study of methods of extending system performance boo s ters pr ovided a suborbital capability up to
into the high hypersonic speed flight regime by 22,000 ft/sec.
exploit ing large rocke t boosters which ~ere under
development for the ballistic misaile program. 10. The M/lJSP (Manned Military Space Program)
It ~as f ound that as speed and altitude perfor- study (November 1961) concluded that the best
mance incressed, that military potential became elte~native to the current Dyna-Soar program would
of -inte~es1;l A large number of technicsl problems be to adapt the glider and the Titan III booster
were identified end found to be of such a magni- together to achieve orbital flight. A ten shot
tude that a research program ~as required for program limited to single orbits was proposed in
their solution. After careful study ~ithin the a development plan dated 16 Novembe r 1961, and
Air Force and NASA, it ~as concluded that the submittad in conjunction with e ~hite Paper which
various interrelated problems could best be outlined Air Force objectives in space, and the
solved by a research or "conceptual test vehicle" essentiality of filling the potential cri ti ca l
which would be capeble of extending the flight gap which then existed in the development of
capabilities of the X-15 into the high hypersonic controllable maneuvering re-entry vehicles with
flight r egime up to orbital speeds. man integrated into the system. This program was
approved in December 1961, and resulted in the
4. A Development Directive issued in November initietion of the curren t orbital Dyne-Soar pro-
1957. ~as followed by a compe tition involving 9 gram.
major aircraft companies. From this competition
a selection was made of The Boeing and Martin 11. During 1962, two multi-orbit flights were
companies t o further pursus the relative merits edded within the 10 fli ght program by direction of
of each company's proposal. During the Phase I Hq. USAF, and a change was later made to utilize
competition, both contractors evolved configu- the five sesment Titan III booster as a result of
rati ons of a wing-body type having very similar a change of the standard booster from four to five
characterist ics and capabilities. The liE/NASA solid segments.
evaluation concluded that the Boeing glider design
and the Martin booster design should be selected Objectives
for further development.
The objectives of the X-20A Program are as
5. During this period , because of extensive stated in Figure 2. The X- 20 A is a R&D program
NACA interests in a hypersonic flight research of a military test system to explore and demon-
aircraft, a joint Memorandum of Understand ing was strate maneuvereble re-entry of a piloted orbital
prepared to make the program a joint AF/NASA space vehicle which will effect a controlled
program. landing in a conventional manner at a selected
landing site. The program will gather research
6. A three-step program was devised. Step data in the hypersonic flight regime, will test
I utilize d the Titan I ICBM booster to boost the vehicle equipments, will investigate man-mcchine
glider from Cape Canaveral down the Atlantic capabilities and represents a fundamental building
Missile Range to velocities of approximately block for the attainment of future mi litary pilo-
18 ,000 ft/sec. While not as high as desired, this ted space capabilities.
speed did permit initial investigation of the high
17
+
I
I
X-20 Flight Corridor
1. Figure 3 illuatratea the wide range of heet transfer properties , materials, and oxidation
altitude, velocity, and flight path control over resistant costings . The ability to f ly in a real
which the X-20 has the capability of gathering gas, hi gh enthalpy flow regime for extended time
reeearch data. periods wi l l add vital new deta-technological
anchor points - unobtainable from ground facili-
2. The X-20 possesses the capability of ties.
dynamically flying at any point below the reco-
very ceiling, but above the structural limit. 2. The effectiveness of blended reaction
Controlled equilibrium flight is possible between and aerodynamic controls to control the vehicle
max. Or. and the structural limit line. The over a wide range of angles of attack (0 to 50°),
initial flight shell be in the middle of the densities and Reynolds Numbers will provide
corridor for which the thermal margins are maxi- extensive performance and stability data. The
mum, with later flights investiga t ing the limit extent of '-laminar now over the vehicle surface
lines. will provide data on tranSitional flows and
boundary layer stability. Refractory heat s hields
Research Regime and the ceramic nose cap on the X-20 are compo-
nents which could have application to future
1. The widely different re-entry durations radiation cooled syst ems. The refractory shields
and heat flux rates (Figure 4) for the semi- are eesily replaceable permitting tests of alter-
ballistic capsule a nd the X-20 vehicle illistrate nate designs. The flight program will also
the difference in the re-entry hesting problem provide a large emoun t of test data in the areas
for the two classes of vehicles. The large heat of flutter, aeroelssticity. acoustics and vibra-
flux rates associated with cspsule re-entry dic- tion.
tates ablative shields which work well when the
re-entry duration is of the order of 10 minutes 3. . The X-20A prggram will greatly expand
or less. The smaller heat flux retes of the our t e chnol ogy i n t he ar ea of piloted flight ope-
X-20 vehicle actually result in a greater total ration (Figure 6) from the relstively short ~15
hest flux beceuse of the longer duration. How- flights to global re-entry operations. The
ever, this heat is radiated away into the atmos- development of s ophisticated re-entry manegement
phere by the outer skin and only a very small and thermal margin displays and adaptive control
percentage (2 to 5%) is absorbad into the au~entat i on will enabla the pilot to exercise
structure. full command of the guidance and control functions
and obtain significant research on display effec-
2. The technology associated with high heat tivemess and pilot control capabilities. Valuable
short duration re-entry is based on past bal- handling que lities criteria will be obtained
listic missile programs and is well defined. throughout the hypersonic corridor and during
Hovever, little of this technology is applicable approach and landing operation. From this tech-
to lifting re-entry vehicles. The X-20 will nology, i t will be possible to verify ground
provide the aero thermOdynamic technology asso- based flight simulation techniques and devslop
ciated with slender re-entry vehicles capable of improved simulat ion programs.
extensive maneuverability at hypersonic speeds.
4. Be-entry flight operstions research will
3. Eresent day aircraft are exploring only be provided by particul ar investigations in the
a small region of the potential atmospheric following areas.
flight regime. While the X-15 hes greatly
extended the investigation at the lowest end of Abort Techniques
this corridor, the greater portion remains unex- Energy manegement techniques
plored. Aro facilitiea are presently available Corridor exploration
that duplicate the gas enthalpy and denSity Re-entry camnunications through ionized
corresponding to altitudea of about 200,000 feet flow
and flight velocities of about 10,000 ft/sec. Transition from reaction to aerodynamic
Partial simulation of some of the night para- controls
meters is possible in conventional hypersonic
wind tunnels and shock tubes. Complete simu- Design Criteria Impact
lstion of the ges conditions in the entire corri-
dor is poaaible in the neer future only by actual The X-20 flight research program will provide
flight. The X-20 is a program that will provide design criteria (Figure 7) which will be needed
the vital data required to develop the neoessary for the design of efficient future systema. Since
technology for hypersonic flight.
Be-entry Research
these criteris are not now available, the X-20A
hes been conservatively designed. Turbulent flow
has been uaed to determine heat transfer rates
!
and an allowance of 20% hes been added to account
1. The ~20 configuration provides many
features which will contribute to a number of
technical areas (see Figure 5). One of its
unique features is the radiation cooled metal
for roughness, small waves, and jOints in the skin
surface. Equilibrtum flow has be en assumed in the
leading edge region whi ch results in the highest
1(
heat transfer. Heat transfer on the wing surface
structure which can evaluate the effects of the may ba reduced as much as 50% if extens ive lami-
~
dissociated, chemically reac t ing gas flows on nar flow is obtained in flight. Reductions in
18
I
I
X-20 Maneuver Flexibility
leading edge heat transfer up to 50% may be rea- 1. Choice of landing aress avsilsbls as a
lized if the dissociated flow is prevented from result of the X-20 maneuver flexibility is lshown
recombining at the wall by the use of e ·non- in Figure 9 for a typical orbital flight, with
catalytic. coeting. If the effects of roughness the ground track limited to that of a single orbit
prove to be less detrimental than expected, less for clsrity. During the orbital flight, ths pilot
blunt leading edges might be used which could has the option of lending at any sits within the
increase the lift/drag ratio by 25% with a corres- broad bend indicated on the chart, whereas a
ponding lateral range increase of 50%, as wsll as ballistic devics could land only along the orbital
a peyloed incresse of up to 6000 pounds. track shown within this bend.
2. The payoffs of re-entry maneuverability Test Vehicle Equipment and Explore Man's Function
are meny. The prinCiple payoff is the wide choice in Space and Be-entry
of landing sites available during re-entry from
orbit, during emergencies, or in the event unfore- 1. One of the objectives of the X-20A program
seen circumstances require e chsnge in plane is to test the vehicle's equipment and to explore
during the re-entry end epproech phases of the the role of the pilot during orbit.
flight. Another key sdvsntsge is the elimination
of extensive time in orbit, waiting for sn oppor- 2. Initially, the more important portions of
tunity to land at a selected site. The advantages the flight teating effort will necessarily concen-
of re-entry maneuverability sre discussed in the trate in the boost and re-entry aress until
following paragrsphs. con!idence and equipment reliability are fully
established. Hence, the initial flights ere being
Be-entry Maneuverability (Distance and Direction planned as single orbit flights. Even eo, these
QQ.u1r.2l) flights provide a ,significant 43 minutes in orbit
in which to accomplish additional testing of both
1. An illustration of the use of distance man and macbine. This testing extends to all of
and direction control during re-entry is shown in the vehicle subsystems as well.
Figure 8. After re-entering the atmoephere, a
maneuverable re-entry vehicle such as the X-20A 3. Later, multi-orbit flights will eerve to
is capable of employing aerodynamic lift to very extend this testing time when a shift of emphaeis
its landing point. Normally, a landing to a pre- to brosder system testing becomes appropriste.
selected site as shown in the center of the ground
landing erea ·footprint· would be planned with 4. With all elements adequately instrumented
flight at a nominal glider re-entry attituds (anSb for research and performance testing, the X-20A
of attack) snd LiD. By flying st relatively low then provides the meaDS for meeting ite test
glider angles of attack, it ia possible with the objectives.
X-20 to extsnd range by approximately 3.000 nauti-
cal miles over the nominal re-entry path. By Mission
flying st a high angle of attac k, it is possible
to shorten the landing distance by approximately Now that the history and the basic program
3000 nautical miles, thus providing considerable objectives hsve been covered, a discussion of our
flexibility for landing at an alternate site if present program is in order. First, thet
necessary. It is also posBible to bank the glider
and perform e gradusl turn in order to land at Air Launch Program
sites as much as 2,000 nautical miles displacement
from one side of the orbital trsck. The purpose of the air lsunch program is to
demonstrate low supersonic, transonic and subsonic
2. In comparison, a ballistiC re-entry flight and landing capabilities, operation of sub-
vehicle is constrained to a landing essentially systems, evaluate the integrsted glider subsystems
slong its orbital trsck, controlled in rsnge by in flight prior to ground launch, and to conduct
the timing of the rstro rocket firing. pilot training. One glider is scheduled to accom-
plish 20 air launches. Tbe test program is planned
19
~------
to fully explore the lo~ speed portion of the 5.750 pound transition section. The glider lower
flight corridor (70,000 feet altitude and up to surface area is 345 square feet. Tbe maximum
speeds of approximately Mach 1.4). The glider length is 35.3 feet, the maximum height is 8.9 snd
is air launched st an altitude of approximetely the maximum ~idth is 20.8 feet. The re-entry and
50,000 feet and at a speed of approximately Mach landing ~eights of the glider are 12,000 and
0.8. The accelaration rocket ~ill be used on four 11,700 pounds, respectively. The transition
po~er-air-launches to obtain lo~ supersonic per- section is 15 faet in length end has a maximum
formance. diameter of 10 faet. It is divided into a 4.7
foot emergency propulsion section and lQ.3 foot
Ground Launch Progrem mating end multi-orbit equipment section.
1. The first phase of the ground launch 2. The glider is shown mounted on the Air
progrem ~ill be a t~o shot unmenned configuration Force's Standard Space Launch Vehicle (Titan III).
utilizing developmental boosters. The next phase This booster will not be discussed here, but ~ill
of the program consists of manned shots of both be the subject of a seperate paper in another
single and multi-orbit configurations. The nature section of this symposium.
of these flights is depicted in Figure 10.
3. Figure 12 shows the three compertments
2. Prime mission of the single orbit flights within the glider which are cooled. The pilot's
is exploration of the re-entry flight regime and compartment and the equipment compartment are
demonstration of controlled maneuvering re-entry. both pressurized and cooled end the rear or secon-
These flights are launched from Cape Canaveral dary power compertment is provided with heat pro-
and directed along the Atlantic ~ssile Range, but tection by means of a water wall.
tilted over to a flatter boost trajectory than is
common for ballistic Isunches, so as to avoid vio- 4. The equipment compartment is designed to
lating the aerodynamic flight recovery ceiling. provide 75 cubic feet of evailabla space and is
Boost burnout occurs approximately 1,000 miles shaped to eaSily accommodate a ~ide variety of
down range ~here the vehicle ie injected into an payloads. It is designed for 1000 pounds payload
elliptical orbit ~ith an spogee over South Africa and is currently utilized to housa the test instr~
(altitude approximately 100 nautical miles) and a mentation subsystem and portions of ths communi-
perigee ~ithin the atmosphere (altitude approxi- cations subsystem. It is provided with a 100%
mately 60 nautical miles) northwest of Australia. nitrogen stmosphere pressurized to 10 PSIA, and
At this point. advantage is taken of the X-20's thus is well suited for the test of prototype
aerodynamic controllsbility to prevent re-emer- electronic equipment ~h1ch has not nscessarily
gence and thus initiate re-entry. There follows been made expl osion-proof.
a 7.000 nautical mile hypersonic re-entry approach
through the PaCific ~ssile Range to Ed~erds AFB 5. The secondary power compartment houses
in CalIfornia. where a horizontal landing is ths hydrogen tank, oxygen tanks, auxiliary power
effected on the dry lake bed. Nominal re-entry units, end othar equipment required to generase
time is 50 minutes. All critical action regions end distribute power. Hydrogen is stored super-
of the hypers oniC boost a nd re-entry flight ere critically in order to assure expulsion under
covered ~ith SHF range instrumentation and data weightleas conditions, and is utilized as a heat
collection facilities. sink as well as for fuel for the APU's.
Configuration
20
Technical Developments
1. This first portion of the presentation Figure 14 for a single. three-sided truss. As
was to acquaint the unf~iliar with the basic member AB heats to a greater temperature than the
Dyna-Soar program. Now we will turn our attention other ~embers, and hence, el ongetes more than the
to some of the technical areas of interast to other members, the triangle changes shape by
discuss in more detail. rotating about the joints.
2. One of the first important decisions that 3. This accommodation of gradients, which are
was made in the Dyna-Soar program was to choose,) nonlinear , is also best handled by trusses since
a hot primary structure approach instead of an the loads are carriad in discrete members separa-
active cooled aluminum sub-structure. These two ted by air s paces as opposed to shear webs which
concepts were evaluated in the June 1959 evalua- have continuous shear material between the joints .
tion between The Boeing and Martin Companies. Where thermel gradients are nonlinear, high shear
Although the cooled approach had many desirable stresses can be create d by the l arge differences
characteristics includin g much bet ter volumetric in thermal deformation across small distances.
efficiency, there wes consider able doubt at the Where the therma l gradient is linear and the
time ss to the feasibility of developing a heat structural members are isolated, corrugated shear
shield system for the cooled 'structure which could webs function satisfactorily.
effectively restrict heat shorts through attach-
ments and hot boundary l s yer air leakage to the 4. The Dyna-Soar glider truss arrangement is
cooled structure. The feasibility and reliability as shown in Figure 13. Structural details of the
of employing extensive coolant tubing throughout various truss area s are predicated on the loading
the glider was also considered a serious problem. conditions, thermal environment , space available,
The feasibility of the hot structures, however, manufacturing capabilities, and other peculia-
had been demonstrated by Boeing during Phase I rities in the area in question . The fuselage
and the inherent reliabil ity of a passive cooling mein beams utilize rectangular, round and square
system were important factors in the deciSion. members, pinned and fixed jointa, joint fittings
made from forgings andbar stock, and both standard
3. The state-of-the-art has advanced consi- and special fasteners .
derably in both are a s since 1959, and follow-on
applications of the Dyna-Soar technology may have 5 . The exterior surface consists of Rene' 41
either a hot or cool sub-structure depending on corrugation-stiffened panels, either uninsulated
the overall system requirements. or insulated", depending on the l ocation of the
panel on the glider . Insulated panels are used
X-20 Structure in all areas ~here the surface temperature exceeds
2000~ and includes the entire lower surface of
1. The X-20 structure is one which is sub- the glider, the outboard surface of the fin and
jected to a severe re-entry environment. Temper- rudder, and a small por t ion of the forward sides
ature varies between 36500f on the nose cap to a of the body aft of the nose cap. Uninsulated
life environment for the pilot and equipment. panels are used on the u pper surface of the wing,
The vehicle is subjected to dynamic pressures up body, and elevon , a nd on the inboard surface of
to 860 psf during boost, sonic vibrations of 147 the fin and rudder. The confi guration, sizes,
decibels, maneuver factors between - 19 and + 4g, and materials selected for thase panels resulted
and sink rat es up to 8 fps during lsnding. from design considerations that include thermal,
flutter, s onic, air pressure, and shear "loads,
2 . The system consists predominantly of fabricability, and maintainability. The insulated
trusses fabricated from materials selected to panel, as shown in Figure 15 consists of a Rane'
sustain the thermal environment (see Figure 13). 41 corrugated penel with TZM molybdenum or D-36
The structure is designed to operate in an environ- columbium alloy heatshields attached with stand-
ment up to l80QoF. It is capable of Withstanding off clips, and Q-felt insulation sandwiched
at least four maximum condition re-entries. The between the two.
conditions of major concern to the designer are
thermal grad~ents across the structure and maxi- 6. The D-36 and TZM heatshields assemblies
mum structural temperatures . Accommodation of are protected against oxidation by a disilicide
maximum temperatures is primarily a matter of coating. Individual parts are precoated prior
material selection. For Dyna-Soar, Rene' 41 to riveting, and the completed riveted assembly
(nickel-base superalloy) has been selected. This is recoated to protect the riveted area and the
alloy exhibits the best combination of availa- faying surface between the clip flange and the
bility, workability , end strength at elevsted tem- shield .
persture. The accommodation of thermal gradients,
which are as high as 500~ across a structural
7. The leading edges are defined as all edgas
section, is an arrangement and concept problem.
that face into the airstream. Altogether, the
On Dyna-Soar, the basic approach is use of truss-
type construction. Trusses were chosen because glider has approxi T.ately 140 run ning feet of
leading edge construction and about 140 square
of their ability to reorient to the thermally
induced shape wi "' _~lJt causing excessive secondary feet of expoaed area. Average transverse spans
are on the order of 8 inches. The edge radii vary
stresses. This principle is demonstrated in
from a maximum of 7.5 inches at the nose cap to
( 2l
t
a minimum of 2,06 inches on the inboard side of the yielding metal (energy strap) shock absorbers.
elevon . The radii are jointed by faired and tapered Eech of the two main and the single nose gear are
sections. These sections were selected to be con- compose d of three major elements: a skid, a
sistent with a maximum design short-time tempera- pivoting support strut, and an energy strap (see
ture of 29000F and an equilibrium temperature of Figure 18). The main skids ere wire brush types
2825~ . Nonmetallic le ading-edge speCimens have to ganerate a high coefficient of fric t i on, and
been built of graphite, ceramic, and composites . the nose skid is hard coated to provide a low coe-
Metsllic specimens have been built of forged fficient of friction. The support struts are
molybdanum and sheet-metal tantalum, columbium and assembled from mbchined Rene' 41 forgings end are
molybdenum. Of the metallic specimens, only the de signed to pivot aft under load. This pivoting
molybdenum and columbium sheet- metsl have reached motion causes the energy straps to yield and absorb
detail design status. The effort spent on graphit~ the landing impact energy.
ceramic and composite designs did not result in
arrangements which were competitive with sheet- 2. All landing-geer doors are operated mechani-
metal designs in terms of joint smoothness, suita- cally by the extension motion of the geer. The
bility for sealing, and applicability to geometry. gear itself is extended at 275 knots by a high-
In addition, both the nonmetallic and the forged pressure pneumatic sys tem which moves the gear to an
refractory specimens appsar to be hesvier, as shown external position where aerodynamics and gravity
in Figur e 16, TZM molybdenum alloy sheet metal will complete the ex t ension cycle. The major portion
be used for most of the leading edges, and D-36 of this pneumatic systdm, as well as the geer
columbium alloy for areas where temperatures do not itself, will experience a high-temperature soak
exceed 2450~ . in the 1600~ to 1800~ range.
Nose Cap 3. A test program is presently being conducted
at Holloman Air Force Base, Track Test Division
1 . The nose cap of the Dyna-Soar glider is on both the nose and main skids. Asphalt, con-
required to sustain very high temperatures over a crete, and lakebed surfaces heva been laid down
much longer period than that of a ballistic ra- in the sled track trough so that 5000-foot s11de-
entry vehicle . Because of this relatively long outs can be made to verify the coefficient of
period at temperature and the desirability of main- friction, wear, and bump capability on each type
taining aerodynamic shspe, the development effort surface. A special r ocket sled permits the glider
has centered around heat-sustaining materials. Two to start the slide-outs at the maximum glider
structural configurations of different mF. terial Isndingvelocity of 220 knots and to coast to a
combinations are being developed. one by the Chanc~ full stop in 5000 feet.
Vought Corporation end the other by The Boeing
Company. This dual effort has been considered Inteirated Pbwer and Coolina
necessary because this piece of hardware is so
critical to the successful flight of the vehicle. 1. The operation of Glider Subsystems results
in s 34HP ,IDesign Requirement for Secondary Bower
2. The Chance-Vought concept utilizes a Generation. This total can be broken down into
structural shell of National Carbon RT-0029 the primsry electrical load, such ss guidance,
graphite protected by a silicon carbide coating. communications, flight controls, TIS, cockpit
The shell is further protected by an outer cover displsys and lighte that account for 6.9 EVA, and
of zir conia tile retained by zirconia pins in such secondary electrical loads associated with enviro~
a manner that the major thermal stresses in the mentsl control equipments and cryogenics supply
protective cover are relieved by mechanical motion requiring 3.8 EVA. The remsinder can be attri-
between the zirconia tiles. This cap is illus- buted to the 8 .5 GEM, 3000 pai hydreulic load.
trated in Figure 17. Considering the duty cycle of tha subsystems. the
total energy dem&nd could vary from approximately
3 . The Boeing nose-cap effort is directed 12 to 80 horsepower-houra.
toward developing a monolithic shell of zirconia
reinforced with platinum wire. The forward face 2. Figure 19 shows the secondary power gene-
of the shell is grooved to relieve the thermal ration spectrum derived from initial and projectad
str ess on the surface. This surface grooving is program requirements superimposed over load ragines
accomplished by inserting a paper honeycomb config- within which particular energy conversion units
uration into the mold, preSSing, and burning the operate most effectively. Note thst the chemical
paper out during the firing operation. dynamic APU is shown as the most suitable prime
mover for the X-20A spplication. A cryogenic
4. The mounting of the nose-cap shell to the bipropellaot. hydrogen and oxygen, was selected
glider structure has been a joint effort of the on the besis of results comparing many propellant
two companies. The mounting is so arranged that combinations. The two moat promising schemes are
the attachment of the two nose-cap shells to the shown in Figure 20. Here hydrezine weight requ1r~
support ring differs in only minor details. mente are approximstely 2 1/4 times that of the
hydrogen-oxygen unit. On this basis, the hydrogen-
Landing Gear oxygen bipropellant combination was selected. The
operation of electrical and hydraulic equipment,
The Dyna-Soar landing geer configuration is combined with the effacts of aerodynamiC , heeting
an all - skid, tricycle arrangement utilizing
22
results in e total heet load of approximately expulsion pressure and are stirred to prevent
200,000 BTU's. Two approaches were taken to stratification. When the hydrogen requirement for
dissipate this energy: cooling exceed that for power generation, the
excess i8 exhausted overboard and, if the reverse
a. Equipment cooling would be accomplished is the case, the additional hydrogen is supplied
by the environmental control system within the to the prime mover via the heat exchanger by-pass
framework of the 3 compartments. line.
23
during ~light of the X-20 through the earth's the controlling element gain. i.e •• aerodymanic
etmosphere. control and thrust vector controls. The manual
direct mode provides through threshold switches
7. Since the coolant is not circulated, the direct electrical control of the reaction
successful operetion depends upon the ebility of control solenoid valves.
the sys tem to contain a sufficient supply at
desired locations. The coolant supply will be 4. Flight control subsystem electronics
installed during fabricetion of individual panels developme nt. analysis and design is essentially
end remains in tact until tha time of use. complete. The functions l requiraments and perfor-
mance requirements have been established. Pro-
8 . Problema encountered in the developmant duction flight control subsystem electronics
of this system included difficulties in meeting mechanization diegrams heve been relaased. The
life requirements and developi g 'field' filling first production prototype unit has been fabri-
procedures. As a result, it was decided to factory cated and delivered to The Boeing Company for
fill the panels and replace them after eech flight. installation in the guid&nce and control develop-
ment model. This equipment is presently being
Flight Control installed in a mock-up wherein all interfa cing
electronic equipment is also installed. Testa
1 . Now I would like to turn our attention during this phase will determine equipment
to the flight control ~ubsystem. The X-20 flight compatibility. Qualification testing' of tha
control system utilizes the self-adaptive control production flight control electronics is planned
principle as the primary technique for stability to stsrt approximstely September 1963.
and control of the glider and the glider plus
transition configurations. Early self-adaptive 5. It is spparent to ,most of you that the
flight control work was accomplished by the Flight X- 20 flight control subsystem is a very sophisti-
Control Laboratory at ASD, Wright-Patterson Air cated development. Now let us turn lour attention
Force Base, Oh~o. This work was followed by the to the problems it must solve and why ' it must be
applicat~on of this development in the X- 15 flight complex. In Figure l27. the stability and control
control subsystem. The X- 15 self-adeptive flight problems are shown aa a function of the mission.
control program is being monitored for application During the boost phase of the mission. the X-20
of this experience to the X-20 flight control stability and control problem is primarily that
development. of the potential abort configuration. During the
boost phase. the aerodynamic controls are l ocked
2. Figure No. 26 illustrates the flight qy hydraulic means to fixed positions most
control subsystem as planned for the X-20 vehicle. faborable to the worst abort conditions. The fact
In the manuel mode of operation, the flight contrcil that the center of gravity is behind the aero-
subsystem electronics utilizes signals derived dynamic center of pressure for the abort configu-
from tha pilot's sidestick controls and rudder ration impoaes exacting requirements in the flight
pedals . These controls are provided with dual control subsystem dasign. The self-adaptive flight
position transducers to provide electrical signals control systam must therefore have suitable
for the flight con trol subsystem electronics.
Electrical signals are se nt to the eervo valves 6f
the aerod;ynamic and thrust vector controls far ecti-
vation of these portions of the system. The thrust
vactor controls are used only in the event of an
abort. Electrical signals are also sent to the
resction control sya~em ror eC~~Te~~Vn of the
initial condition gains and be capable of
adapting to tha optimum gain rather quickly. The
static instability is sufficiently great that
stability augmentation must be ralied upon. It
is questionable whether the pilot could provide
the necessary damping in the event of stability
augmentation failure in one or more axe s. The
I
react~on control solenoid valves. Dual and triple orbital phase of operation provides problema in
redundancy is employed throughout the entire flight the area of maintaining the des i red attitude
control subsystem. Switching logic is employed accuracy in the automatic mode "in view of fuel
with monitors for feil sefe operation in event of utilization restrictions. Consequently. trade-
a malfunction of tha dual redundant electronics. offs ara being mEde involving the attitude
These monitors provide automatic switching to accuracy in the automatic mode. Present indicatuxs
8witch out any malfunctioning channel of operation. are that fuel utilization will be satisfactory
Automatic operation is provided by signals derived in the manual modes of operation. During re-entry
from the primer7 guidance system. These signels both reaction and aerodynamic controls are utilized
command the correct pitch attitude or angle of for stability and control. The uae of reaction
attack. bank angle and zero sideslip. controls is discontinued when the aerodynamic
pressure increeses to a point where the aero-
3 . A variety of control, stabilization and dynamic controls provide the majority of control
gsin techniques sre used in the flight control effectiveness. During this phas e of operation
system. The automstic mode utilizes the self- very low load factor limits are observed in order
adaptive gain control principle. Two manual to preclude exceeding the glider temperature lliDit:e.
modes are provided. The manual augmented mode Considerable work has been done in this area to
utilizes the self-adaptive gain control principle. define acceptabl e handling qualitiea requirements
Additionally. proviaion is made for pilot selection at these low dynamic preasures. The hypersonic
of an appropriate gain. The manusl direct mode glide regime provides atability and control
provides for pilot aelactabla gain adjustment of problems in terms of providing satisfactory roll
24
I
I
I
control and high angles of attac k. The funda- thru re-entry and thence to landing of a manned
mental nature of the probl em is that aerodynamic spa ce vehicle . The configuration r equ irements
surfaces pr oduce momen ts about the body axis where were established about a primary system that
i t is r equired that a moment be produced about the would provide the greatest r el i ability of per-
roll stability axis. This problem is f urther formance at a minimum cost thru employment of
complicated by the fact that the elevons produce proven system elements to the greatest extent
rela tively strong yawing moments . Several feasible. A reli able simple backup capability
solutions have been found to this problem includWg was to be provided to enable safe re-entry in the
the cross feed of roll commands into the rudder event of fai lur e of the primary system .
surfaces. As shown in Figure 27L the close
proximity of structural frequencies, self- 2. Initially. a guidance configuration was
adsptive limit cycle frequencies, the aerodynamic established during the boost portion of flight
short period and handling quality requirement by providing guidance and control f r om the gl ider
frequencies have required careful attention to inertial guidance subsystem . Backup was t o be
detail. The aero-servo-el gstic coupling problem provided by an available Radio Guidance System
has resulted in the design of structural coupling in the event of an IGS failure. Upon r eorien-
filtars in the flight control subsystem electro- tation of t he program to the Titan III Space
nics to provide a very high attenuation of any Launch Vehicle . t he boost guidance configuration
structural feedbac k signals to the gyros . was revised to control t his port ion of the
Additionally, careful attention has been given to trajec tory from the available booster Inertial
the design of the self-adaptive limit cycle Guidance System. Currently a booster guidance
circuitry to preclude t he possibility of struct ural backup capability has not been established .
mode oscillations reducin g the self- adaptive gsin However. simulation investigations have indicated
unnecessarily . Attention has also been given to the feasibil ity of the pilot to control the boo-
gust and pilot input frequencies in order to ster, with the aid of proper instrument displays,
preclude undesirsble changes of self-sdaptive thru the f light control syst em to the point of
gein due to these in puts. The basic fundamental s injection within acceptable l i mits . Stu dies are
of the self- adaptive technique utilized in the currently underway to determine manner a nd cost
X- 20 flight control system are re6sonably simple. associated with me chani zation of such a c apabi lit~
The concept that is employed involves use of a
high gain control loop preceded by a model or 3. During orbit and r e - entry , navigation
filter designed to provide tha char acteristics and guidance capability will be pr ovided by the
of the desired handling qua litie s. The assumption glider's Inertia l Guidance System. The elements
being that if the loop gain is sufficiently high, of this system are shown in Figure 29r This
the outer loop performance will conform to that system provided by Minneapolis- Honeywell consists
defined by the model . Gein is me i ntained by the of three major elements: the inertial platform ,
self-adaptive gain computer . This device utilizea which is a fu rther refinement of a platform
sign a ls obtained from the moment producing control initially developed for the NASA (Centaur Program)
element, for example, the elevator in the pitch a combined gener al purpose (g.p.) and digital
axis . The gain computer maintains the necessary differential analyze r computer popul arly known
gain t o keep the pitch rate innerloop on the as Verdan digital computer employed on the GAM-77
verge of an unstable oscillation. This is accom- missile; for the X-20 application . its g . p .
pli shed by virtue of measurement of the elevetor computation capacity will be incre ased about four
deflection. The deflection signsls are passed fold; and a coupler el ectronics unit which houses
through lo gic £ilt ers. through e rectifier to the various circuit elements of the sys t em . As
obtain the absolute value of motion of the surfac~ displayed in Figure 30 , the lOS prov ides an
then through appropriate limiters end shaping attitude r eference for the automatic flight
circuits, and finally to the variable gain control system as we ll as the neces sary st eering
circui tr" , The l ogic filters are designed for commands to automati cally control the glider on
frequencies of epproximetely four tenths of a its path . In addition, the flight instruments
cycle per second for the up gain l ogic and four are also provided thei r sensing input s from the
cycles per second f or the down gain l ogic . IGS to faCil itate pil ot manual control of the
Ope retion a lly. this will mean that any oscillatory glider. The key instrument receiv ing these
ener gy of the ~levato r in the vicinity of four inputs (Figure 31) is an instrumen t known as an
tenths of a cycle per second will result in Energy Managdmeht Display, which .hru overlays
increas ing tha gain of tha flight control system . calibrated for speed and landing des ti nat i on
Similarly , elevator ectivity in th a vicinity of controlled from the- IGS, pr ov ides the pilot wi th
four cycles per sec ond will result in a decrease a display showing bank angle and a ngle of attack
of the flight control system gain . Nominally . a r elation ship with his foot print capab ili ty of
very smell amplitude osc illation of the cont r ol attaining the desired l a nding area. The guidance
surface will exist during flight with a frequency then accomplished during re-entry is ma intaining
of approximatel y one to two cycl es per second . the de sired angle of attack and bank angle so
that the vehi cle's kinetic and potential energy
Guidance is diSSipated in s uch a manner that the struc t-
ural and thermal limits are not exceeded and the
1. The Dyna-Soer program , at its inception vehicle arrives at t he desired hi gh key point for
presented the first requirement for e full landing with the proper energy f or a l andi ng.
navigstion and guidance capability f r om launch
25
4. The landing phese of flight will commence shock wave and associated plssma in the vicinity
about 100 miles from Edwards with approximately of the radiating elements. These latter approa-
a 4000 ft/sec vel ocity and an altitude of 130,000 ches, while sttractive, were still in early
ft. A visual approach, let down and l anding stsges of development and have not been adequately
will follow. proven for flights similar to those planned for
Dyna-Soar. The bulk of the available research
5. The glider will employ an Emergency data suggested that gre at est confidence would
He-entry Subsystem as a backup to the Inertial result from pursuing the f requency-choice route,
Guidance Subsystem. This system will consist .. hich was done.
of an all attitude reference which will operate
the pilots attitude indicator. In the event of 3. The configuration edopted is ahown on
an 105 failure, this reference will enable the Figure 35. The figure illustrates the configu-
pilot to maintain a safe attitude during tbe ration adopted for both the airborne and ground
critical portion of re-entry. (prime) communications subsystems tobe used in
the launch and re-entry areas. Tbe SHZ ground-
Communications and Tracking to-air link frequency selected was in the region
of 10.4 KVC. The air-to-ground link frequency
1. A reliable communications net is selected ..as at 13.5 KMC to take best advantage
essential for the early flights to control and of available micro.. ave equipment c0mponents. Not
gather data from the first exploratory flights. specifically identified in Figure 35, but included
At that time , there will be urgent needs for in tbe system are a pair of Similar UHF voice
flight safety, design verification and/or failure communicat ions links and a C-band tra nspo nder to
analysis data coverage. This coversge entsils be compatible witb tbe range station equipments
overflying a chain of interconnected surface existin g along the est ablished missile and
communications, tracking, and data collection orbiting-satellite ranges in tbe non-re-entry
range stations positioned along the (Atlantic regiona.
and Pacific) orbital and re-entry track (see
figure 32) . Many of these stations already exist 4. New SHF equipment for botb glider and
in the Atlantic and Pacific Missile Ranges and surface sta tion adaptation is being developed and
the NASA Mercury net. A major problem presented procured. The surface station adsptation equip-
itaelf in utilizing these range stations and ment is s elf-trac king in botb s zimuth and
existing eqUipment . Experience with the elevation. Inclusion of a tone-ranging circuit
preceding ballistic missile and orbiting satellite also provides a mea surement of slant range; thus
programs had demonatrated that a vehicle re- providing simultaneously for both the needed
entering the atmosphere at hypersonic apeeds radio communicationa and vebicle position tracking
becomes enveloped with a therme lly ionized p~a in the otber.. is ~ blacked-out re-entry region of
shesth configured to the flow field around the the mission. In addition, a bigber-powered (5
vehicle, as illustrated in Figure 33. This watt peak) UHF rescue beacon/transceiver is being
plasma sheath effectively acts a s an electrical provided to yield grester boming range capability
conductor, thus forming a highly reflective and for pilot rescue.
abaorptive media about the vehicle, which serves
to obstruct and black-out conventional t r acking Test Instrumentation Subsystem
radar and radio communications to and from the
vehicle . A black-out occurs in the region of the The Test Instrumentation Subsystem of the
re-entry hypersonic flight r egime where Dyns- X-20A program encompssses all areas of airborne
Soar is required to carry out its prime flight- data collection, sign el condit ioning, multi-
research mission. To solve this problem, advan- plexing, translating and record1ng of data in the
tage was taken of concurrent research on the glider. Also included is the necessary ground
interaction of electromagne tic radiations and based equipments for demultiplexing, detranslating
plasma fields and those findings extended. This recording/reproducing, formating and data cali-
research had demonstrated a distinct frequency bration up to the point of providing calibrated
sensitive behavior for the plasma shesth. In data tapes to tbe various data users for tbe
fact, it indicated the existence of a window in required analysis. The X-20A Program Office is
the frequency spectrum above the expected plasma responsible for the overall manEgement of the
resonant frequencies and below the onset of test instrumentation ar~D of tbe program. However
absorption by water vapor, oxygen and other since the X-20 is a joint effort between tbe U~AF
constituents of the atmosphere (see figure 34). and NASA, a team of inatrumentation specialists
for Dyna-Socr lifting re - entry flight conditions, wes establisbed to provide tbe Program Office
a choice of communications frequencies in the technical support and recommendations in the area
SHF band in the vicinity of 10 ~C to 15 KMC was of test instrumentation. This teem ia composed
indicated . of member a of the USAF and NASA and is cbaired by
a NASA member.
2 . Other approaches, such as seeding or
cooling of the plasma adjacent to the affected Design ConSiderations
antennas and using special propagation modes
established by magnetic fields, appeared possib~. 1. Tbe basic deaign considerations for tbe
Another possibility was the use of a thin sha.p TIS subsystem consisted of tbe number and type of
spike antenna which would not produce a dense sensors to be employed and bandwidth impairment
26
-- - _ . _ - - - --
•
. - 27
- --
the mid-course regi ons (beyond the two terminal
flutter inducing regions) all the flutter dete is
omitted and a single slant-range measuring a
signal channel substituted to form the third, or
narrow-band combination. This conserves band-
width and extends data transmission to e maximum
in the regions where range is a prime consideratiak
28
J
PROBLEM AREA CONCLUSION ACTION
I
~I
I
PLANNING
& STUDY
IPHASEc(
I
DE~
IDIR m
AF NASA MGT &
STEP
PLAN
MULTI Ituft
ORBIT Till
~--
R&D
BOEING
\ [ STEP-I DEV
"'''
ORBITAL
MARTIN
/ --
I MOCKUp6
!! T-I T-II
i
~
T-III
~
T-III
57 58 59 fiO I 61 62 63
Figure I. Dyna-Soar Background
29
• PROVIDE PILOTED, MANEUVERABLE GLIDERS AND ASSOCIATED SUPPORT EQUIPMENT
FOR THE CONDUCT OF FLIGHT TESTING IN THE HYPERSON IC AND ORBITAL FLIGHT
REGIME TO INCLUDE:
1
(
"l)
4 RECOVERY
CEI LING I
I-
LL.
3
C>
C>
C>
c;
C>
- 2
u..o
0
:::l
I-
-
I-
.....0
«
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
VELOCITY FPS X 10- 3
Figure 3. X-20 Flight Corridor
30
100
0
z MANNED SEMI-BALLISTIC
0 80
u
L.LJ
Vl
N
I- 60
-
u..
~
l-
cc
x MANNED MANEUVERING
~
40 FLIGHT - X-20A
-'
u..
I-
«
L.LJ
:::I: 20
o
o 10 20 30 40 50 60
TIME - MINUTES
Figure 4. Research Regime
31
REQU I REMENTS FOR RESEARCH X-20 FEATURES
TECHNOLOGY & TESTS
!
! Figure 8. Distance and Direction Control Re-'Entry Maneuverability
I
r
1
\
~ \ ./1
~-~
Figure II . X- 20 Configuration
34
--~ -~ -- ---
PILOT'S COMPARTMENT
EQUIPMENT SECONDARY POWER
COMPARTMENT COMPARTMENT
35
GENERAL SHAPE OF
THERMAL GRA DlENT
__ r HOT POSITION
{
\
- ....
----- ---
----.
--- 1 I
L COLD POS IT I ON
THERMAL EXPANS ION
& ROTATION
A
STAND-OFF eLI P
HEAT SHIELD
Figure 15. Typical Insulated Panel
36
CERAMICS &
COMPOS ITES
FORGED &MACH I NED
REFRACTORY METAL j
~EARLY SHEET METAL
10 - /' SPEC I MENS "-,. REFRACTORY
LBS/FT
I r- ESTIMATED ~
!
5 - V MINIMUM EARLY CONCEPTS~_
LBS/FT WITH
DEVELOPMENT EXISTING DESIGN~ "'"
I
I
I
t
!
Figure 17. Nose Cap and Support Structure
)' 37
I
- --::; ---
' .,,--- -=..;; - - -
-=-.::::-
...... ' ? - -
~
- \ \\
--1+\
-~
CHEMICAL DY~NA~M~IC~+-_ __
0::
w
3:
o X-20 REG IME
a..
w
~
o
:::c
10 ~
Cl
«
9 I
-'
«
f-
~
-- BATIERIES
O- - - - - - - - 1 1 HHr. ON . n I
S )
SION DURAll Generatlo
38
MI ree 0 f S eeo n dary Power
Fig u re 19. Sou
j
\
5
HYDRAiINE
Z ~ - -
0
~
I
I
E-< I
p.. 4
~ I
::>
(f) I
Z I
0 I
U 3
E-<~ I
Z:z:: I
jp.. HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN
~:z:: I
ril~ 2
p..~
- -
I
~.J ,
I
p..
I
U
~ 1 i
rx.
~
I
u II
r:<1
p..
(f)
.I
10 1 .4 16 18 20
PAD HORSEPOWER
3.0
""0,
2.5
x
cri
-'
'3
f-
co
, 2.0
f-
Z
w
f-
Z
a
u
f-
« 1.5
w
:r:
-'
«
f-
af -
LO
O. 5 1---+---,"---1--+-I&.~+
o
-400 -zoo o 200 400
TEMPERATURE _oF
Figure 21. Potential Heat Capacity of Three Coolants
39
SUBSYSTEM LIFT-OFF WEIGHT-POUNDS
~ N w 01>- CJ1
o o o o o
o o o o o
o o o o o o
o r-------~r--------.--------~~------~----------
N
Z
.0
0
~ 01>-
~::r:
~K!
1-3 I-3tl
H
~
::r: M~
M N
::ON
CIl IZ
H
MH
O'l (')Z
>
::0 N
00-3
M CIlM
0
c:: >0 >
'U
Z
tl
~~ c::
~~
0)
MtJ
(')
CIl
I
......
0
I
1
GLYCOL
HEAT H. X.
I
I
.8
.6
I .4
f .2
o
RE-ENTRY FLIGHT TIME - MIN.
AERO HEAT
INSULATION
WATER PANEL
INSULATION
I
I
I
j /
INNER COMPARTMENT
/ / /
Figure 25. Water-Wall System (Schematic)
I
~ 41
It
FCSE COMPUTER
I
10AUTO
,0 III
..0
,---l 1:-----,
THRUST VECTOR CONT.
-J~~AN MODEL~~-O-..! VARIABLE I
GAIN ri
t- -y- =--_.J~I~~f---.- REACTION CONTROLS
10 M. D. : -<K "
1- :1 --=---=~ L
o~o
GAiNO-: r--J , I
1
I '
, I
SEL I
GA INo-o-J
I i I
AERODYNAMIC CONT.
II J - __ -=-= -=-=-_-=-=-J ___I
ADAPTIVEL-
GAIN
FCSE
SENSORS
ATIITUDE RATE & ACCELERATION
1
PRIMARY
GUIDANCE ATIITUDE & POS ITION
SYSTEM
REACTION +
CONTROLS
TRY)
~
YRO
~r:r:::-
~ ELASTIC AXIS
r~~_ RIGIDAXIS
\ , ,
---
\,1--,
' - ------ - __ '_)
HANDLING QUALITIES _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ~ VERY HIGH
REQU I REMENTS AmNUATION~
OF THESE S
AERODYNAMIC FREQUENCIES~
SHORT PERIOD SELF- ADAPTIVE ~
LIMIT CYCLE ~
FI RST STRUCTURAL MODE
GLI DER
MOTION
r---IN-ER-T-IA-L--- - - - - --:A:. :J PILOT'S
I MOTION
S ;v'
~~ STEERING
COMMANDS
I
FLIGHT CONTROL
SUBSYSTEM
~ L.~-D-IG-IT-A-L~ ~~~~~~
(Roll, Pitch, Yaw)
~
VEHICLE POSITION
I (NOT DISPLA YEO)
6
Figure 31. Typical Energy Management Display
44
Figure 32. Single Orbit
SYSTEM TOLERANCE
3 --
1.0~------------~--------------~~~~--T--L----r-----
0.2 I. 0 I
5 I GNAL FREQUENCY - GIGACYCLES
~
Figure 34. Attenuation Vs Frequency for X-20 (Dyna-Soar) Re-Entry I
I
CONTROL/INTERCOM
TELEMETRY DATA
SLANT -RANGE
!
PILOT'S VOICE
PLENUM-MOUNTED
EQUIPMENT COMMAND DATA
SLANT-RANGE
TEST CONDUCTOR'S VOICE
WE IGHT ' 126 LBS.
VOLUME ' I.B CU. FT.
1300 WATTS
.•
. ~.
~~~
,tit:
,r;-";', ,
"::CH. RESCUE
TRANSCEIVER
.,
' r:'i!I
TRACKING COMMAND RECEIVER
F=243 MC ELECTRONICS TRANSMITTER GROUP
CONFIDENTIAL
46
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DES I GN • •-==:::::=-:.....:::::::::::...
QUALIFICATION TESTING IIII!.:::======= ..........
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PRODUCTION I ............
FLIGHT TEST
48 ,
-- ~
APOLLO DESIGN FEA TURES
C. H . Feltz
The next big step after Gemini in the United ..... I------------:::U.~":::CA::":-:::::::::==-·II
States manned space program is Project Apollo. "'.
Unlike Earth-orbital missions, the Apollo mission
to land American astronauts on the Moon and
return them to Earth necessitates escaping the
Earth to reach the Moon and then escaping the
Moon to return to Earth. This jump from manned
Earth-orbital missions to manned lunar-landing
missions demands propulsion capability far in
excess of that ever before required. In addition,
mission durations long er than ten days must be
anticipated. During this time, the spacecraft and
its crew must survive the environment of outer
space. The Apollo mission thus imposes severe
demands on booster capabilities and introduces
many technological and environmental problems
that are peculiar to a manned lunar-landing and
Earth-return mission.
U·
AlW
'"
• INTO lDD iii /1111 c."eWIt OfIln
Payload/ Thrust
This paper presents some of the design fea-
tures dictated by the special requirements of the The jump from Atlas/Titan to Saturn V is a
Apollo mission. In particular, design features big one. As shown in Figure 2., Saturn V has an
primarily attributed to booster limitations, crew Earth-orbital payload capability approximately
safety, and natural mission environment are 90 times that of the Atlas and 40 times that of the
discussed. Emphasis is placed on those features Titan. Although Saturn V is capable of injecting
that are considered unique. about 90,000 pounds to the Moon, mission require-
n:ents of this weight impose severe de'sign re stric- shows the Apollo approach employing this tech -
tions. not only on the spacecraft and associated nique. The LEM is descending to land on the Moon.
components. but also on the over -all configuration while the C/MandS/Mremain in lunar orbit.
of the Apollo spacecraft. Because every extra
pound that is landed on the Moon and subsequently It is possible to eliminate the LEM by going to
returned to Earth increases the gross take -off the Moon via the Earth-orbital-rendezvous (EOR)
weight by nearly 500 pounds. weight control is a mode. but two Saturn V launch vehicles and a large
very critical problem. Therefore. some of the spacec raft lunar -landing propulsion unit would be
design features of the Apollo spacecraft can be required. In addition, there is the operational
attributed primarily to limitations in the perform- problem of having to make two consecutive
ance capabilities of the available boosters . launches successfully within a specified period of
time: one would place a tanker or a booster loaded
with cryogenic fuel into an Earth orbit. and the
other would place the spacecraft into the proper
position for rendezvous with the vehicle in orbit.
50
phere directly. Partly because of weight
limitations. a retropackage is not used to reduce
this high velocity. The result is that the C/M
must be capable of dissipating the energy
(virtually all kinetic) associated with Earth entry
in such a manner that the integrity of the space-
craft remains intact and its human occupants
unharmed. In addition. the C/M must be capable
of correcting guidance errors in order to reach
a given landing site. The present C/M. in
fulfilling these requirements. presents the
following design features .
• ·r
VD '0
....,
UD' 0.)
...".
UO -11)
ROll
S"or~TlNClOAD
ON UtWAIHI tofIl
52
Design Features Arising From Requirements along the Apollo Earth - to - Moon trajectory where
for Safety of Astronauts it is possible to abort the mission.
however, is desirable from a crew safety and Figure 15. Abort Opportunities
morale point of view.
Of the crew safety design features that do
The LEM and e/M-s/M equal - period orbit is a manifest themselves in particular pieces of hard -
part of the over -all abort flexibility. Its use ware, the most obvious one is the launch escape
provides for a possible pickup of an inactive LEM system (LES). Although the Mercury also utilizes
by the e/M - s/M. For example, assume that the a launch escape rocket, the larger size and more
spacecraft is orbiting the Moon at 80 nautical stringent abort requirements for the Apollo make
miles altitude and that the LEM is ready to deorbit this LES unique . Paraglider and ejection seats
for the lunar landing. (See Figure 14.) A velocity are used in the Gemini, but they are considered
increment of approximately 460 ftl sec toward the too heavy for incorporation into the Apollo pro-
center of the Moon is imparted to the LEM. This gram. The Apollo LES is designed for abort on
the launch pad, during high dynamic pressure, or
action injects the LEM into a transfer ellipse that
at high altitude.
takes it to an altitude of 50,000 feet at perilune,
with an orbital period equal to the circular orbital
period of the e/M-s/M in its parking orbit . This
equal-period orbit provides the LEM with an auto-
matic (without propulsion) rendezvous point with
the e/M-s/M in the event of an abort, as well as COWMHD MODUU "OACM fITTINGS
1/
I
~
j:
~ JOOj
1
1001
1000
1000 JOOj
POSITION I POSITION 1
RANCE - fT
Figure 17. Pad Abort Trajectories Figure 19. Command Module Flotation
Positions
In a normal launch , the LES is jettisoned
During a high-altitude abort, tumbling may
shortly after ignition of the second stage. Unlike
cause the C/M to corne in apex forward . In order
the Mercury, which uses a Marman band for the
to eliminate this apex-forward trim point, which
launch tower separation, the Apollo uses explosive
bolts. {These bolts are unique in that there are is not acceptable from a crew safety point of view,
provisions for loading or unloading the explosive two strakes are installed on the ci M . Although
char·ges.} During LES jettison, there is a possi- the final size and shape of the strakes are not
firm, their app roximat e geometry and location
bility that the jet plume might damage the windows
a r e shown in Figure 20.
of the C/M. Partly because of this reason, but
mainly because of the adverse effects from aero-
dynamic heating during atmospheric exit and entry,
the windows have covers. Figure 18 illustrates
the ci M window configuration.
i--- .OTA~ ~.
H,ATtMWI)I)(M
ISCIENTIFIC OISBVATION
Nl)NJroOClCtWOC'lAO<M
SII)( VIEW TOP VIEW
SIDf:W'1GWr
VoTTlT\lI)(IID'UlDC£
(U1trr;tAtTHAHD Figure 20. Command Module Strakes
lWWtO.. 1n
"1'P"'~~:~~
'~~!'!c:I-
MAIN PAlACHJT£ _ _ ~ ~ AIt(A RATIO " !I
r - ..,..-
~.
(? --; -
DROGUE CttJTE
I~.. . n MORTAR D<PlOYfDI
MimI!( ItATlO. NOMlIW.
IIXI
d ~,....-.-
~
"'I'PA"'1fJTtS
RJUYOf'DO
~ I'
I
Figure 23. Service Propulsion Engine
Configuration
I-
8
Figure 21 . Earth Landing System
HELIUM
8lLB AT 4IXXl PSI
RECULATION-REDUNDANCY fOR
"OPEN OR CLOSED fAIWRr' IN SYSTEM
PROPELLANT
45,000 LB IUSABUI
30.000 LB OXIDIZER
LS.OOO LB RlEl
~
the fuel cells located in the sl M . The fuel cells
produce potable water as they generate electricity.
HYDIorDI lN
"""'""'"
ON
Figure 25 . Environtnental Control System
Ins tallation
56
three batteries. These units constitute the
electrical power sources (Figure 29) . While it is
clearly desirable to have all three fuel cells
operating. any two of these cells will satisfy the
HfRtCOYUYIEXTiHOlOAfTU
mission requirements. The three batteries WfHlMPACTI
VWR£CCM:.RY
UIDfO(O UPON
PARAotm Dt:ptf1f1rlVlTJ
C·IANO
A number of Apollo design features have been being made to assess landing impact loads. The
discussed to illustrate the broad spectrum of the flotation and stability of the C/M have been
Apollo spacecraft design problems . Not all the explored by dropping and towing boilerplate
technical problems have been covered. Each versions of the C/M in water.
design feature, before final incorporation, must
endure stringent experimental tests to verify its Some of the design features presented
acceptability. There will be flight tests of the undoubtedly will be modified as a result of new
launch escape system, using the Little Joe II experimental data and information. In addition,
booster to investigate aborts at high dynamic some new problems will arise that will dictate
pressures and at high altitudes. There will be other design features . Therefore, the design
Saturn I and Saturn IB Earth-orbital missions for must be flexible enough to incorporate changes
flight qualification tests of the Apollo spacecrafts. as needed. At this time, there is no known
Aircraft drop tests are being made to investigate technical reason why the United States cannot
the performance of the Earth landing system, and successfully complete the Apollo mission within
drop tests of boilerplate versions of the cl Mare the present decade.
J . U . LaFrance, Jr .
Technical Director Gemini Launch Vehicle Program
Martin Marietta Corporation
(1) Perform a 14-day earth orbital flight. Fundamentally, the injection altitude chosen
for the launch vehicle is governed by the design
(2) Demonstrate that the spacecraft can premise that minimum modifications will be
rendezvous and dock with a target vehicle made to the basic Titan II structure. Such
in orbit. parameters as aerodynamic heating, first-
stage dynamic pressure, staging dynamic pres-
(3) Develop simplified spacecraft and launch sure and minimum elevation angle required
vehicle countdown techniques in order to for guidance were considered in determining
optimize the rendezvous mission. this injection altitude (Fig. 4). A concession
was made to the flight loads criteria in that
(4) Develop a fully reliable man-rated launch the wind environment used for the Gemini
vehicle system. Launch Vehicle is reduced in comparison to
that normally used on the SM68B vehicles.
Explicitly, Avidyne winds are used in this de-
Mission and Performance sign application as representative of the en-
vironment experienced at the Atlantic Mis-
Mission sile Range. Dynamic pressure in the first-
stage regime is in excess of that used in
The objective of the basic launch vehiclEl is to in- SM68B vehicle design. Aerodynamic heating
ject the spacecraft into orbit at an altitude of 87 limits, which are derived from SM68B per-
nautical miles with sufficient overspeed to maintain formance, and the minimum angle required
a perigee of 87 nautical miles and an apogee of 161 for guidance provide the constraints which
nautical miles. limit the injection altitude to approximately
87 nautical miles.
The general trajectory mechanization for the
Gemini Launch Vehicle is similar to that used on the
basic Titan ICBM, except for inclusion of a variable Description of Changes From Titan II
launch azimuth capability which has been added to
meet the conditions imposed by the rendezvous mis- As has been mentioned, the Gemini Launch
sions. Vehicle is a version of the Titan II. The differ-
ences between the two vehicles can be categorized
Sequentially, the Gemil.i launch is characterized into three classes :
by an engine start signal, followed by a 1. 08- second
span in which engine thrust is built up to 77%. At (1) Changes needed to physically adapt the
that point, the Thrust Chamber Pressure Switch launch vehicle for the spacecraft.
(TCPS) activates a two-second timer and, at the end
of that period, the launch bolts are blown and liftoff (2) Changes required to accomplish the mis-
begins. Then follows a vertical rise of approxi- sion of accurately injecting a spacecraft
mately 20 seconds. During the vertical rise, the into an 87-nautical mile orbit with
roll program is insert~d to obtain the desired enough overspeed to achieve a 161-nau-
launch azimuth. The first of three open loop pitch tical mile apogee.
commands is initiated approximately 20 seconds
after liftoff in order to approach a zero lift tra- (3) Changes or additions made because
jectory during the Stage I flight regime. Figures men are part of the payload.
1 and 2 show the results of this type of trajectory
on a few of the basic nominal design parameters.
As in Titan II, a fire -in -the -hole technique is used In Class I, the diameter of the top of the ve-
to separate the first and second stages. hicle has been increased to 10 feet. No other
59
,
I
SECO : I I
10 I I III I SECOI
8ECO : I BECO I
_--i
I / __
I / :": 60
~
I / x
~
I /
'"
!:
i 6 I / i SURfACE RANGE
40
/~H
w 5
"" 5
=>
'" ~<C
'"
!
I /
<C
~
~
w 4 I / z 20
"" '"
~
u ;:! ,( ~
~ ~ 2
/1
00
~
I 40 III 120 320 360
I
I TIME fROM LIFTOfF (SECI
2111 320 360 FIG . 2. ESTIMATED TRAJECTORY CHARACTER I STICS
FIG. 1. ESTIMATED TRAJECTORY CHARACTER I STICS
- - NOMINAl. CAPA81l1TY
- - - - MI NI MUM CAPA81l1TY
-:1---\!,-
~ ~nJ
87
. I
~ 6il64 ~';-'-'~
~~~'
, C I R~ULA.R ORBIT IN!ECTION i
7150 73111 7530 7B111 Il13O -t.;-'
, ,------,-t
n 68 76 III 84 88
PAYLOAD WEI GHT ILB) PERIGEE INJECTION INAUT Mil
EQUIPMENT
TRUS~CHANGES
•
basic changes are required (Fig. 5) because the While some refinements were requir e d, the
weight of the spacecraft is less than the maximum environment and criteria used for the structural
warhead weight carried by Titan II, and the tra- design of the Gemini Launch Vehicle are essen-
jectory flown will not impose loads which exceed tially those of Titan II. Figure 6 shows four
those for which the ICBM was designed. major traje ctory parame t e rs whi c h directly affe ct ·
the vehicle structural design. Dynamic pres- stresses. These differences are offset by using a
sure (q) and axial acceleration are essential to lower engine gimbal angle, 3 .5 degrees instead of
loads calculations, while structural heating is de- 5 degrees (Fig. 9). The substitution is justified
pendent upon the altitude-velocity relationship. because the control requirements for the most
The flight path shown in Fig. 6 is one of the dispersed cases are less than 3 degrees.
numerous trajectories studied in defining the
Gemini Launch Vehicle performance require-
ments. This trajectory is based upon nominal
conditions for a 7400-pound payload injected at
an orbital altitude of 87 nautical miles at perigee.
GEMINI' 3.1'
4681012
STATIONS liN. X IItl
50
R.IGHT WINOS 1\"1 w$'
GROUND WIND 1\"1
tem during the first stage flight and a
Radio Guidance System during the second
stage. Since the GE Mod III-F is used
as a tracking and impact predictor for
Titan II. a complete Radio Guidance Sys-
tem (GE Mod III-G) was developed by
1;40 simply adding a decoder.
x
!;;30
~
Q
i=2O
~
~300
~250
=>
:i2OO
C>
~15O
0
~lOO
j ,
STEADY
STEADY'1
GUST I
I
I
I
I
(2) Use MIST RAM only on the Gemini Launch
Vehicle. Titan II uses both MISTRAM
and Azusa tracking equipment.
lD I (3) Remove the Titan II retro and vernier
I
~5O rockets.
C> ,/
DO 40 81 120 160 200 240 281 ~ °0 10 20 30 40 50 60 (4) Change the instrumentation system from
WIND SPEED IF PSI WIND SPEED !MPH)
a 0- to 40-millivolt system. to a 0- to
FIG. 7. DESIGN WIND ENVIRONMENT 5-vol.t system.
61.
TABLE 1
COM PAR I SON OF THREE STAGE II CONFIGURATIONS
FOR THE GEMINI MI SSION
liton II GLV NO.5 with GLV with IGS
N-ll RGS &MISTRAM &MI STRAM
Vehicle Part Ubi Ubi UbI
IGS I
DIGITALCQI,IPUTER
INERTIAl UNIT
Orientation controls
Mod 3-F
Decoder
338(3)
32
0
138
33
14
138
0
0
TARS 0 n 0
Autopilot No. I 38 38 38
Autopilot No. Z 38 38 38
Adapter 0 17 0
IGS ZSZ 0 ZSZ
MISTRAM 30 30 30
Azusa Z9 0 0
Command receivers 50 50 50
Strobe light n 0 0
Wire and bracketry 5Z8 ZS4 440
Environmental control ZAI4I 14 14
~TATIC
INVERTER H'OlT Instrumentotlon and
POWER telemetry 684 7S)C5I
' SUPPLY
MDS 96 96
Unaa:ountoble variation 0 0
VERNIERS IZI
Translation system
10tol Weight Empty
Residual Propellant
Burnout weight
Disposable propellants
Engine blood
Solid propellants
Starter grain
Cross Weight
NOTES,
SICNAl III Normalized ill remove N-ll warhead adapter.
COND ITIONER (2) Revised Gem ini engine specilication welghL
OJ stated with vernier system weight Included (2IXJ pounds I.
141 Reflects duetlng In equipment compartment lor air conditioning
whlle the vehlelels on pad.
151 Includes AC -Spark PIUCj IIGSI telemetry packages.
161 Used III rotate the burned out Stage Zout 01 the IIlght path 01 the payload
aile, separation.
171 Based on propellant loading stotement issued 20 Feb,uary 1963. These
values are nominal and include mean outage.
181 Based on cold propellant loading statement Issued 20 February 1963.
t91 tnell_1ll normalize comparison basis.
nO) All weights include malfunction detection and redundancy provisions.
TABLE 2
INCREASED PROPaLANT AND PAYLOAD
Stage I Stage II Total
Items IIbl IIbl IIbl
Cold propellant Z090 900 Z990
Tank volume considerations IZ60 200 1460
FIG. 10. CLASS 2 CHANGES TotalLDaded 3350 1100 4450
Nonusables. transients and blas 650 60 110
Total Steady-State 400D 1160 5160
Thelne,e, .. In payload capability which results can be stated as Iollows,
W Payload
Stage IIbl IIbl
~
Figures 11 and 12 show the modifications made lIPropeliant weight 133
to the guidance and instrumentation trusses in or-
der to adopt the Titan for the Gemini mission . ~
II Propellant weight 1100
Table 1 shows three Stage II configurations lIEmptywelght
which have the necessary equipment to perform II Total Payload G"n
62
FIG. 11. EQUIPMENT TRUSS NO.1 (GUIDANCE)
a Gemini mission. The .tabulation indicates that (2) Using selective injectors to bring
a payload increase of 1168 pounds was realized about lsp gains.
because of the differences between the Titan II
research and development ship No. 11, which (3) Using chambers selected to optimize
served as the base for the Gemini Launch Vehicle,
and the Gemini configuration finally chosen. In burning mixture ratios.
addition, it is shown that there is a payload differ- (4) Devising additional means of reducing
ential of 264 pounds between a stripped Titan II weight.
with inertial guidance and the final Gemini Launch
Vehicle configuration. The changes in instrumentation hardware, some
of which resulted in the weight savings just dis-
Table 2 shows the increased payload and pro- cussed, are summari.zed in Table 3 and are sche-
pellant that the Gemini Launch Vehicle is capable matically indicated in Fig. 13. The summary of
of handling. There are four reasons why the all the Class 2 changes is shown in Fig. 10.
Gemini Launch Vehicle can carry this additional
propellant: (1) calibrated tanks with nominal Class 3 modifications (Fig. 15) deal with those
rather than minimum values are used; (2) The area changes which have been introduced to ensure the
between the prevalves and thrust chamber valoJ.re safety of the two astronauts who will be aboard
can be used for propellant storage; (3) a more the' spacecraft. The Man-Rating and Pilot Safety
accurate loading system is provided; and (4) lower Program which was developed to do the job in-
propellant temperatuI'es are maintained. Table 2 volves many considerations. These are summa-
shows how the additional 5160 pounds of propellant rized in Fig. 14.
which can be loaded on the Gemini is distributed.
Gemini changes related to hardware are con-
The preceding tabulation explains the payload Sidered under the category of system design. Spe-
gains realized to date; it does not include addi- cifically, the major considerations made in this
tional gains that could be effected through: category can be delineated as:
(1) Reducing ullage requirement and load- (1) Addition of a Malfunction Detection
ing more propellant. System (MDS),
GLV '
SIG\Al
CO'OIll ER
COMMAND
o--""'0"7- RECEI VER S
64
I I I
COMPARTMENT 1: COMPARTMENT 2 : COMPARTMENT 3A : COMPARTMENT l B COMPARTMENT 4 COMPARTM<NT 5
~--------------~
~~==========~====]'
I
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TO END I
END IN STRUMENTATI ON :
NSTRUMENTATION I
I
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I
I
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I
I AEROJEI
: 01 SCONNECTS
I
I
I
I
I
I
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CONFIGURATION QUALITY
CONTRa. ASSURANCE
MART IN DOCUMENT ER 12326 RTiN DOCUMENT ER 12254A
BASIC TITAN II ER 12256 FA ILURE MODES EARLY USE PERSONNEL
FCS REDUNDANCY SSD 62-33 ESCAPE MODE CONFIGURATION PROCEDURES SPARES
SUPPORT CONTROL
mCTRICAL QUAL TESTS CRITICAL HARDWARE
BOARDS
SEQUENCING PMT FLIGHT TEST COMPONENTS
DATA
REDUNDANCY REL TE STS ANALYSES TA BULATIONS
r------~
MD S CR I TI CAL COMP
R
ASFTS MANUFACTUR ING
MDS PIGGYBACK MANUFACTURING
SUPERVI SION
CST
QUALITY CONTROL
HOT FIRING
TESTS QUALI TY CONTRa.
SUPERVISION INCREASING
AIR FORCE TECHNa.OG I CAL
QUALITY CONTRa. COMPETENCE
AND
AIR FORCE QUALITY INCREASING
I CONTRa. SUPERVIS ION LEVEL OF
I
I AEROSPACE RESPONSIBILITY
I SSD
IFACTORY ROllOUT INSPI
I
I
I
. -- - -- - - - - INHERENT - -- - - - ---<....
I
I
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1.0 ----------- DELIVERED -
SSD
(FLIGHT SAFETY REVIEWI
- - -- - - - - - -.....
1J
I
65
(1) Time histories of launch vehicle action
REDUNDANT
following anomalies.
AUTOPILOT
U -SECOND
DElAY
5 5-SECDND LAUNCH VEH I ClE SPACECRAFT
DElAY
MDS SENSED PARAMETERS
BOTH STAGES: ENGINE
5-SECDND UNDERPRESSURE AND
DElAY PROPaLANT TANK
PRESSURE
STAGING
aECTRICAl SYSTEM
OVERRATES
REDUN DANCY PRO VIDED
R.IGHT CONTROl
SWITCHOV!:R
CIRCUITS
66
Detection System was implemented to provide in- This latter quote is offered to indicate some
formati on to the astronauts who must ultimate ly of the background that led to the choice of ejec-
decide what action is to be tak en. tion seats as one of the e s cape modes. Th eir
use and speed of reaction is one of the factors
Project Gemini's design philosophy is sum- that was considered in deciding whether a manual
marized effectively in a February 1963 article abort system was feasible.
in "As tronautic s and Aerospac e Engineering"
by Chamberlain and Meyer. An analysis of a few The factors just evaluated cover Items 4, 5,
quotes f r om this article enables one to under- 6 and 7 of the characteristics which had to be
s tand the need for a manual abo rt system. considered in evaluating the desirability of a
manual versus an automatic abort system. Logi-
The Atlas is so instrumented that it will au- cally, the next step in s uch an evaluation was to
tomatically abort the Mercury Spacecraft if
anyone of a number of malfunctions is examine all possible malfunctions in order to
sensed in the launch vehicle. The automa- determine the more critical malfunction times.
tic abort modes i n Mercury are ve r y com-
plicated and have caused the 108s of complete The first step in such an analysis was to de-
spacecraft in the early development un - termine the frequency of failures by systems .
manned flights. In each instance~ had a
man been on board, he could have manually Primarily, this information was gathered by re-
salvaged the situation. vie wing Atlas , Titan I and Titan II histories .
During these analyses , the following information
In Gemini. a launch vehicle malfunction ac - was particularly sought:
tivates li ghts and gages on the instr ument
panel and the astrona uts exercise judgment
as to the seriousness of the situation and the
best procedure to follow during any special (1) Probability of occurrence
circumstances. With this sort of system,
more than one cue can be used to verify an (2) Mode of failure .
abort situation. Simulations re veal that in
many cases, much reliance i8 placed on the
audio-kinesthetic cues for this purpose. (3) T ime until critical limits are exceeded.
These cue s are not only very reliable. but
instill confidence in the pilots in the validity
of the systems when they are checked by From these studies, a summary of what might be
this means. expected on the Gemini Launch Vehicle was pre-
A fu rther quote from this article shows that pared; the summary indicated the probabilities of
one of six primary objectives of the program is: malfunction by systems (Fig. 17) . Each system
was t he n considered independently, and the con-
To perfect methods for returning and land- sequence s of a failure at different times during
i ng the spacecraft on a small preselected
landsite. This objective involves r e-entry the flight on better than 1000 analog simulations
control and a paraglider for spacecraft re- of this kind were made for the Gemini Launch
covery. The ejection seats not only provide Vehicle Program. Typical results of these studies
a substitute for a reser ve parachute. but are shown in Figs. 18, 19, 20 and 21. From these
also provide an ~scape mode both early in
flight and on landing. data, the time requ ired to reach a c ritical limit
r_ _ - -- J-
TIRM.NATE lHRUST
. -:@
UCT
STAI.. . . . RmIO AIOIIT
FA..... HV SPACDAn SEPAIIA-
.=_~n
TIRM.NATICII 'l;;..
@V
8
SC ·RGS SELf-CHECK
CS-oCOM/MND SHUTDOWN BV RANGE SAffiV
o ~ARMIETER
o
MDS SENSOR·-AU101MTlC SWITCHOVER TO BACKUP SVSTfMS SPACECRAFT SENSING
67
-----------------
FIG. 1& STAGE I FUa TANK MDS REQUIREMENTS FIG. 19. STAGE I FUa TANK TIME TO CATASTROPHE
J
ENGINE .'VEHICLE LlMHI : STAGE II BURNOUT
I
I
VEHICLE I
BREAKUPI
7
I
'ill
'~/LOSS OF THRUST OF BOTH
if ENGI~ES IVEHIClE lIMITI
I
:
'\ 1 BbTH ENGINES DRIFTING TO
HtRDOVER, PITCH i
"4
:--STAGE I BURNOUT
I
I
'<-v.(· ........ BURST JF PROPEll.ANT
:
STAGE II BURNOUT----l
I
:
I i
SINGLE ENGINE DRIFTING TO HARDOVER,
LIMIT IEY£BAllS UPI
FROM FUEl IMPACT I
°0~~4O~~~~-7.12O~~16O~-ZOO~~ZW~~Z~~~~3~~~
MALFUNCTION OCCURRENCE (SEC)
FIG. 20. INADVERTtNT THRUST TERMINATION FIG. 21. VIOLENT CONTROL MALFUNCTION
was determined . For example, Fig. 20 shows goes off at separation approximately
that if an engine failure occurs at approximately 87 FS + 0.6 second.
70 seconds, the vehicle would break up in approx- 2
imately three seconds. With a manual abort
system, the senSing, indication, reaction and es- The tank pressure sensors provide analog Sig-
cape actions would all have to occur within three nals to the spacecraft indicators. Redundant sen-
seconds. The results of these analyses indicated sors, which are connected in independent parallel
that it is possible to react to all failures in a circuits individually routed to the spacec~aft, are
timely manner, with the exception of engine hard- supphed for each tank. All other sensors are bi-
over cases which will be discussed under Flight level. They are a:lso redundant for each param-
Control System Redundancy. From these analy- eter, but, in this case, they are connected in se-
ses, it was determined that the following param- ries. Consequently, the contact of both sensors
eters must be monitored while the Gemini Launch in the redundant pair must be closed before a
Vehicle is in flight: signal is initiated (Fig. 22).
Yaw ±3 .5 10
If the sensed values are not high enough, an en-
Roll 20 20 gine Kill is initiated prior to liftoff.
68
28 V DC APS BUS
28 V DC IPS BUS
TARSITIMER
.R·
+
ENGINE I
STAGE
t'~';'
ENGINE II
RATE
An
I
GUIDANCE
SECONDARY
0 0
28 V DC
SHUTDOWN
r
I 'i7
,
--
'i7 'i7
STAGE II TANK
~ __ -"~E!S~~L __ .J
,
'i7 I
:
I The figure shows that the Gemini rec overy area grees apart . The ejection motor on each seat will
is being cleared and leveled for recovery of the two develop 2500 pounds of thrust and burn for 1 sec -
Gemini pilots in the event of a pad abort. The legs ond; pilot should be clear of capsule 0 .4 second
I
of this triangular - shaped area are each 1000 feet after motor ignition . Barostats will activate seal -
long and the angle between them is 54 degrees. mounted chutes 3 seconds later when the pilots are
All elevated obstacles are being removed; even pad about 300 feet above the ground. Pilots will have
illumination lights will be installed flush in the a maximum 5 .5 seconds in which to initiate es -
,g round. The 'highlighted area (dashed line) will be cape procedures after notification from -Range
deluged with water in the case of booster explosion. Safety Officer of his intention to destroy a mal -
In present Gemini capsule design, the pilot's seats functioning booster .
are angled 9 degrees above horizontal and 12 de -
12
(1) Command from the pilot .
7160-lB PAYLOAD
BECO SECO
TI • 474.OOlLB IVACI
~8) I
I (2) Detection of vehicle overrate by MDS
10 T2 • 100. 00l LB IVACI I
I
rate sensors.
;60 I • Z60 SEC
SPI I
@; I
I
(3) Loss of Stage I prima r y hydraulic sys -
>40 I Sp " • 313 SEC
I tem pressure .
~ I
70
Gemini Launch Vehicle flight termination and
12 de s truct system (Fig. 28 ) i s the same as that
used on Titan II (N-I).
~~~~~=======;~;,;~--~ASCO
~' DESTRUCT
APS DESTRUCT
SAf£-ARM SWI T~
to-SEC'
~~ TlME~~ +
..-----r- 2.0-SEC
~a.Ay T.:!:!E~
IPsomRUCT-'
~f£-AR~WITC~
_ _ ...i. TO STAGE I AND II ,.-;_.L _ _ POWER
t---~5.5-SEC DEsTRucT] SHUTDOWN CIRCUITS 15.5-SEC DESTRUCT I
~---+----:I Da.AY TlM~ -.J LD~Y TlM~ -J'- - - t - - - - ,
DESTRUCT
POWER POWER
PRIMACORD
DESTRUCT
I
mode against the time of flight during which the cuit wiring design without adding any new com-
mode would be employed is shown in Fig. 18. ponents. Table 5 compares the Gemini and Titan
As further evidence of the planning which has II electrical sequencing systems.
been done to provide maximum crew safety,
Fig. 29 shows a summary view of tracking, flight
termination and destruct systems actions which
Occur prior to and after launch.
Figure 30 shows the flight termination sequence
The controlling electrical sequencing system
for the Gemini Launch Vehicle consists of the
motor driven switch and relay logic which is re-
quired to perform such functio ns as:
i
times during the various modes of escape. Vehicle
destruct is accomplished by another independent
action and a signal from the Range Safety Officer
following de struct enable .
(1)
(2)
Shut down the Stage I engine.
The addition of the Malfunction Detection Sys- (4) Command autopilot gain changes.
tem and the modifications made to the guidance
system brought about a number of changes in the The system is shown in detail in Fig. 31.
LIFTOFF LIFTOFF
1-300 Z6D ZZO 1111 140 1-100 6D ZD T-() T>94 T>149.5 T>179.5 T>332
MIN
TRACKING
MISTRAM SYSTEM CliECKS
MISTRAM AUXILIARY CHECKOUT KIT IMACKI--
PRB.IMINARY
RANGE CliECKS IMACKI--FINAl
AIRBORNE TRACKING
·C-BAND IFPS-161--SPACECRAFT
• S-BAND IMOD 11-584 RADARI--SPACECRAFT
- -
CHECKS (1-300 TO Z2S SECI •
CHECKS (T -300 TO Z2S SECI •
MODE I SEAT ESCAPE MODE II SIC ESCAPE MODE III SPACECRAFT ESCAPE
-
I
B.ECTRONIC SKY SCREEN EQUIPMENT IB.SSEI
T>4 I I
FLIGHT TERMINATION I
I
••• ,I
ENGINE SHUTDOWN CliECKS
STAGES I & II SHUTDOWN COMMAND CONTROL
STAGE II SHUTDOWN COMMAND CONTROL •• I
I
AIRBORNE FLIGHT TERMINATION CAPABILITY
RANGE SAFETY OFFICER
T>2 1 I
CREW T+40
NOTE,
PROCESSED THROUGH DATA 5a.ECTOR BEFORE ENTERING " GE BURROUGHS DATA TO BE TIED IN WITH ADSP
7090 IMPACT PREDICTOR COMPUTER
IAUTOMATIC DATA SB.ECT PROGRAMI
are similar, Gemini has four additional provisions: After 40 seconds has elapsed, the 40-second
time delay relays are timed out, and the astronaut
(1) The system is redundant. then has the capability to command a launch vehi-
cle shutdown by operating the appropriate shut-
(2) There is a Stage I fuel shutdown sensor. down switches. After 140 seconds has elapsep,
the stage separation circuitry is armed by both
(3) There are 40- or l40-second time delay the Three-Axis Reference System and the 140-
relays. In Titan these arming functions second time delay relay.
are performed by the Digital Control
Unit. Normally, at approximately 150 seconds, the
oxidizer will be depleted and a low stage I engine
(4) There are two staging switches. chamber pressure will result. The Thrust Cham-
ber Pressure Switches will sense this condition,
supply a ground to the staging circuitry, and
The APS staging switch performs the same staging will occur. If the fuel is depleted before
function in both the Titan and Gemini Launch the oxidizer, the Stage I fuel shutdown sensors
Vehicle. However, the Gemini can also call on will supply a ground and initiate staging.
TABLE 4
FLIGHT SEQUENCING FUNCTIONS
Function Gemini Launch Vehicle Implementation man II Implementation
Program Initiate Redundant pad disconnect at liftoff. Signal !rom Master Operations COnsole at T-3.1
Redundant PrtlCJram Initiate relays Nos. 1 seconds starts Oigltal Control Unit
and Z.
R.lay No. I applies 400-<lls power t> Three'
Axis Reference System and starts 4O-second
relay No. t
Relay No. 2 starts 14D-sec.ond Ume delay relil)'
and 4O-second time delay relay No. 2.
Spacecraft enable lor After 40 seconds has elapsed, ttle crew can N/A
launch vehicle engine shut down Ihe launch vehle!, (redundant
shutdown relays!.
Stage I luel and oxidizer Thrust Chamber Pressure Switch sensors Thrust Chamber Pressure Switch only.
shutmwn sensing and fuel shutmwn sensors sense depletion
01 oxidizer or lue!.
Staging arming Redundant staging control relays Nos. 1 and One staging control relay Is armed by the Digital
2 are armed by the Three-Axis Reference Control Unit 140 seconds after liftoff.
System 139, S seconds after IUtotf, and the
14Q-sacond time delay relay arms these relays
140 seconds after liftoff.
Staging APS staging switch APS staging switch
II) Stag. I .ngln. shu_. 111 S~e I engine shutdown,
121 Stag. II engln. start 121 Stag. II engln. start
01 AutD9llot g.in changes at staging. 01 AutJpUot gain change.
'-41 Fire sf!?araUon nuts on the Stage II side. 141 Fire separation nuts Stages I and II
IPS .taglng switch
til Stage I engln. shu_.
121 Stag. II engine start
01 Au~lIot gaIn thanges.
WI Fire separation nuts on Stage I side.
Stage II low level ShutOOwn Fuel and oxidizer depletion Is sensed by Staqe II N/A
shuttklwn sensors. These units are armed by the
Stage n k)w level shutdown controrrelay, and
the relf)' In turn, Is armed by the Three-Axis Ref-
erence System at 322. 56 semnds after IItmtf.
SlaJe II guidance shuttbwn Shutbwn Is acc:ompllshed by Radio or Inertial Shutdown is accomplished by the Inertial.Guldance
Guidance System. Switchover Is accomplished System through one guidance shutmwn relay.
~~~Iarl ~h u~: ~e~~~t ~!~1 ~;ded2.undant
73
---- --------------- -,- - - --- -- --1
, I
II I
I
-
I I
APS
, I
I
,
I I
e
T I I
un-Off
- --------- I
,
I
,,
I
SIGNAl - TARS I
I
,
-- l
,
I
------ --- ------ - ~-- ,
I
-T - - - - - -,
I '
I
I
I
I , .---J'-.-i----L-, .-----*---*--*--,
I
,
I
I
I
I
+-,I
TO SIC ABORT. LIGHT
,,
,
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
APS POWER
IPS POWER
R[ • n 98512 TO n 99533
TABLE 5
FLIGHT SEQUENCE DIFFERENCES: TITAN II AND GLV
l ime from Utmn
lsecl ~U rte of Function
Function GlY I T- II GlY
I T- II
-=
74
~ . . _- ... _ _-
....
Stage II shutdown is normally accomplished equipment is provided to chec k the appropriate
by the Radio Guidance System command; how- airborne system. Hence, the flight control sys-
ever, it may also be accomplished by: tem test set will check out the airborne flight
c ontrol system, etc . The relationship of the
(1) IGS. various airborne systems and the checkout
equipment is illustrated in Fig. 32.
(2) Astronaut .
Each checkout set can operate on its equiva -
(3) APS and IPS command control re- lent airborne system virtually independently of
ceivers. the other equipment. However, during the count-
down phase, all operations performed by the
(4) Stage II propellant shutdown sensors. checkout equipment must be coordinated by the
launch control equ ipment. The checkout equip-
Relay No.2 switches shutdown capability from the ment will be predominantly manual, with auto-
Radio Guidance to Inertial Guidance System. matic operation being used only during critical
events or time periods . This philosophy assumes
Aerospace Ground Equipment more importance than ever now that redundant
flight controls and hy draulic c ompone nts have
The selection of Aerospace Ground Equipment been incorporated into the Gemini Launch Vehi-
(AGE) for the Gemini program was influenced by cle.
two major considerations: first, that the launch
vehicle is a modified Titan II; second, that Launch Launch control is obtained with the Master
Complex 19 will be available for this program. Operations Control System and other related
equipment, including closed c ircuit television
A comparison of equipment selected shows and a community time display board. The Mas-
that, of the 208 AGE control points, 143 involve ter Operations Control Sy stem will provide time
Titan equipment used "as is," while 33 involve coordination during checkout of the launch vehi-
Titan-modified, and 32 Gemini -peculiar control cle and remote control of facilities such as the
pOints. process water system and erector. It will also
display the state of readiness of the entire com-
The Ground Instrumentation System at the plex as the various time checkpoints are reached.
launch complex consists of a telemetry ground Lastly, through use of hold-fire and kill signals,
station, data r ecording equipment, signal con- it will provide the means of permitting or inhib-
ditioning, power monitor and control, time code iting launch at the predetermined T-O pOint .
distribution, control console and associated
patching and cabling equipment. This system Activation
provides a flexible recording system which can
be used to acquire data through umbilical or
transmitted telemetry links. Martin has been assigned the responsibility
of integrating activation of Launch Complex 19
Checkout and Launch Control and the Gemini Launch Vehicle Support Area at
AMR (Figs . 33 and 34).
Essentially, the checkout philosophy .:alls
for a decentralized approach; i.e. , for each ma-' Complex 19 is currently being activated, with
jor airborne system, an equivalent piece of all activities progreSSing as scheduled. Prirna-
I
I I
IL _____ __ ________ __ I ~------- ---- --- - ,
I I
E
L __ __ J I J I ------
L ___ _____ ____ - - -- ---------- I r------,
REMOTE Kill SWIlCHES LI I
i L _____
ERECTOR I
_ J
FI G. 32, AG E SYSTEMS
75
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BTL.
ASSY BLOGS - • .; '~S SY AREA
_ _...:U"'•...:Tc..;A::::N:::O~_·'
.l.:..li ·1 ANNEX • - -
~p
RIV£~
--- -- - •
(1) Blockhouse: the air-conditioning sys- In addition to the facilities to be modified, the
tem only. following new facilities will be added to Complex
19: a n ew road, located at the north end running
(2) Ready building: double size to house north and south for delivery of the LH2 to the
NASA, McDonnell and Martin person- spacecraft on the pad; an oxidizer holding area ;
nel. a fuel holding area ; a decontamination building
and an air-conditioning facility for spacecraft
(3) Launch deck: external north end. servicing. No new facilities are required in the
launch vehicle support area, except for a com -
(4) Complete vehicle erector: add white ponents cleaning facility which is expected to be
room, second elevator and spacecraft provided by AFMTC for all contractors to use.
hOist system.
(5) Second-£tage erector: relocate work The design of modified and new facilities has
platforms. been accomplished by Rader and Associates of
Miami, Florida, in accordance with Martin's
(6) Complete vehicle umbilical tower: ex- "Facilities Design Criteria," ER 12053. The
tend height to accommodate two addi- construction of these facilities will be accom-
tional booms for spacecraft. plished by the Army Corps of Engineers. New
and modified AGE will be installed in all those
(7) Second-stage umbilical tower: relocate facilities previously mentioned. All AGE to be
existing booms. installed and checked out is listed in the plan.
(8) Flume: enlarge and rearrange to per- Martin will install all AGE on Complex 19 and
mit quick runoff 'o f expended fluids. in the Launch Vehicle Support A rea. Each agency
providing such equipment for installation will
(9) LOX holding area: use as storage area check out and maintain its own equipment through-
for spacecraft AGE service carts. out the program.
(10) Roads and grading: modify south road The activation phase of the program will be
to accommodate fuel and oxidizer hold- considered complete immediately after the first
ing areas. satisfactory flight-readiness demonstration.
.,
Robert E. Lindstrom
SATURN I/IB Project Manager
George C. Marshall Space Flight Center
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Gentlemen, I will present today the status of recommended a lox-hydrogen stage for higher pay -
NASA's SATURN I program. In doing this, I will load and long - range goals. This stage, a four
cover NASA's requirement for SATURN I, the scope engine S-IV, was intended as a tbird stage .of the
of the job being undertaken and. a brief sunmary C-2 vehicle but was developed first due to the
of the SATURN development history. I will also availability of the RL -IO A-3 engine. In April
give a brief review of the vehicle configuration, of 1961, we modified the vehicle design by adding
the schedule and development status, our flight two engines to the four engine S-IV stage, elimin-
test objectives and accomplisbments, and will close ating the third stage, improving the first stage
with a short film of our last test flight, vehicle and today we have this SATURN I vehicle.
SA-4.
The SATURN I has two stages. (See fig. 5.)
Let us first look at the NASA requirement for The first stage, the S-I, has eight H-l engines,
SATURN (fig . 1) . SATURN I will give us our first uses lox -kerosene for propellants, is 80 feet long,
large orbital payload capability. NASA will and carries 850,000 pounds of propellants. The
specifically use tbis capability for inflight second stage, the S-IV, has six RL -IO A-3 engines,
qualification of the APOLLO command and service uses lox- liquid hydrogen for propellants, is 41 feet
module and provide crew training. Further, long and carries 100 ,000 pounds of propellants.
SATURN I gives us the basic first stage for the
SATURN IB vehicle and pioneers hydrogen tecbnol - In a standard flight, the 8-I stage is ignited
ogy for SATURN IB and SATURN V. and held down for 3.5 seconds to assure satisfactory
H-l engine operation. Prior to initiation of the
How big a job is SATURN I? Today (fig. 2) at tilt program, the vehicle is rolled into its flight
the Chrysler Corporation Michoud Operations at the azimuth from a fixed launch azimuth. Ten seconds
NASA Michoud plant, we have some 3,000 persons after lift - Off, we begin a gravity tilt program
engaged in manufacture of the S-I stage. This achieving a 66 degree path angle at 146 seconds,
number will rise to 4,000 as the SATURN IB program the burn-out of the first stage . After staging,
begins to be felt . At Douglas Aircraft in Santa the 8 -IV stage burns some 470 seconds, injecting
Monica, 2,200 people are engaged in the development the payload into orbit at some 1,400 miles from
and production of the S-IV stage, while an addition - the launch pOint.
al 500 engineers and tecbnicians are handling the
static test program at Sacramento . At Marshall, NASA has 16 SATURN I flight vehicles scheduled.
we have 2,500 civil service people engaged in the (See fig . 6 . ) Ten of these vehicles are conSidered
systems integration, deSign, booster assembly and as launch vehicle development flights. The remain -
checkout, and instrument unit assembly and check- der are conSidered operational flights and will
out. Engines, the H-l from Rocketdyne and the carry a manned APOLLO mission . Our flight test
RL-IO at Pratt and Whitney, employ an additional program began in October 1961 and we have had four
4,500 persons at these companies. These major successful flights of the Block I, or single live
centers of activities are supported by a large stage, configuration. Our next flight, a two - stage
complex of subcontractors, suppliers, and vendors . vebicle, is scheduled for launch in August of this
year. If all goes well, this flight will put some
To develop SATURN I and complete the ten 17,000 pounds payload in orbit. We i)ave five
vehicle development launch program will cost the additional two - stage flights SCheduled for the
c:ountry some 795 millions (fig. 3) . This includes period December 1963 through December 1964, prior
the flight test of ten SATURN I vehicles, develop - to our first manned flight on vehicle III in
ment and manufacture of thirteen S-I stages, the March 1965.
establishment of the Chrysler Michoud operation,
the development end flight testing of the guidance The H-l engine used in the S-I stage has an
system, and the development and manufacture of extensive test history . (See fig. 7 . ) We have
eight instrument units, and the establisbment of accumulated approximately 29,000 seconds of firing
two launch complexes at the AMR. Further, Signi - time on production H-l engines .
ficant steps are being taken in vehicle launch
automation which give early development progress On the S-I stage, the cluster of H-l engines,
toward the SATURN V vertical assembly and launch we have accumulated approximately 3,000 seconds
concept . of static test time (fig. 8).
Historically (fig. 4), SATURN I started as an The RL-IO engine history has over 100 hours
ARPA project in 1958, the objective being to static of hot firing time to date (fig. 9 ) .
test a multi-engine booster of 1.5 million pounds
of thrust. ARPA next initiated a series of studies The S-IV stage has 3,160 seconds of static
on upper stage configurations and mission require - test time to date and we project some 1,400 addi -
ments. In May of 1959, a modified Titan first tional seconds prior to the first flight and
stage was selected. This lasted some six months, some 22,360 seconds prior to the first manned
and in December of 1959, the Silverstein Committee flight .
77
,.
I Yould like to cover, in someyhat more This is yher e Ye stand today : I
I
As previously mentioned, Ye consider the
vehicle R&D program to end at SA- l O. Vehicle 5. Industr ial, test, and lauoch facilities
SA-lll Yill be identical to SA-l O but Yill have a r equir ed to suppor t the t otal pr ogram Yi ll
major portion of the R&D instrumentaion removed . be compl eted by the end of this year.
The SA and SA- 7 are intended to secure AroLLO
spacecraft launch phase environmental data , SA-8
and SA- 9 Yill test the creY abort system, SA- l O
Yill be a complete flight test of an unmanned
AroLLO command module and service module, and
SA- lll is planned for the first manned orbital
I
flight of AroLLO . Other missions Ye Yill undertake
Yill be a tape recorder in SA- 5 and a micrometeor-
ite detection satellite flo"ll on vehicles SA-8 and
SA- 9.
FIRST LARGE
ORB ITA L
PAYLOAD
CAPABILITY
NO.
LOCATION
EMPLOYED
• TEN LAUNCHES
• DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURE OF 13
S-I STAGES
• DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURE OF 10
S-IV STAGES
• ESTABLISHMENT OF CSD MICHOUD
OPERATIONS
1 • DEVELOPMENT AND PROCUREMENT OF TH E
I GUIDANCE SYSTEM
! • DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURE OF 11
I
I
INSTRUMENT UNITS
• SIGNIF ICANT STEPS IN AUTOMATION LEAD I NG
TO SATURN V LAUNCH CONCEPT
Figure 4. - History.
79
GUIDANCE: INERTIAL
CONTROL: GIMBALLED ENGINES
PAYLOAD: 7 TONS IN 300 MILE ORBIT
OR-I0 TONS IN 140 MILE ORBIT
VEH ICLE: LENGTH 184 FT
WEIGHT FUELED 550TONS
WEIGHT EMPTY 65 TONS
STAGE SIZES:
S-I _ _ _ 257" x80'
S- IV 220" x41'
STAGE THRUST:
S-I 1,500,000 LB
8 H-l LOX/ RP-l ENGINES
S-IV 90,000 LB
6A·3LOX/ LH 2_ ENGINES
M- MS-G 14- 1-63 MAR4 63
M- CP - O FEB28,63 M- CP-O 1002
~<jC'
96' 1961 196~ I 10,0,4 lQ"'~ ""U.A. 1967
I
SA-l .01 I
-f--
I
!
-
Live S-!
Dummy S-IV
SA-2 I .. APR
.. l~
~
:---
Dummy S-:sl
Jupiter Nose Cone SA-3 OV
>--
SA-4 .MAR
I I I
[lll[
I SA-S o
- SA-6
AUG
ODEC
t SA- ~ I OMAR
S-l SA-9 I o JUN
l-
S-IV W A-S OOT
Instrument Unit SA-lO
<>~ -I- - -
Jupiter Nose Cone SA-S I SA-111 . M~ - I- - -
Apollo Boiler Plate SA-1I2 A~t! t---
CM & SM ~13 I A S
t-
SA-114 ~ t-P EC -,-
SPARE
~:S
A MAR
-
SA-1I6 SPARE I rnN<J """'AI I ,: JUN
<> ..
·OTAL
TOTAL
81
Figure 9. - S-IV stage static test times.
LAUNCH
VEHICLE
DEVELOPMENT
James B. Bramlet
For a brief glimpse of the Saturn V Program, I will An Instrument Unit rides atop the third propulsive
discuss the following areas : (1) the background of stage and aft of the spacecraft. This unit con-
the Saturn V, (2) the vehicle characteristics, (3) tains the guidance and control instrumentation for
the ground test program, (4) the flight test pro- the three propulsive stages. The first and second
gram, and (5) a general program status. stages have a four-outer-engine-gimbal capability
to provide roll, pitch, and yaw control. Auxiliary
Background attitude control is provided to the third stage by
The Saturn V launch vehicle emerged from a series attitude control modules.
of studies conducted at Marshall Space Flight
Center during 1961 and consistent with the NASA Operating times for the stages are essentially as
overall manned lunar landing program definitions. follows: (1) first stage, approximately 150 seconds,
The NASA requirement for the launch-vehicle portion (2) second stage, approximately 400 seconds, and
of the manned lunar landing task was studied in (3) the first burn of the third stage is approxi-
three principal modes of operation : (1) earth orbit mately 165 seconds into a low-earth waiting orbit.
rendezvous, (2) lunar orbit rendezvous, and (3) After a waiting orbit of up to 4\ hours, the second
direct ascent. burn of the third stage is initiated; this burn
time, expected to be in the order of 310 seconds,
The selection of the Saturn V configuration was injects the payload into the 72 -hour earth-moon
made in early 1962 on the basis of the following transit .
performance capabilities for the three modes of
operation : (1) earth orbit rendezvous - 125 tons - Ground Test Program
to near earth orbit, (2) lunar orbit rendezvous - The prinCipal elements of the Saturn V ground test
45 tons - to the 72-hour trans lunar injection point, program are illustrated in Figure 3 . A major
and (3) direct ascent - 20 tons soft landed on the emphasis is placed on an adequate ground test pro-
lunar surface. gram. Since the expense of each flight test
vehicle is quite large, the number of flight tests
In mid - 1962, NASA selected lunar orbit rendezvous is kept to a minimum, consistent, of course, with a
as the operational mode for accomplishing the lunar reasonable number to provide correlation between
landing mission. All development efforts for the ground and flight environments.
Saturn V launch vehicle are directed toward support-
ing the LOR mode of operation . The ground test program for component selection and
qualification is underway, at this time, in many
Our present project authorization is based upon a areas of piece parts and what we call "speciality"
ten-vehicle R&D flight development program; however, items, such as valves, bellows, seals, flanges,
our planning is extended to include five follow - on switches, electrical boxes, etc. These items are
operational vehicles, and our long-range plan is not only under continuous design r~view of a
based upon a sustained manufacturing, testing, and theoretical nature involving "criticality" evalua-
launching capability of one vehicle per month. A tions, but are .also under strenuous tes ting to
few of the major accomplishments and milestones are reveal short-comings that can be corrected before
listed in the following chart (Figure 1). the stage sys tems· development tes ts get underway.
The first stage (S-IC) is propelled by five F- l The development test area for the second stage,
engines, each developing a thrust of 1\ million S-II, is located in Santa Susana at the North
pounds, for a combined liftoff thrust of 7\ million American Aviation propulsion development site. Two
pounds . The second stage (S-II) is propelled by test stands are being prepared for early battleship
five J-2 engines, each developing 200,000 pounds, and all-systems testing .
for a total thrust of I-million pounds. The third
stage (S-IVB) is propelled by a single J - 2 engine, For the S-IVB, the Douglas Aircraft test area in
providing a thrust of 200,000 pounds. Sacramento will be utilized for development testing.
83
The S-IVB stage is a common item for both the service personnel are engaged in the management,
Saturn V and Saturn IB programs. systems integration and the design, manufacturing,
test and quality control'of the Saturn V project.
Vehicle systems development testing will be con- This number is expected to increase to 1,800 in
ducted at Marshall Space Flight Center, where all fifteen months as the phase-over from Saturn I to
combinations of flight configuration will be sub- Saturn V continues.
jected to dynamic analyses.
With regard to the longest leadtime item, that is,
At the Launch Operations Center, in Merritt Island facilities (authorization and construction), we are
Launch Area, a functional launch vehicle system now at the estimated 85% point with regard to
will be provided for facilities checkout . The approvals, authorizations, etc. and about 60% in
degree of automation and the complexity of opera- the construction phase. Many items are being
tion involved in a multi-stage vehicle of this type activated and placed into operation; for example,
have prompted a very thorough operational develop- S-IC tooling installation which is going on in the
ment program for the NASA launch complex 39. The Huntsville shops at this time. Other examples are
respective stages will be assembled into a func- the static test facility at Huntsville and the
tional configuration, so that, generally, the structural test facility, also at Huntsville. In
entire operational procedure can be developed prior the Michoud area, facility modification has been
to the receipt of the first flight vehicle . This completed in many areas, and the Vertical Assembly
step is taken to assure that the flight stages are Building is under construction. These facilities
not exposed to the initial activities of the deal solely with the first stage.
Integrated-Test-Launch concept .
Concerning the second stage, the entire Seal Beach
Flight Test Program construction program is underway, and the first
The flight test program (Figure 4) will start in building was completed to the status of jOint
early 1966. The first three flights are established occupancy in January 1963. Tooling is being
to test, progressively, the flight stages. For the installed for structural fabrication. Stage
initial Saturn V flight a live first stage is to be development test facilities are under construction
used with inert upper stages. On the second flight, at Santa Susana, California.
both the first and second stages are planned to be
live, with the third stage inert. All three stages With regard to the S-IVB stage, facility modifi-
are to be live on the third flight . The fourth cation in the Douglas Aircraft Company's plant at
flight is backup and witl provide development Santa Monica is underway. Components will be
confidence and reliability. The fifth and Sixth fabricated in this plant. The final assembly of
flights are considered to be preliminary launch S-IVB will be performed by Douglas in the
vehicle qualification flights; that is, these Hu~tington Beach area, a new location being
vehicles should be capable of demonstrating full developed by Douglas. Occupancy of the major build-
performance capability. Launch vehicles seven ings will be phased-in by October 1963.
through ten are termed "developmental - manned
qualification." This series of flights will The static test facility at Sacramento is presently
commence in mid-l967. The operational program in a Site -preparation phase . Construction awards
begins with vehicle number 511, scheduled for were made in March 1963 .
early 1968.
We estimate that we have completed approximately
General Status 45% of the detail design and engineering for the
The final comments of my presentation deal with Saturn V vehicle and released about 15%.
program status as of this time.
By the end of this year our schedules require the
We are in the sixteenth month of the configura ted release of the major portion of all engineering.
and approved program. The decision as tQ the
operational mode was made nine months ago and a Tooling designs are complete for all major struc-
further refinement of the launch vehicle criteria, tural elements, and tooling fabrication is
involving structural definitions based upon mission approximately 75% complete. As you have already
profile, began at that time. seen, some of this tooling is in operation.
The manpower presently engaged in the development With regard to structural components, Boeing has
effort totals in excess of 12,000 direct personnel delivered, out of the Michoud Plant, two Y-Rings
in the major contract areas of: (1) Boeing Aircraft which involve a major machining operation. These
Company - S-IC stage, (2) Space and Information rings are fabricated from three l20-degree segments
Systems Division (NAA) - S-II stage, (3) Douglas welded together to give a 33-foot-diameter ring.
Aircraft Company - S-IVB stage, and (4) Rocketdyne The first Y-Ring has been delivered to Huntsville
(NAA) - F - l/J-2 engines. for final welding operation into the early struc-
tural test tanks.
Peak manpower estimates for the four major contract
elements noted above are forecast at some 15,500 In Wichita, gore segments are being fabricated for
direct personnel in the 1964/1965 . This increase S-IC tanks. First delivery of F- l engines for
will be in the test, operation, and manufacturing stage assembly will be accomplished by the end of
buildup since most areas of engineering are at near this year.
peak at this time.
The same general status exists for the two upper
Let me again emphasize that these figures are for stages. J-2 engines will be delivered by the end
the first-tier development contracting only . of this year to start the first preparation for
stage mating. These early engines are scheduled
At Marshall Space Flight Center, 1,000 direct civil for use with heavy-wall, battleship-type tankage.
84
Structural components a re being fabricated at this
time.
85
12'8"
t
APOLLO SPACECRAFT
LENGTH 52 FEET
~~~===============~! ..
INSTRUMENT UNIT
3 FEET
S-IVB STAGE
LENGTH 58.5 FEET
21 '8 "
1 200K ENGINE
PROPELLANT CAPACITY
230,000 LBS
t
t
S-ll STAGE
LENGTH 81.5 FEET
5 200K ENGINES
PROPELLANT CAPACITY
930,000 LBS
APPROXIMATE
TOT AL LENGTH i
330 FEET
S-IC STAGE
LENGTH 138 FEET
5 1,500 K ENGIN ES
PROPELLANT CAPACITY
4,400,000 LBS
86
- -- - -- - - --
87
Page intentionally left blank
TRENDS IN MA1fflED SPACECRAFT SUBSYSTEMS
R. L. Shahan
Chief Phyoics Technology X-20 Branch
Aero-Space Division
The Boeing Company
As mentioned earlier, on Mercury man I s capa- The pilot can select his landing site, read off
b1l.ities in the then unknown environment of space the angle of attack and bank angles to fl;! and
were to be tested, not depended upon fran the then control the vehicle to these angles or others
first. A monitoring capability was provided, he may choose to "over" or "under" control the
therefore, wherever possible _ emergency control vehicle. In a more recent version of this system
the safe flight limits of the vehicle are also during the hottest portion of the re-entry
plotted on the overlay and another distinctively flight was considered of utmost importance since
different symbol is generated on the cathode ray telemetry data would be invaluable in deter-
display to denote the vehicles current status mining causes of failure should a vehicle be
relative to this display. lost during this portion of the flight. Studies
of the flow fields led to chOices of low elec-
"Backup" energy management displays on the tron denSity, thin shock locations for the
pilots instrument panel permit yet another mode antenna outboard on the under side of the wings
of piloted energy management. and on the top centerline. To minimize the
number of ground stations for vehicle angle of
Gemini, as can be seen by referring again to attack varying from 15 to 55 degrees, top and
Figure 2, makes more extensive use of man in bottom antennas were provided. Two transmitters
control of the vehicle than was done in Mercury. each modulated by the total telemetry and voice
Since range is controlled by rolling the vehicle information and operating at slightly different
to modulate L/D , range control is a function rrequencies feed top and bottom antennas re-
or roll regime. With the inertial glildance sys- spectively thereby avoictlng pattern lobing by
tem aboard the vehicle this systems measure- frequency diversity.
ments can be displayed to the pilot for his
direct use. Since man was shown to be capable Ten to 13.5 kil~gacycle frequencies were found
of normal pilot responsibilities by the Mercury to be the lowest frequencies wbicfr remained
flights, Gemini plans are to greatly increase above the plasma resonant frequency (fp) for all
his role in control of the vehicle. Decisions but a few seconds of flight. Attenuations in
such as utilization of ground based tracking the order of 60 db corresponding to power
data or self-contained operation to determine levels one million above levelS required for
retro-rocket firing can be made on board. The free space transmission would be required for
pilot will do the guidance shut down and assist transmission at frequencie"s below fp. The
in restart of the system. Extensive mode selec- 10 - 13.5 kmc range was also the highest fre-
tion to be perfonned by the pilot is being quency at which sufficient airborne transmitter
incorporated into the primary guidance system power could be obtained from available tubes
to enhance reliability. A backup or secondary to provide horizon to horizon coverage and
guidance system may be evolved to enhance thereby reduce the number of ground and ship
mission reliability. borne stations. Blackout or unexpected coverage
gaps for periods of no more than a few seconds
ApOllO, with a much more complex mission, even are expected.
for just the cClllDD8nd module, and for a longer
mission duration is planned to employ both auto- II.D. Power Generation Subsystems
matic and manual control and through tbe crew
utilize,as a backuPJgu1dance information from Power generation subsystems for speCific space-
tbe Deep Space Tracking Facilities. Details of craft and missions are selected in early vehicle
displays and controls were not available since design development phases through comprehensive
tbey bad not been finalized. Use or tbe re- "trade" studies. These studies assess the rela-
dundant inertial system in the UJNAR EXCURSION tive advantages and disadvantages of alternative
IoKlruLE or parts of this subsystem is being system concepts considering factors such as
studied for example. system weight, volume, reliability, servicing
and maintenance requirements, compatibility with
Although abort modes will be incorporated, the vehicle configuration limitations, and the sev-
current NASA concept is to provide sufficient eral factors associated with system development
backups to make mission completion reliable. risk, including the state-of-the-art of the
technologies associated with a particular con-
II.C. Communication Subsystems cept and system development schedules and cost.
Ultra High Frequency (UHF) in the order of 300 Figure 6 shows the results of such studies by
Megacycles and High Frequency in the order of noting selected systems for existing spacecraft
15 Megacycles/s communication was provided on programs. In addition, the curve depicts an
Mercury to provide voice and 75 KC bandwidth estimate of the trend in manned spacecraft power
of telemetry. The world wide Mercury tracking requirements.
network was provided with receivers and trans-
mitters for these frequencies. Essentially Figure 7 depicts a rather conventional method
horizon to horizon coverage is possible except of illustrating the applicable power/time regime
when re-entry blackout lasting in tbe order of for alternative space power systems. The system
several minutes is encountered at the end of the area boundaries are determined primarily on the
f~ht. See Figure 5 . basis of system weight and must be treated as
broad gray bands rather than firm lines of de-
A requirement for the X-20 communication system marcation due to the significant influence on
was to provide voice and 750 channels of system selection of factors other than weight
telemetry during the 30 minute re-entry period as mentioned above. The Mercury, Gemini, and
of the vehicle. Satisfactory communication Apollo spacecraft all depend on ZinC/Silver
oxide batteries as a source of power during the hydrogen provides the heat sink for metabolic
re-entry phase of their missions. This selection heat, equipment waste heat, and for aerodynamic
is consistent with reliability needs (batteries heat t hat passes through the structure, insula-
being "static" in operation with long history tion, and water wall. The cryogenic hydrogen
of reliable operation) and minimum system weight that i s used as a heat sink is subsequently
objectives (the re -entry phase for ballistic routed to the combustor of the AFU's and the
re-entering shapes being of short duration with excess, if not required by the power unit , is
relatively low power requirements). Battery vented overboard. The power requirements, and
power was also found suitable for the Mercury thus the waste heat load, of Mercury, Gemini
mission orbital phase. However, for orbital and Apollo are considerably reduced fran the
duration up to fourteen days as specified for X-20A requirements. The thermal loads are con-
Gemini and Apollo, it was necessary t o develop trolled through water boildng on the Mercury
a more suitable power source. Recent develop- vehicle. Radiators are used on the Gemini and
mental emphasis on fuel cells will result very Apollo to reject waste heat to space.
soon in power systems fully qualified to fit the
needs of Gemini and Apollo and with continued Figure 9 indicates that for space or orbiting
development, should fill an ever-expanding area missions of approximately six hours or more,
in the Figure 7 power/time regime. radiation of waste heat t o space during the
orbital phase of a mission provides a weight
With the significantly higher power required for advantage over the use of stored expendables.
flight control surfaces actuation in exploration For space missions of a week or more duration,
of controlled re-entry flight, it was found that the weight of expendables becanes prohibitive
a cryogenic chemical fueled dynamic engine best whereas radiator wei~ts are reasonably low.
met X-20A mission requirements. Advantage is The increase in radiator weight with mission
also taken in this application of integration duration is due to required protection fran meteo-
with the environmental control system to allow roid penetrations and the longer life required
the cryogenic hydrogen to serve as a sink for of heat transport pumping systems. Improvement
waste heat before it is passed into the power in the efficiency of heat radiation to reduce
unit canbustor. radiator area and weight requirements must be
made as spacecraft heat loads increase. Since
Space power system application studies have shown heat rejection by radiation is not feaSible
the need to emphasize reduction of load demands during the re-entry phase, the need for expenda-
because of the significant penalties associated ble heat sink .fluids for this mission phase will
with placing large power generation systems and continue.
waste heat rejection systems into space. The
present high premium placed on space vehicle sub- Figure 10 shows estimated weight ranges of both
system weight is expected to continue. Although thermal and atmosphere control systems as related
boosters are in development that will be capable to the estimated increase in future spacecraft
of launching much larger payloads than at present, power requirements shown in Figure 6 and with
this increased capability will and should be re- anticipated increases in crew size and mission
served largely for accomplishing expanded mission duration.
objectives rather than vehicle supporting sub-
systems. For relatively short missions (under It appears that heat pump concepts to raise the
24 hours) and a given power demand, emphasis must radiation temperature, light weight materials,
be placed on design concepts that minimize the and high emissivity/absorptivity coatings will
fixed weight of the power system. As mission be required to maintain low radiator weights for
time requirements increase, ever increasing at- the higher power missions envisioned for the
tention must be given to methods that minimize next decade. Atmosphere control will require
or eliminate the need for expendable energy extremely low vehicle leakage and noxious gas
sources such as chemical fuels. The high effi- removal methods as well as reclamation of human
ciency of chemical to electrical energy con- vastes in the longer duration, larger cre~
version exemplified by hydrogen and oxygen fuel missions. Same increase of expendables will be
cells and the use of solar and atomic energy required even with atmosphere reclamation pro-
sources, permit extended durati on space missions cesses in order to make up leakage and losses
with reasonable system weight penalties. due to inefficiencies of reclamation systems.
93
Figure 17 illustrates the number of stations inertial systems. The system is capable of
required as a function of vehicle LID assuming providing re-entry control to a pilot sele cted
coverage within 2- of the horizon. Figure 18 landing site at'ter a number of orbits.
summarizes the study showing signal margin in
db above system threshold as a function ?fj range This particular system is suitable for re-entry
to go for several LID vehicles employing UHF and vehicles with maximum lift to drag ratios in
SHF frequencies. It can be seen from this the order of 0.5 or larger.
figure that SHF will be adequate for LID If one
but a higher frequency and thus more ground sta- Figure 22 shows the equipment required and the
tions ;>er mile of coverage may be required for guidance law for angle of attack (Ole ) which
the LID It 0.5 vehicles. The next atmospheric it generates.
windOli is at S 35 Kmc/s. Because of the
higher speeds, shorter effective ranges and A single stored naninal acceleration program
narrOlier antenna beams required to get adequate (~) corresponding to a naninal flight trajectory
signal strengths acquisition and tracking is programmed versus time, see Figure 23. The
problems are accentuated with 35 Kmc/s systems. vehicle normal acceleration (AN) is measured with
a body mounted accelerometer with its sensitive
It is apparent that UHF should be employed be- axis mounted perpendicular to the wing. The
cause of its freedan fram acquisition and track- measured normal acceleration is subtracted from
ing difficulties and reduced cost wherever the programmed acceleration and integrated to
blackout will not preclude its use or where generate the commanded angle of attack ( o~
blackout may be tolerated. lIB shown by th.e guidance equation. The pilot
flys the vehicle based on this commanded angle
'IT WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE AND of attack. For brevity, operation of the system
WAYS TO DO IT only at'ter it has established equilibrium g11de
will be explained. The detailed development,
'IT.A. Introduction theory of operation, and six degree of freedom
simulator evaluation of the system is contained
Figure 19 illustrates the increasing caDplex1ty in Reference 1 •
and longer duration of manned space missions.
The mission subsystems employed on peaceful mis- v2
sions such as rescue and the military missions h - -go + r:- ~ 0 -------(1)
will further increase subsystem caDplex1ty.
v2
These future requirements as a function of sane
typical missions are shown in Figure 20. r. ---------------------(2)
From examination of these figures the future Where:
trends in manned spacecrat't subsystems can be
summarized as follows: h - Altitude
go c Gravitational constant
DO AN Il'iCREASIl'iGLY BIGGER JOB FOR LONGER r. - Radius from center of earth
TD!ES Nr SAME OR BE'lTER RELIABILITY FOR AL = Lift acceleration
LESS POIIER AND Nr lESS WEIGHr.
The 11ft acceleration is the primary reason the
There are a number of techniques which may be acceleraneter system works which also explains
employed to achieve these requirements. Some why the system is useful only when vehicle max
of the more universal techniques are illustrated LID is in the order of 0.5 0% more.
in Figure 21. Nme for example that greater
dependence on the crew and employment of simple Since the 11ft acceleration (AL) is uniquely
manual backup systems are two effective tech- related to the velOCity, velOCity can be con-
niques in that they permit sane improvement in trolled by controlling AN (and thus AL) •
most of the objectives.
This can be seen qualitatively in Figure 24
The matrix proposed is by no means all inclusive Consider the case where the velocity of the
but is offered as an approach worthy of vehicla is excessive for the desired trajectory
consideration. and corresponding landing site. If the velOCity
is higher than the naninal then by virtue of
In an actual subsystem trade study, quantitative equation (2) AL is less than the programmed
values must be used to provide meaningful trends. 11ft (AIl') and hence AN is less than Al'IP' This
difference in AN will cause the angle of attack
'IT.B. Example of a SillIPle Backup Guidance to increase until AN - AJIP. Increased angle
Subsystem of attack increases the drag which causes the
vehicle to slow down until AL equals AIl' at which
A simple backup guidance system has been devised time CI
which because of its simplicity is an order of
Q
H and AN also equals AJIP •
magnitude more reliable than conventional
Total perfonnance of the system for booster cut Figure 29 illustrates a simulator built to
off overspeed and underspeed conditions for a evaluate the manual braking, hover, and landing
typical one orbit flight are shawn in Figure 25. phases by man using only visual cues. A TV
The generated commands are engaged at a time pickup tube is gimballed and controlled by the
corresponding to nominal re-entry time thus it pilot's attitude control to represent vehicle
is possible to employ the system for multi orbit attitude. Vertical descent is controlled by an
use. For several orbit use clock time since analog computer to represent the descent tra-
boost has been found to be a sufficient criteria jectory established by manual lunar descent
to start the programmer. guidance and is modified by the thrust and atti-
tude actions or the pilot. This is represented
Cross range is controlled by banking to a fixed by driving the TV pickup down tmtard the simu-
angle. lated lunar surface which in turn is driven
horizontally to represent vehicle horizontal
Performance or this system when naninal L/D is velocity over the surface of the moon. Figure 30
in the order or one is shown in Figure 26. shows the display provided to the pilot. The
technique employed to generate these displays is
The reliability of this 30 pound system con- shown in Figure 31. A horizon line is establi-
Sisting or two attitude gyros, one airframe shed by one projector and a star background by
mounted accelerometerr an acceleration program- another. Both are coordinated with the pilot's
mer and an integrator is in the order of a attitude control so that realism in attitude is
magnitude better than that of a complete inertial achieved.
guidance system with a digital ccmputer.
To evaluate a particular landing guidance con-
Performance or the system as a function or LID cept the total fuel used, landing impact velocity,
is shawn in Figure 27. As explained above the and landing location are recorded for each flight.
system depends on measurement of lift accel- Total manual lunar de-orbit and landing fuel
eration which explains the reduced performance expenditures are in the order of 1.07 times that
for low LID vehicles. required for a crew controlled primary system
employing inertial guidance.
)fulti orbit operation is achieved by the pilot
re-aligning the attitude reference and engaging IV.C. Space and Re-entry Communication at UHF
the programmer based on time from cut off with
results as shown in Figure 28 • UHF is an ideal frequency for space communications
because it is currently universally employed,
If tracking data from the ground is employed to line of sight ranges can be achieved with non-
establish de-orbit time and program start, per- directional or at worst low gain antennas and
formance becanes independent of the nwnber or therefore system costs are nanina1.
orbits, as shown in Figure 27 .
Advanced techniques show great pranise of per-
IV.C. Manual Backup Lunar Landing mitting UHF use during re-entry. For near
ballisti<; shapes techniques for local cooling
An example or increased dependence on man and of the plasma surrounding an antenna by means
employment of simple backup equipment to do or evaporative techniques appear feasible.
manual landing follows: Advantage can also be taken of the fact that
while the plasma attenuation per wavelength is
A manual backup or the primary autanatic lunar large the plasma thickness for vehicles such as
guidance is practical with a min1mwn amount or this is small in terms or a wavelength at UHF.
equipment and greater dependence on man parti-
cularly in the lunar de-orbit, braking, hover, For the higher LID vehicles in the 0.5 to 2
and landing phases. A sufficient set or equip- range although the plasma intensities never reach
ment consists of three body-mounted rate gyros the values experienced by the near ballistic
as part of the rate stabilized control system, vehicles the air flow is complicated by the much
three body-mounted integrating gyros as a larger range of angles of attack and the plasma
mediwn-term attitude reference, a low- layer is apt to be thicker. For these vehicles
magnification telescope body-mounted to permit a survey or locations where electron densities
horizon scanning, determination or star azimuth are lower and the flow can be fwther cooled by
and landing area study before descent fran low gas ejection into the flow shows promise.
orbit. Further work of this type is recommended.
With the above equipment, simple charts and nano- Considerabla effort employing these techniques
graphs and a clock to drive function programs i8 currently being sponsored by NASA.
corresponding to naninal descent pitch rate and
thrust acceleration the vehicle can be controlled
down to initiation or the braking maneuver.
95
v SUMMARY AND CONCUJSIONS
Redundancy
In flight maintenance
Simple backup subsystems
Turning equipment off when possible
Dependence on ground based systems
REFERENCES
- - --- - - --
PERFORMANCE
TYPE CAPABILITY VS
PROGRAM PRIMARY BACKUP USE OF MAN SELF -CONT AI NED MISSION TIME WT
X-2o INERTIAL PILOTED EXTENSIVE • PRIMARY MODE 5000 x 3000 MI. FOOTP RI NT 260 LBS
EMERGENCY
RE-ENTRY • LANDING SITE • LAND AT PILOT SELECTED
SELECTION
SYSTEM SITE THREE ORBITS
• LANDING
• REDUCED CAPACITY FOR
• ENERGY MORE ORB ITS
MANAGEMENT
• ERS OPERATION
GEM I NI RADIO REDUNDANT EXTENS IVE • BACKUP MODE UNLIMITED DURATION WITH 220 LBS
BOOST + MODES WITH • MODE CONTROL FOOTPRINT GROUND BASED SUPPORT
GROUND PRIMARY • SPACE RE -START REDUCED 450 x 150 MI. FOOTP RI NT
UPDATED EQUIPMENT GREATLY
INERTIAL
RE-ENTRY
APOLLO I NTERTIAL SECOND EXTENS I VE • PRIMARY MODE • SYSTEM DES I GNED TO 270 LBS
(COMMAND & GROUND INERTIAL • MODE SELECTION COMPLETE MISSION WITH
MODULEI RADAR MULTIPLE FAIR
MANUAL STADIA-TRIANGULATION MULTI PLE FA I LU RES
DSIF • ABORT CAPABILITY
97
.-------¢------~
etc' ¢c
FOR DES I RED DES TINA TI ON
10,000
5000 I NTER PLANETARY
Vl FLI GHTS
~ 1000 X-20A
«
:s:
0
500 (CRYOGENIC : :.:,:,:,:;;.:.:.:. .;.:.:.
--l
100
FUELED APU) SPACE ..,.. "..
~
LABORATORY ,/~
50 I I •
0:::
LU
:s: 10
RE-,ENTRY T /'"
0 ORB IT .........
a...
I.LJ
5 y 1'/ • APOLLO
c..::>
«
0:::
1.0 I "'-~
~ GEMINI - (FUEL CELLS)
I.LJ
> 0.5 (FUEL CELLS)
« MERCURY
0.1 - (BAHE RI ES)
0.05
I I
61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74
CALENDAR YEAR
Figure 6.- Power re~uirements.
99
•• A~~'-- ' - .
----
I
I
5000
1000
I * NUCLEAR \
NO REQU I REMENTS THERMIONIC l
500 ANTI CI PATED (POST 1970) I
VI
/'
1=
<
~
....J
~
:z
100
50
10
-----
CRYOGENIC
_FUELED /'
~
~
I
-~
*NUCLEAR
DYNAMICS
~
~
\
1
BA~ ~
/ SOLAR cms&- 1--1-
RADIO ISOTOPES
I
X-20
CONVECT I ON COOLED ELECTR I C
~ 30 , . - - ----t-----,--- - ,------;r---
AND HYDRAULIC LOADS WITH WATER
WALL AND CRYOGENIC HYDROGEN
I
o ( HEAT SINKS
o< X-20
MERCURY
....J
....J
MINI MUM ONBOARD ELECTRONICS
< EMPLOYING WATER BOILI NG FOR
~ 20~ HEAT REJ ECTI ON
~
....J
\----r-~~
GEMINI
LI QUID COLD-PLATE COOLED
o
.....
0::: ELECTRON I CS EMPLOY I NG
Z
o
SPACE RADIATOR
u APOLLO
~ 10 \ - - -- - - t- --t-- - - + - - r - - SAME AS GEMINI
.....
z
w APO~LO I
:2:
z
o
0:::
l MERCURY GEMINI
>
~ O ~--~--L----~~~--~-~-____;-~~--
O. 1 0.5 1. 0 5 10 50 100 r 500 1000
MI SS I ON TIME - HOU RS 2 WEEK S
Fi gure 8 .- Thermal contr ol technique .
100
l-
e::(
l..LJ
I
~1O, 000
Vl
e::(
:5: 5000 t-----+--+----+---t-----1f---+-----+ EXP EN DA BLE S
(H 0 BOILING)
:5: 2
~
Vl
ro
--l
1000
I-
:r: 500
c.::>
l..LJ
RADIATORS
S ........:.. ,.:....
100
50
6
10 t 10 2 10
4
t 10
5
10
1 HOUR I WEEK I MONTH 1 YEAR
SPACE MISSION TIME - MINUTES
Figure 9.- Methods comparison for manned spacecr aft thermal control.
V)
ex)
--I 6 --
10 REGENERATE & RECLAIM---
I 1\ 5-10 MEN~~\
l-
I
LIFE SUPPORT MATER IALS \. 6-12 MONTH
(!) 5
10
I..LJ
~
4~EN~
4-6 WEEICS f\
\ "':'::::::
.. '-".',~ iii.
... . .
2 4
I..LJ
l-
V)
10
2 J- \ ., . .....:::,,:'" ,.;;;;.:::~ f-
.... .
,- -
>-
V)
3
1- WEI;KS 1\ .. ~koi
--'
0
0:::
I-
10
~!'!
F ·.. · ...... ....
.
",
-. ........... 1,0;
. ..... :.... .......
.' .., ..
z / "'1' ",
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106
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108
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APOLL O GUIDANCE AND NAVIGATION-
A P ROBLEM IN MAN AND MACIllNE INTEGRATION
David G. Hoag
Technical Director of Apollo Guidance and Navigation
Instrumentation L aboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
I
measurement and data processing equipment i n- Completely Manual. At the other extreme
tegrated into a man controlled operation. This re- co uld be a deslgn wfierem the men are given a
port shows the design of the Apollo guidance and rocket, a control stick, a big window, and appro-
navigation equipment and the displays, controls, priate charts and tables. This pOint of view was
and operations utilized by the astronauts in per- suitable for Lindberg's adventure where the most
forming a difficult and necessarily accurate task. energy-efficient path from New York to Paris was
The compromise between a com pletely automatic only slightly better than that followed by the "Spirit
system a nd one configured for extreme dependence of 8t. Louis ". However, the possibility of a trip
on the man is met with one solution having good to the moon's surface and back is extremely sen-
features of both approaches . The system is de- sitive to the velocity change attainable by rocket
scribed in which the navigator has complete choice propulsion tecqnology now available to push the
and co ntrol of the system operation using his senses required payload . The day of "seat of the pants"
and judgement where they are superior, and de- flying in outer space may not have to wait until
pending upon mechanisms where man is unable or Buck Rogers' twenty-fifth century, but today pro-
too stressed to be utilized. The details of the de- ject AP9llo must depend upon efficient paths de-
sign of the sensors, the computer, and the displays termined by accurate and complex guidance and
and co ntrols are described in enough detail to il- navigation equipment.
lustrate the astronaut operation of the Apollo Guid-
ance and Navigation System. T his report will describe the status of the
Apollo Command Module G&N system, its relation
to the astronaut, and the particular engineering
Section 1. Introduction compromises selected for this complex man and
machine operation.
When this nation's greatest identified space
mission, Apollo, gets underway later this decade First the Apollo mission will be described
after years of planning, design, and experimenta- briefly using Figure 1 to provide foundation for the
tion, three men will be responsible to carry description of the G&N equipment and operation.
through an almost fantastic operation: the landing
of man on the moon and his safe return. In current plans, an Advanced Saturn
Booster will launch the complete Apollo spacecraft
This voyage will depend upon near perfect and the upper stage boost rocket into a low altitude
operation of a series of events and equipment. A parking orbit. In this circular satellite it is en -
failure of any of these will be a serious obstacle to visioned that equipment will receive a final period
mission achievement if not peril to the crew. The of checkout before committing the spacecraft to
boost vehicle, the spacecraft, its propulsion sys - escape velocity. With one or more orbits of the
tem, ground operations, the crew life support, earth, the on-board navigation can determine ac-
communications, and so on, are links in this c hain. cu r ately the actual ephemeris required for precise
This paper is concerned, in particular, with the initial conditions for the next phase.
equipment and its operation which navigates the
space vehicle and steers it through required ma- A second thrusting period of the booster,
neuvers . This i s the Guidance and Navigation sys- using the last Saturn stage, will inject the space-
tem of Apollo, herein called G&N. - craft to the necessary translunar velocity for the
mission. After cutoff and staging, the Apollo is
As part of a manned operation, it became made up of the Command Module (CM), SlU"vice
necessary for the NASA and its contractors to de- Module (SM), and Lunar Excursion Module (LEM).
termine the degree of involvement that the astro- These components must first be arranged from
nauts would have in the use of their craft. Ground- their poost configuration to the cislunar operational
rules had to be formulated as some compromise configuration shown in Figure 2.
b est understood by describing the extremes . .. .
As soon as possible after translunar injec-
Completely Automatic . Certainly the manned tion, a continuing set of navigation measurements
lunar landmg obJechves requested by President must be made to determine the actual trajectory
Kennedy in May 1961 would be met by automatic parameters and velocity corrections necess ary.
equipment delivery of an astronaut, wrapped and The first correction will be made a few hours after
bundled as it were, in a life maintaining cocoon to injection using the rocket in the service module.
the lunar surface; and then, abruptly carrying him This will be followed by further navigation measure-
back home like any inert payload . But certainly ments and with one or two more velocity correc-
the astronauts, once aboard the vehicle, can con- tions.
115
The approach to the moon would now require 1. Inertial Measurement Unit: The primary sen-
a final correction about an hour before the larger sor for guidance phases providing measure-
thrust period to inject into lunar orbit. ments of angular velocity and acceleration
from inertial instruments.
The spacecraft assembly would orbit once or
twice around the moon taking navigation measure- 2. Optics: The primary sensors for the navig1r
ments for an accurate ephemeris, inspecting the tion phases providing angle measurements e-
proposed landing area, and performing the count- tween lines of sight to stars and near planets.
down of the LEM.
3. Compu ter: The primary data processor for
The letdown of two of the men in the LEM to both guidance and navigation computations.
the lunar surface, the takeoff from the moon, and
the LEM rendezvous with the parent craft left in 4. Displays and Controls: The communication
orbit will not be described in this paper. While on interface between the navigator and the rest of
the moon for several hours or up to several days the equipment.
the two men will perform the limited exploration
and scientific examination which constitutes the
goal of project Apollo. Section 2. G&N Phenomena
Finally, back in lunar orbit, the three men set The use of the equipment identified in the
up and inject into a transearth trajectory using the previous section depends upon application of
service module propulsion and leaving the LEM in physical phenomena, some of which are well known
orbit. The trip back to earth will be similar to the and understood and others which are unique to the
outgoing leg. Guidance and navigation will control Apollo G&N.
to the desired reentry corridor by application of
several velocity corrections. For steering control, the use of gyroscopes,
accelerometers, and clocks as measurement
Just prior to reentry, the service module is devices in inertial guidance is well documented in
staged and the guidance sys tem is prepared to con- applications to ballistic missiles control. Nothing
trol the reetrtn' path. This control is performed will be said here about principles or theory, other
by steering the direction of the lift, available from than a description of actual hardware in a later
the aerodynamic characteristics of the command section.
module, such as to achieve a safe reentry to a pre-
pared landing site. Use of optical instruments for space naviga-
tion, on the other hand, is not so familiar and
In this mission we see two distinct modes of indeed some of the phenomena utilized in Apollo
spacecraft operation and a corresponding config- are quite new. The basic principle of posi tion
uration and requirement on the guidance and navi- determination from observations of heavenly body
gation equipment. Firs t, during boo st, translunar directions by an earthbound observer is not new.
insertion, midcourse corrections, lunar orbit in- A mariner (or winged aircraft navigator) measures
sertion, etc. the vehicle assembly is operating the angle of the sun or star above his local horizon
under thrusting conditions with requirements on the with his sextant. An astronaut away from the earth
G&N to provide steering signals for guidance to also may use the horizon usefully or its near equi-
the required velocity change.. Second, during tlie valent the local earth vertical or direction from
majority of the time Apollo is in free fall motion him to the earth. Also he may use any identifiable
following paths determined by the gravity pull of landmark on the earth. Any of these would serve.
earth and moon. During this time, the G&N must
navigate to determine position, velocity, and any The earthbound mariner, from his star
velocity corrections required to accomplish the elevation data, the time of observation and the
next target. navigation tables, determines a line of position
on the earth. Anywhere on this line an observer
These operations of guidance and navigation would measure the same star elevation. A sec-
are illustrated in Figure 3. The steering function ond. star sighting leads to a second line which
of guidance operates on angular velocity and accel- intersects the first at his indicated position.
eration sensed by inertial instruments. The navi-
gation uses optical line of sight angle measure- The astronaut would interpret an angle be-
ments on which to base the determination of position tween the earth's direction and a known star as
and velocity. The two functions are interrelated defining a conical surface of position. Anywhere
as shown. Part of the navigation function is to on this cone he would expect to obtain the same
provide information on Inlhal conditions and de- angle measurement.
sired velocity changes for guidance purposes dur-
ing vehicle steering control phases. The guidance, Figure 4 shows a hypothetical situation for
on the other hand, measures changes in velocIty this method of space navigation. From his space-
actually accomplished during thrusting in order to cr.aft th", navigator measures the angles from a
update the navigation process. (In the above dis- particular earth landmark to the star Fomalhaut.
cussion the lift and drag forces during earth at- This places him somewhere on the smail cone
mospheric entry are considered in the same class shown which has its axis in the direction of
as the rocket thrusting phases, i. e. non-gravita- Fomalhaut and whose half angle is equal to his
tional forces. ) measurement. A second sighting to the same
landmark and to the star Deneb defines the second
We now identify four major subsystems of cone - very flat in this case because the measure-
the Apollo Guidance and Navigation equipment: ment angle was near 90 0 • These two cones inter-
u6
sect in a line containing the landmark and some- large enough to make the rocket start and expen-
where on which he is assured to lie. (The earth- diture of maneuver fuel worthwhile. Approximately
bound mariner could stop here because his third three corrections are anticipated for each mid-
coordinate was known explicitly by the fact that he course leg of the trip. The level of fuel expenditure
was bound to the surface of the earth. ) for either the outgoing or incoming leg is equivalent,
roughly, to 100 feet per second rms velocity change.
The astronaut could complete his fix by
utilizing a second earth landmark separated from Planet to star angles during earth-moon or
the first and any star. This would work well in moon-earth midcourse phases will be measured
the vicinity of the earth but accuracy degrades as in Apollo with a visual sextant instrument capable
the apparent size of the earth gets small. So the of an rms accuracy of 10 arc seconds (about 0.05
third sighting shown in Figure 4 is with respect to milliradiansl.
the moon. In this case the moon's horizon or
limb is used rather than a lunar landmark. The Angle sightings, with respect to the moon,
third cone, defined by this sighting of the elevation can be taken either to lunar landmarks or the
angle of the star Antares above the moon's horizon, horizon. An examination of good lunar photographs
intersects the previously determined line of posi- show an ample supply of distinctive landmarks on
tion at the indicated location of the spacecraft. the near side and it may be safely assumed that,
Actually the three cones have four mutual inter- in the coming years, satisfactory marks may be
section points. The wrong three could be discarded mapped for the far side. The illuminated lunar
easily in a practical situation. horizon or limb is quite distinctive against the
dark sky. Considera tion of the shape and motions
By a technique such as this it is theoretically of the moon, altitude of the landmarks, and moun -
possible for the space navigator to determine a fix tains on the limb must be included if the best ac-
of his position with respect to the earth-moon sys- curacy is to be obtained. However, the problem
tem. Similar measurements repeated at some later is only one of obtaining the data, maps, and charts.
time in his trajectory would provide data to deter- A particular sighting is limited only by the sys-
mine velocity and the free fall path describing the tematic illumination of the moon by the sun .
spacecraft trajectory . The method described im-
plies that the three angle measurements could be The situation with earth referenced si ghtings
made simultaneously. Practically this would put is not so clear cut because of the effects dtle to the
too much of a burden on the navigator and/ or atmosphere . Cloud cover might obscure a partic-
equipment design to be considered for Apollo. ularly desirable landmark and the horizon seen
from space shows no distinctive edge against the
The navigation measurements for Apollo are sky.
the angles between ·the planets and stars, as
describe-d above, and the time the measurements One attack on this problem has investigated
are made. These measurements are taken in time earth-direction determination using longer wave-
sequence separated from 15 minutes to several length radiation. The use of visual techniques,
hours apart according to an optimum plan. The however, have so many advantages for manned
details of the Apoll~ navigation scheme are de- Apollo that the problems associated with earth
scribed elsewhere. Some of the important fea- atmospheric effects at optical frequencies has re -
tures follow. ceived considerable attention.
The navigation measurements are used to Weather generated cloud cover over land-
determine position and velocity on any free fall marks occur with a frequency which varies over
trajectory - such as earth or moon satellite orbits the earth. Some areas are usually free, others
or the transearth or trans lunar phases. may be usually covered. The problem of how
many of the good distinctive landmarks are avail-
A measurement schedule is determined prior able at any time is clearly amenable to statistical
to the trip for approximate time of sighting, analysis using local weather history for data.
identity of planet. an~ identity of star such that the Work in progress 2 shows no reason why landmarks
greatest enhancement of navigation accuracy occurs cannot be used as an excellent reference for earth-
for the astronaut's effort under assumed accuracy direction measurements most of the time . If good
of measuremen ts and other existing limitations on landmarks all become obscured, recourse to the
the navigator, his equipment, and available celes- horizon is possible.
tial objects. For a normal flight, about 40 sight-
ings in midcourse, each way to and from the moon, The use of landmarks in sextant operation
are anticipated. is illustrated in Figure 5. The figure is made
from an accurate photo mosaic simulation* of the
Each sighting is used by the on-board com- San Francisco Bay Area and hypothetical clouds
puter to improve all six components of position and as seen from 2500 miles with a 1. 8 0 field telescope.
velocity in an optimum manner. The computation This 28 power optical instrument will also have a
scheme also keeps an estimate of the uncertainties second, displaced line of sight to pick up a known
in its determination of position and velocity. star and superimpose it onto the scene. The
Apollo sextant instrument and its use will-be
The system will accept navigation measure- described in more detail in later sections. By
ments of any form, such as ground track data or controlling the aim of the instrument and the off-
time of star-moon occultation as well as the planet- set angle of the optical axis for -seeing the star the
star angle measurements described above. astronaut can superimpose the star, shown as a
Velocity corrections to improve target con- *The reproduction process for this document
ditions are made only when the knowledge of the severely limits the resolution available on the
required correction is sufficiently accurate and original simulation.
111
white dot, onto a particular landmark for which he change, Figure 8, as the starlight sinks into the
has the geographical coordinates . The navigation earth's atmosphere . The photometer would be
measurement consists of the measured angle be- set for the reference intensity of the particular
tween the lines of sight and the time at the instant star well before it is occulted. Once the attenua-
of superposition. tion reaches the preselected level, the time is
recorded. This intensity change is predictable
Use of the illuminated earth's horizon is il- and is due primarily to two phenomena: The
lustrated in Figure 6. The observer out in space scattering of the light out of its path by the air and
above the atmosphere sees, on the sunlit side, the the light dispersion due to refraction in passing
earth-color blend into a brilliant white which turns through the atmospheric density change.
toward sky blue and then gradually to the black sky
as he scans to higher altitudes . The bright light These occultation measurements depend upon
is sunlight scattered in passing through the atmos- the existence of stars setting behind the planet's
phere . Light from an object on the horizon at sea limb. This occurs very often while in earth or
level must pass through 23 atmospheres to reach moon low satellite orbit and frequently enough in
an observer in space , whereas the light from an the cislunar trajectory to provide a useful source
object straight below him passes through only one of navigation data.
atmosphere. The object at the sea level horizon
has its light scattered and attenuated such that it The sextant operations of landmark-to-star
is invisible relative to the intense scattered sun- or horizon-to-star angle measurements are ex -
light. cellent and natural operations on the part of the
astronaut navigator with reasonable adroitness as
In looking from space through the earth's long as the rates of change of the angles and direc -
edge at about 100,000 feet altitude above the sea tions are not excessive. This is the case during
level horizon, the observer sees the sky through midcourse trans lunar and transearth operations
one atmosphere . He should observe the same in- for Apollo. Landmark sightings when in satellite
tense blue as is seen when lookiilg straight up orbit around either planet, however, mus t use
through the same amount of sunlit atmosphere from instruments that can cope with the high rates in-
the ground. If the brightness of a little patch of volved am the short time that any particular land-
sky at 100,000 feet is measured from space,one mark is in view. Fortunately, at these altitudes,
would expect to obtain a value very close to some the angular accuracy required for the landmark
standard value. This value could be computed on direction is considerably relaxed. In 100 mile
the basis of the sunlight aspect angle and would be altitude orbit, accuracies of the order of a milli-
only slightly affected by local sea level atmos- radian or so (corresponding to 0.1 mile error) are
pheric pressure . At this altitude the brightness sufficient. Thus, for orbital navigation, the high
of the scattered sunlight decreases , due to a cor- magnification available from the sext~nt is not
responding density variation, by a factor of two for used. It is replaced by a single line of sight, low
each 17,000 foot increase in the altitude. Thus a power, wide field telescope whose optical direction
measurement of absolute brightness to 100/0 should with respect to the spacecraft, when on target, is
determine the altitude of the line of sight with an compared with the orienta tion of the inertial guid-
accu r acy of approximately 2500 feet. An obvious ance stabilized member. Of course, th e stabilized
advantage of working with line of sight measure- member had been previously aligned to the stars
ments at this 100,000 altitude is that it is well with the same instrument. These data allow the
above all common cloud types which would inter- computation of landmark direction with respect to
fere with the measurement . the stars as limited by the inertial guidance stable
member alignment and drift and the accuracy of
The instrument for this measurement in- the angle transducers reading the telescope direc-
cludes an automatic star tracker and horizon photo- tions and the stab le member orientation. The use
meter attachment in place of the sextant visual eye- of this wide field telescope for orbital navigation
piece. The navigator uses the second optical is described in more detail in a later section.
instrument - a low power telescope - to sense
visually and then control the spacecraft attitude as The choice of navigation measurement tech-
required for making the above measurement. niques for use by Apollo has been primarily pred-
icated on the requirement for completely on-board
On the dark side of the earth, the 100,000 foot capability. This is necessary, certainly, on the
atmosphere could be sensed by the refraction effect far side of the moon out of reach of earth tracking
on the background stars, Figure 7. If two stars are or communications. However, earth tracking in-
observed - one setting near the horizon - until the formation, wh en available to the astronaut naviga -
appar ent angular distance between them decreases tor and when of accuracy which is judged capable
by one arc minu te vertical componen t, then the line of improving the on-board navigation, would cer-
of sight to the lower star is at some determinable tainly be used. The on-board computer will be
point near 100,000 feet altitude where the density able to accept ground based data as well as the
gradient is ,well known . The navigation measure- astronaut's sightings and make a proper weighting
ment, in this case, consists of the time at which of their estimated accuracies in influencing the
the one minute of arc change is complete. The computed trajectory. The use of earth based
earth's limb is now determined with respect to the tracking becomes primary in the event of failure
background star - the setting star. of the on-board optical equipment.
This measure~ nt is similar to the occulta- In this same vein, cooperative land targets
tion time of stars by the distinct moon's limb, a could be considered. Many points on the earth
phenomena available to Apollo navigation. A are cloud free practically all the time but unfor-
closer analogy to occultation phenomena uses the tunately have no distinctive features. The African
photometer described earlier to sense the intensity desert, for instance, might be a logical place to
uB
install a flashing high intensity light during the The display and control panels are shown
mission to provide an almost certain landmark installed in the mockup of Figure 11. Details and
during the local night. operation will be described in the following sections.
I
I
information to update its knowledge of free-fall
trajectory, so that it can provide, at any time,
information on position, motion, and trajectory.
Units, CDUs. The outputs of the CDUs are steering
attitude errors which are sent to the spacecraft
stabilization and control system for response by
the autopilot.
The sextant has only two degrees of articula-
tion with respect to spacecraft. Since there are
two lines-of-sight, however , each requir~ng two
Based upon the measured acceleration history
the computer generates an engine cutoff signal when
!
degrees of freedom , additional freedom is required. the desired velocity change is achieved.
This is obtained by control of the spacecraft at-
titude pitch and roll on signals from the navigator. Before the IMU can be used for such control
I
purposes the stabilized member carrying the ac -
Orbital Navigation, Figure 25 celerometers and stabilizing gyros must first be
aligned to a particular inertial orientation relative
I
During navigation phases in which the space- to the desired trajectory. This introduces a num-
craft is in orbit close to the moon o r the earth, ber of different modes of IMU operation. Figure 28
angular measurements do not have to be quite as shows a detail photo of the IMU control panel and I
accurate, but angula-r velocities are rather ex- the CDU panel. The meter provides the astronau t
with indication of existing attitude error in three
treme. In this case, the scanning telescope is used
as a single-line-of-sight instrument to track a coordinates. He may choose to have the computer I
landmark. With the IMU pre aligned to a star and its program operate the various IMU modes or
do this himself depending upon which position he
framework, it is simultaneously giving spacecraft
and navigation base attitude with respect to that sets the transfer switch . If the navigator operates I
framework while the scanning telescope gives land- the IMU he uses the six button matrix shown. The
mark angles with respect to the navigation base. first button "zero encode" drives the CDUs to null
From these two subsystems, accordingly, the so that the computer can empty its CDU angle I
landmark direction with respect to the aligned registers and start from zero. This is the first
space dire ction of the IMU is obtained. The com· action after applying power to the lMU.
puter receives this informa tion t" update the tra-
jectory parameters of the orbit, and ~an supply to The second bu tton "Coarse Align" sets the
the navigator - by means of the display and IMU gimbal angles to those matching angles set
into the CDUs by the computer.
121
- - ---..-.,
The "Fine Align" button is used in conjunction failure of the IMU, or the pushing of the computer
with star sightings made with the sextant to orient keyboard buttons by the astronaut, cause interrupts
the IMU, via computer gyro torquing, to the angles to the existing computer operations so that early
desired by the computer. action, as required, is accomplished. The com-
puter handles a number of programs at once with
The "Manual CDU" button provides for man- ins tructions being carried ou t in each in order of
ual CDU operation with the hand slew switch and programmed priority, wi th less urgent programs
vernier thumbwheel on the front of the CDUs in getting their instructions handled after the more
c ase the computer is failed. The manual align urgent are attended.
button in thi s mode drives the IMU to the set CDU
angles. Di screte outputs are also of several kinds.
Computer determination to turn on main rocket
"Attitude Control" is the normal mode for engines is signaled by the existence of a train of
providing steering and attitude errors to the space- high frequency pulses on the particular lines to
craft. During atmo spheric entry, the button the engine control. The computer can change mode
" entry " inc reases the slew capabilitie!j in roll to of operation of the various G&N subsystems by
pro vide the fast attitude changes about the wind axis closing relays, under permission of the astronaut
to modulate the lift. given either by the operations of the G&N controls
or the computer keyboard.
The bottom three CDU are associated with
c orresponding axes of the IMU. The top two CDUs Output variables are governed by the CGn-
are used with the two degrees of freedom of optics trolled number of pulses - or average pulse rate -
articulation as will be described in a later section. sent on appropriate lines. Each of the five CDUs
associated with the IMU and optics subsystems
Figure 29 shows the interconnections among can have their shafts controlled by the computer
the IMU, CDU, AGC, and spacecraft to accomplish in this fashion . Engine thrust level is similarly
the modes described. controlled when operating with a throttleable en-
gine.
1.22
- -------
Verb Noun
Only measurements 1, 3, and 8 will be
Display Value Position described in this report to show the general
Display Uncertainty Velocity methods available in the Apollo optics subsystem
Compute Abort Velocity configuration.
Read In Star-Planet Angle
Change Program Lunar Orbit Insertion Figure 31 shows optical schematics of the
two instruments shown in more detail back in
Paired verbs and nouns which are meaningless or Figures 12 and 13 . The sextant landmark sight.
not in the computer program repertoire will not be line is fixed to the spacecraft along the shaft aXIS;
accepted by the compu ter through the keyboard and the sextant star sight line has shaft axis and trun-
the astronau t is so informed by the "illegal order" nion axis articulation as does the scanning tele-
error light at the top of the panel of Figure 30. scope line of sight. These motions alo~e are not
enough to provide the necessary operatIons of the
A verb is inserted by the astronaut by first instruments . First of all, the limited unobstructed
pushing the verb key and then the two digit verb field of view requires at least some spacecraft
code. The display then lights up with th~ verb ac- orientation control just 50 that the objects can be
cepted by the compu ter. Then the n?un 1S pushed acquired. The sextant use is more constraining
in, similarly. If data also must be mserted, thIS since the landmark line is rigidly fixed to the
is punched in with the numbers appearing as they spacecraft along the shaft axis requirin.g t~at the
are accepted. The computer takes no ac.tion o.n the shaft axis be aimed at the landmark, w1thm the
verb, noun, and data until the astronaut IS satIsfIed field of view, by orientation of the spacecraft.
with the received sente.n ce and pushes th~, enter"
button. If he sees a mIstake, he pushes Clear Figure 32 shows the relationships alon~
and starts over. spacecraft roll , pitch, and yaw axes, the attltude
control jets, and the optics instruments ,shaft axes .
When the computer wishes to communicate to From this figure the motions of images ill the,
the astronaut a request for data or signify an alarm, optics fields resulting from spacecraft roll, pItch,
the verb and noun numbers flash at 1. 5 cps until the and yaw motions can be inferred.
astronaut takes action.
Figure 33 shows these motions within the
Detected failures within the computer are field of unobs'tructed view of the instruments,
.displayed on the lights at the top of the panel. If Three sets of contour lines show directions of
the error reset button does not correct the prob - local image motions in a field identified in polar
lem, various levels of diagnostic procedur es have coordinates corresponding to the shaft" and trun-
been worked out to identify what replaceable nion angles . The three sets of contours cor~e
module is at fault. This capability for in-flight spond to roll, pitch, and yaw spacecraft mohons.
repair increases mission and safety probabilities
by a tremendous factor. The sextant landmark-line, along the shaft
axis is in the center of the figure with the 1. 8
The computer display and control panel of degr'ee field shown. Spacecraft pitch motion causes
Figure 30 is located at the command module l?wer images to move vertically (in the normal sense of
equipment bay next to the rest of the G&N. equ.1p- the observer astronaut) while roll motion causes
ment. A slightly abridged version operatmg .m "across" image motion. Note that yaw c'oufd also
parallel with this panel is mounted on the mam be used for "across" control but is less satisfactory
display area between the center and left astronauts. as far as curvature of local field motion is con- -
cerned, and also requires more attitude fuel burn-
ing due to the larger yaw axis iner,tia. Thus t?e
Section 7. Optics Operation landmark line can be aimed by lqglcal and eaSIly
interpreted controlled motions of spacecraft roll
The sextant, telescope , and associated sup- and pitch.
port hardware of the optics subsystem are used
for a number of measurements: The star~line of the sextant is displaced
from the landmark-line by the trunnion angle in a
1. Star - earth landmark midcourse angle direction determined by the shaft a ngle. Trunnion
measurement angles are limited to within 50 degrees or so be-
cause of line-of-sight interference with local
2. Star - moon landmark midcourse angle
measurement spacecraft structure. The star image would nor-
mally be moved in the 1. B degree field by controlled
3. Star - earth illuminated horizon angle
measurement motions of the shaft and trunnion. Controlled space-
craft motions, in order to keep the landmark in t?e
4. Star - moon illuminated horizon angle
measurement field, cause roughly parallel motions of the s~arlme
the variations increasing for the larger trunruon
5. Star - ear th dark horizon refraction
time measurement angles. The operation of the sextant, then, dur ing
the final measurem ent is roll and pitch, controlled
6. Star - earth dark horizon attenuation
time measur ement periodically to keep the landmark in the field, and
shaft and trunnion control to achieve the required
7. S tar - moon occultation time measurement
superposition of the star on the landmark .
B. Earth landmark direction measurement
9. Moon landmark direction measureme n t
The scanning telescope can be made to look
10 . Star direction IMU alignment measuremen t
along the shaft or to follow the same s haft and
trunnion angles as the sextant. With its much
123
--. ---
---- .
-- -- -- -~ - -- -- -
wider field of view - ,60 degrees at unity power - the readout dials and the encoder.
it, then, is used as a recognition and acquisition The scaniling telescope follows the command
aid for the sextant. shaft angle all the time. The telescope trunnion
drive may be set (1) to follow the sextant trunnion
The control of spacecraft orientation and co mmand, or (2) may be set to zero to look along
optics articulation is diagrammed in Figure 34. the shaft, or (3) may be set to 25 degrees offset.
Three control sticks for the navigator's use are This third position is advantageous for sextant tar-
shown on the left. get acquisition, as will be shown.
The top stick controls single impulse bursts Figure 35 shows the area of interest of the
from the appropriate attitude jets. An up motion displays and controls mockup used in operation of
of the stick causes one small torque impulse burst the optics. The initial acquiSition with spacecraft
from the positive pitch jet causing a positive pitch orientation is done by the navigator with the right
angular velocity change of 1 minute per second for hand while he is looking through the scanning tele-
the light vehicle to something much smaller than scope. After this his left hand is used with the
this for the fuel- and LEM-heavy configuration. optics control stick while his right hand can provide,
A resulting motion of the landmark in the down periodically, the necessary small impulses from
direction follows. Letting the stick return to center the impulse control stick. When a satisfactory
and pushing up again causes a second downward alignment is controlled with the left hand and ob-
velocity increment of images in the field of view. served through the sextant, the right hand is avail-
Pushing the stick to the left and rifh t c ause cor-
responding increments in "across' velocity of the
images by use of small roll impulses. This stick
able to punch the "mark" button which causes the
computer to record the time and appropriate angles. 1
I
is used for vernier control of spacecraft motion
Star-Earth Landmark Midcour se Angle Measurement
and as a corresponding fine control to hold the
landmark in the 1. 8 degree field of view of the
sextant. The general situation for a midcourse navi-
gation sighting is illustrated in Figure 36. This
shows the acquisition orientation of the spacecraft
The bottom stick in Figure 34 is used for
with the optics shaft axis and sextant landmark-line
coarse control and slew. This stick is normally pointed to the desired feature on the planet. This
mounted on one of the co uch arm controls but is operation may be accomplished by the use of the
moved below to the navigation station during navi- wide field of the telescope with its trunnion set on
gation operations. A flexitie cord from the stick
zero. Just prior to this time, the expected star-
allows use at either station. This stick commands landmark angle may be set into the sextant trunnion
roll, pitch, and yaw spacecraft angular velOCity.
as shown.
With this portable hand controller, the navigator
will bring the spacecraft to the sighting orientation. After initial rough orientation of the space-
After this he will use the single impulse stick to
craft with the telescope trunnion on zero, the 25
stop residual motion and perform fine control. degree offset can be set which would cause a view
While under single impulse control the normal
through the telescope, for example, as shown in
spacecraft attitude control system is disabled and Figure 37, where the earth is seen from 50, 000
only the single impulses may occur in response to miles. The small circle 25 degrees from the center
navigator commands. then is along the shaft axis and represents what would
be seen in the 1. 80 landmark field in the sextant. The
The center stick in Figure 34 is used for 1 1 'l
control of shaft and trunnion of the optics. A re- navigator can periodica ly contro smallllDpu ses to
keep the landmark in the small circle while he slews
solver is shown which may be selected to give up- the shaft to acquire the star. The star should come
down and left-right control instead of the shaft up on the scale, shown in the reticle, at the expected
centered, polar motion resulting from by-passing trunnion angle. The wide field of view provides
the reso,lver., The cosecant attenuation on the, ample neighboring stars to assure recognition of the
shaft d:lve slgnal ~hanges the shaft control g,am as navigation star being used. After the shaft is con-
a funchon of trunmon angle so that shaft mohon . ,
. f th t' k' th f' ld f ' "d d t trolled to put the star nearly on the index lme, wlth
gam ro~ e s lC m . e le 0 Vlew lS, m epen en the trunnion of the sextant preset to the expected
of the Slze of ,the trunmon a~gle. The shck sends value and with the landmark inside the small circle
angular veloclty command SlgnalS to two small ' . , '
CDU velocity servos (physically identical to the the navlgator lS ,assured t,hat both the,l~dmark and
IMU CDUs of Section 5). where the corresponding ~e proper star llDages wlll appear Wlthin the super-
shaft and trunnion commands are integrated and llDposerl flelds through the sextant.
displayed on dials. The commanded angles are What he sees now, when he changes over to
here encoded on an incremental encoder for sum-
look through the sextant, will be as shown in
mation in the digital computer. The provision for Figure 38. The landmark, in this case, might be
zeroing of this encoding system is not shown.
a distinct pointed peninsula on the Isle of Pines off
Cuba. With the small impulse control stick he will
The sextant shaft and star-line trunnion fol- keep spacecraft motion such that this target drifts
low precisely the commanded angles. Necessary slowly across the field . If necessary, near the
accuracy is obtained on the sextant trunnion trans· edge he can reverse its motion to drift back. Mean-
mission by use of a multipole, ultra precise, while, with his optics control, he attempts to
resolver- transmitter which provides a 64 speed achieve superposition of the star, on this landmark -
electrical signal while its rotor operates at one or, lacking this, to set up so that the two objects
speed on the sextant trunnion. The corresponding are equidistant from anyone of the array of parallel
receiver system in the command servo has a nor- "M" (for measurement) lines shown.
mal precision one-speed resolver-receiver geared
to 64 speed and located close in the gear train to
124
The exact control at this point is worth more The landmark is chosen to be reasonably
careful study. The spacecraft, if it has any ang- close to the orbit ground track so that it will pass
ular velocity abou t a random axis, can move the close to underneath the craft. The target is tracked
landmark and star in the field in any combination with the scanning telescope to achieve a measure-
of three modes. (1) It could make the star and ment.
landmark move together in the field along M lines;
(2) It could make them move together across M The view in the telescope during this orbital
lines; or (3) it could make them separate or come navigation is shown in Figure 40. Acquisition con-
together in a direction along M lines. A fourth sists of first picking up the target as it comes into
possibility, having them separate or come together view from the horizon by gross roll motion and
across M lines, cannot happen due to spacecraft forward trunnion setting. A period for recognition
angular velocity because of the purposeful feature and acquisition of about 30 seconds or so is expected.
of this sextant - or any sextant - which prevents an Finally the trunnion shaft is used to track along its
acceptable measurement situation from being af- path by controlling the image to stay at the center
fected by rotations of the instrument as a whole. of the reticule. Durinf acce~table tracking, the
This counter motion across M lines can be control- navigatorn pushes the 'mark' button which records
led only by trunnion angle changes and will change time, the telescope trunnion angle, and IMU gimbiIJ.
independently only as the direction to the landmark angles. The IMU was previously aligned, of
changes with respect to the stars. The landmark course, with star sightings. The computer uses
angular velocity will be the result of the spacecraft these data to improve its orbital navigation know-
linear velocity component across the line of sight. ledge.
Values of the order of 1 milliradian per second or
less are typical of the midcourse situation.
Section 8. Astronaut Operations
The most precise operation, then, appears
to consist of setting up a situation with the trunnion In the previous sections a number of opera-
command held stationary such that the images are tions associated with G&N hardware were de-
coming together as the star-landmark angle is scribed in which the astronaut was involved and
changing. The shaft control alone can be used to had direct control and choice. This section will
keep the two images close together along the M complete the description of design features con-
line direction. As the two ima~es pass over each cerning the operation by the navigator.
other the navigator pushes the' mark" button which
records the existing precision measurement angle Information on standard and emergency pro-
and records the time of the event. Experience may cedures, diagnosis and repair, star charts, earth
show that tracking "on the fly" may be entirely and lunar maps, etc. are displayed on the map
satisfactory, however. Accuracy of 10 arc seconds and data viewer, Figure 41. This projection sys-
is typical. This corresponds to almost 5 arc min- tem takes film cartridges and displays data with
utes in the 28 power field of view. high resolution on a 42 square inch screen. It is
estimated that five of these cartridges would be
carried on a lunar landing mission. This would
Star-Earth Illuminated Horizon Angle Measurement correspond to about 9000 frames with high informa-
tion density. Each cartridge can be removed and
This measurement utilizes the atmospheric inserted with aI}-y frame in projection position.
scattering of sunlight phenomena described in Motor slew of the film drive is provided.
Section 2, Figure 6. Because the eye is so poorly
adapted to. making absolute brightness estimates, To the right of the viewer in Figure 41 are
an automatic eyepiece is substituted on the sextant condition lights informing the navigator of detected
for the visual eyepiece. This eyepiece has a ro- subsystem errors. Error detection at critical
tating wedge star tracker which sends tracking points throughout the equipment monitor error
error signals to the optics CDU drives positioning signals which are combined by logical "or" into
the articulating line of sight of the sextant to the ~roups of master error detection signals:
chosen star. The landmark-line is pointed by IMU fail", "accelerometer fail", etc. The ones
spacecraft attitude control commands toward the which would sense emergency conditions are sent
horizon. The intensity of the horizon is sensed in as discrete bits to the computer which, at astronaut
the automatic eyepiece. The specific controls for option, can be instructed to take the ·appropria tE
this mode of operation are shown on Figure 35 emergency action. In any event, the computer
labeled NVE for non-visual eyepiece. The intensity displays the condition on .the subject lights (and a
level is preset according to the sun aspect angle. corresponding set at the main panel). If the com-
The NVE level meter indicates unity when the de- pu ter is not op,erating, the top ligh t in the series
tector sends a "mark" to the computer. Special "error detect' will be lit if any error is detected
procedure is necessary to assure that the horizon anywhere by the error monitors. The multitude
is directly below the star being tracked. of monitor points which make up the failure detec-
tions can be sampled individually by the spacecraft
Earth Landmark Direction Measurement in-flight test system in order to localize the failure.
Repair consill'ts of replacing the failed module with
The navigation situation for orbital operations a spare. A minimum of spares can back the many
is illustrated in Figure 39. The technique is modules due to the purposeful design constraint of
equally applicable in lunar or earth satellite orbit. minimizing the number of different modules.
The spacecraft orientation is shown with the roll
axis forward and horizontal. Other orientations If failure occurs, each of the major sub-
are possible but this attitude has what is judged to systems can be individually turned off. The de-
be the best features. sign is such that the remaining operating equip-
ment can be usefully utilized in back-up modes of
125
operation. The spacecraft stabilization and con-
trol system can b e used by the crew utilizing
ground track information via voice radio to pro-
vide backup for complete G&N failure . The chan·
ces of these failures is small due to the extensive
reliability provisions now being used for qualifica-
tion of manned and unmanned space flight hardware.
References
126
,----_. .
. - --..--- ~
Fig. 1 Mission phase summary
Fig. 4 Geometry of navigational fix in space
l27
Fig. 7 Star refraction--earth horizon navigation
reference
I
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128
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' · . U'" I..I .. t UIoL .......'"
T I ...~.
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.. _ _ Gr.''''' 10011
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..
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...........
... -.. .,--
~' -.
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S·aIt..... · ' ...."'l"
. ' _ _ DIO''' .. '''''''''-'
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.. • ... "CI.. !. ............
" - _rTI)II .... r.c:.c~II'O ..
. , ",.rr."lIo lK-'Vl.A
, . . . . ,-,&1..
..
6
, .. , .. U.I.:IO(. ....
«NUl
'H ...
129
l I
l
~
Fig. 18 Sketch of PSA Fig. 21 Guidance and thrust control
\
I
o a N I SPACECRAF"T
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~-~
l
:~.fu,~IT
G'~~
_. ~ ,",,0
~
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~ 6
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e ~ ~
130
- --~--- - ..
G a N I SPACECAAF'"T'
I
I
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~
:'f-rtTU'o
GOMM
, : X
~~~v~
DISFI\..:jQ"Y
\JY
~
SI'OC[CIIAFT
ATTITUO[
[ftROft TO •
AUTOPILOT
o 3 ZERO EN CODER
00 COARSE ALIGN
@@ FtNE:ALIGN
00 mnu lE COI<T
Fig. 26 Lunar landing and rendezvous Fig. 29 Single axis sche matic--IMU, enu and AGe
operation
131
Fig. 33 Sextant field notions
132
----- - --
Fig 36 Spacecraft orientation midcourse navigation Fig. 39 Spacecraft orientation --orbital navigation
sighting sighting
Fig. 37 Telescope view -- mldcourse navigation Fig. 40 Telescope view- -orbital navigation
L ______"-l-Irr==)\
!~"-_J.!/~ ""
Fig. 38 Sextant view - -midcourse navigation Fig. 41 Map and data viewer mockup
133
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r
135
because of the lack ~f ahanges in transverse
foroes with angle o£ attack.
-.003
-5 +-----~-----r--~~~~ _r----_r--
-I o I 2 :3 4
gw ('{SEC)
w - .002
w WINGED LIFTING
a: RE-ENTRY VEHICLE
fac Figure 3. Handling Qualities in Pitch (w -
fre~uency of motion, t~ damping factor)
a: -.001
w
These considerations lead to the following
..
Q.
conclusions I
~
u
0 1. A nonlifting or low Lin vehicle will
I 2 3 4 usually re~uire only simple fixed-gain damping
and low-precision attitude control. This
MACH NO.
oontrol can and usually must be supplied by
on-off reaotion jets which allow the use of
Figure 2. Comparison of Static Stability simple driving eleotronics.
Characteristics of Nonlifting and Lifting
Re-Entry Vehicles 2. A high LID re-entry vehicle must have
variable-gain damping and preoise three-axis
When over-all vehicle stability is con- attitude control. Control is usually obtained
sidered from the pilot's viewpoint, that is, by means of proportionally actuated aerodynamiC
in terms of flying ~ualities, the need for surfaces. The control and actuation re~uire
more augmentation on the high Lin vehicle ments generally call for the use of complex
becomes even more evident. One version of and preCise electronics. The vehicle may be
longitudinal handling ~ualities re~uirements uncontrollable without automatic oontrol so
is presented in Figure 3. In this figure the that great emphasis must be plaoed on high
shaded area represents the characteristics reliability. Such reliability will generally
which unaygmented, high Lin re~entry vehicles
exhibit for various flight conditions. It can re~uire parallel active redundanoy (as indi-
be seen that there is a definite need to alter cated below under Time of Mission), which will
both the frequency and damping in order to further increase the electronic complexity.
move all the flight conditions represented
into the deeirable area.(See reference 1.) Size of Crew
In addition, the basic fact that the high The effeots of crew size on control system
Lin
vehicle generates an increasing amount of design can be illustrated by the summarized
lift (until L - w) during re~entry means, ~s results of a human factors study of a plane-
mentioned above, that the magnitude and tary exploration vehicle based on the bus and
orientation of the lift vector must bs closely lander concept. The study is based on the
controlled. This in turn re~u1res that the methods outlined in references 2 and 3.
pilot or the control system must hold roll and
angle of attack (or perhaps pitch attitude) The curves shown in Figure 4 represent the
wi thin close tolerances in order to follow a various crew re~uirements assuming different
given flight path and prevent the onset of levels of system automaticity, for a plane~ary
dangerous aerodynamic forces or hsating. orbit phase of a planetary landing miesion.
The number of active crew members is plotted
against the time from plane~ary orbit injec-
tion.
allotted time. Other t asks, such as star
sigh ting , position, and position error calcula-
tions, would also be time prohibitive without
the benefit of a high -speed digital computer.
I :::;:;::;::;::'.--"-r-r---'---r-.-..---;;::;:::;::::;::;::::;~. FULLYAL/T'OMATlC
.., SYSTEM
system monitoring activity. The operator's
10 ., 20 full activity in the central portion of the
TIME FROM PLANETARY ORBIT INJECTION (HOURS) plot represents his scientific and exploratory
activities on the planetary surface.
Figure 4 . Effect of Crew Size on Automation The middle curve of Figure 4 represents the
Requir ements crew requirement for a system which is
believed to represent a practical compromise.
The "three-man" level is shown as the This realizable concept does not have the
vehicle design limit. This three -man crew drawbacks of the excessive number of crew
limit assures active participa tion of the members of the fully manual system, nor is it
crew at all levels of system performance: as technically prohibitive as the fully auto-
decision making , dynamic control, monitoring, matic system. Rather, it is structured to
checkout, replacement, and repair. utilize the intelligence and unique adapta-
bility of the crew members working integrally
The design goa l line at the "two-man" with the advanced aut omatic subsystems which
level represents the crew re quirement for a are designed to complement the crew's possible
semi -automatic system in which failures do contributions and thus maximize mission
not occur. This reflects a system phi losophy success probability . This semi-automatic
of active crew participation at such a level system plot is a composite of the proportion
that the equivalent of one operat or as a of each crew member's total capability which is
"human spare" is available to achieve the required for the particular tasks aSSigned to
necessary total system reliability. him during this mission phase. This plot
includes manual control of the orbiting bus
The remaininG curves are ba sed on the crew and the l ander as well as monitoring, trouble-
tasks tha t are anticipated for the planetary shooting, and subsystem maintenance.
orbit phase:
During a portion of the planetary orbit as
1. The commander of the vehicle is sole occupant of the complex bus, the naviga-
primarily concerned with command deCiSions , tor will play a triple role by spending his
orienting and sta bilizing the vehicle, waking time in continuous monitoring and
stabilization and control system checkout, maintenance of his system, supervising vehicle
communications, equilibrium and dynamics control, and solving his customary navigation
mOnitoring , and planetary surface operations. problems. Meanwhile, the descent, planetary
operatione, ascent, rendezvous, and docking of
2 . The navigat or is occupied with sub- the lander fully occupy the abilities of the
system alignments and gathering data for pilot and systems engineer.
navigational pOSition and orientation when he
is part of the crew of three, He is a lso One conclusion that can be drawn from such
occupied with orbital correction, system studies is readily apparent in a gross sense,
monitoring , and communication when he is alone namely, that crew size can be decreased as
during orbit. automaticity is increased and crew work load
is consequently decreased. This factor,
however, is interdependent with others. ~or
3. The systems engineer will be responsi- example, the cost and development time for a
ble for subsystem monitoring, trouble-shooting, fully automatic control system might dictate
and maintenance tasks. the semi-automatic approach even though the
required reliability could be a ttained in the
The execution of all these tasks has been automatic system.
plotted against time in the upper curve of
Figure 4 to indicate the number of crew
members needed to carry out the work in the Time of Mission
case of a hypothetical fully manual system.
The requirement of a crew in excess of five men The design mission duration becomes an
is evident during four periods of the orbit. important factor in the design of flight
This on curs because the execution of complete control systems because of the interrelation
manual checkout procedures of all subsystems is of mission dur a tion with the probability of
very time consuming, and therefore many men are successful operation of any of the various
required to complete these taske within the vehicle SUbsystems . Figure 5 presents four
137
14,000
SINGU SYSTt.M MEAN TIME BETWEEN FAILURES -
1,000 HOURS
contributes large increases in equivalent MTBF
12,000 <DONE ACTIVE PLUS ONE STANDBY SYSTEM
for short mission times. In fact, the numbers
<Z> TWO ,.RALLEL ACTIY[ SYSTEMS indicated for mission times below 50 hours
I.... 10,000
',009
<J) THREE PARALLEL ACTIVE SYSTEMS
(TWO OUT Of THREE VOTING)
become quite large and in effect almost
eliminate a redundant fli ght control system as
a probable cause of mission abortion •
2
~ ',000
By recalling some of the characteristics
~ mentioned above in connection with lifting
~
4,000
re-entry vehicles, it can be inferred that
2,000 either configuration 2 or 3 would be particu-
larly applicable to this type of vehicle
0", .0 100 200 400 1,000 2,000 4,000 10,000
because of the severe controllability problems
MISSION TIME: UiOUftS)
which might occur while a pilot was detecting
and switching out the failed control system
Figure 5. Effect of Redundancy on Equivalent channel. This need for instant switch-over
IITBF would probably be a critical factor in the
curves for various control system configura- choice of a control system for a lifting
tions ("configuration" here meaning the type re-entry vehicle even though the mission length
and extent of redundancy employed) . The curves might be sufficient to severely limit the
are drawn with an ordinate of equivalent mean- equivalent ~~BF obtainable. One solution to
time-between-failure (MTBF) and an abscissa on this problem would be to COl ~ine the active
a log scale of total mission time. "Equivalect redundant and the standby arrangements in such I
MTBF" as used here for redundant systems is a way that during extended orbital or deep_
that MTBF which would be needed in a non- space flight the system would function as an
redundant system to achieve the same reli-
ability for a given mission time . The four
curves representl
active -standby system, but during re-entry it
could be converted to an active two or three
channel system.
I
1. A redundant system having one active
channel with another identical active channel
Returning now to the high end of the mission
time scale, it is evident that as the mission !
being maintained in standby condition (curve time becomes appreciably greater than the
1). In considering this system it is presumed
that the pilot will be able to detect a
single-channel MTBF, all forms of redundancy
lose effectiveness. It thus appears that !
failure of the active system and manually .missions with lengths measured in months and
switch to the standby system. years rather than hours and days will require
onboard repair or perhaps a much more conserva- \
2. A redundant system having two parallel tive approach to the design of both moving-part
active channels each equipped with independent mechanisms and active electronics in order that
monitors that can determine and switch out a the MTBF values may approach the numbers
malfunctioning channel (curve 2) . associated with current telephone or utility
equipment.
3. A redundant system having three
parallel active channels equipped with com- In any event it can be seen that the
parators which conduct a continual two-out-of- mission duration and the feasibility of in-
three vote and switch out any disagreeing flight component replacement combine to almost
channel (curve 3). dictate the type of redundancy approach to be
used. The only prospect of altering this
4. A single channel non-redundant system situation will be through the use of flight-
having a mean-time-between-failure as deter- worthy components which have reliability
mined by piece-part failure rate of 1,000 increased by one or two orders of magnitude .
hours (curve 4).
Purpose of Mission
Some interesting general conclusions can
be drawn from an examination of these curves. The mission purpose of a manned space
First , it becomes evident that for Long vehicle will influence chiefly the functional
mission times, particularly above 1,000 hours, design aspects of the control system. For
the efficacy of redundanoy in increasing the inetance, consider Mercury and Gemini . Project
equivalent MTBF is sharply reduced. In fact, Mercury provided an orbital vehicle which could
configuration 3, the two-out-of-three voting carry a man for a limited number of orbits.
system, actually exhibits a lower equivalent Gemini has a broader mission purpose. In
MTBF than the single non-redundant system for addition to the orbit phase, which is
all mission times above 693 hours . Secondly, conSiderably longer than that for Mercury,
the greater effectiveness of the active- Gemini is also required to accomplish orbital
standby arrangement of configuration 4 rendezvous. It is the addition of the
indicates that it is by far the most different purpose, namely rendezvous, that
effective approach whenever this arrangement causes the functional design of the Gemini
is feasible from a safety standpoint (that is, control system to differ appreciably from that
where the pilot will have time to detect and for Mercury. This is not to say that all
switoh out the malfunctioning channel). internal functions of the control sys tem are
handled in a similar manner in the two systems
Looking now at the low end of the and that the only difference s are due to the
abscissa scale, it can be seen that any of rendezvous requirement. This is not the case.
the three types of redundancy shown Gemini employs all solid-etate s:ignal switching,
138
--- ---- ---- -------- ---
doea not use sector switches on sensors , and in laboratory as compared with a Mer cury type
general uses more advanced mechanization vehic le.
techniques. These differences, however, are
not due to the functional requirements as Thus far some illustrations have been
created by the mi ssion purpos es , but rather given of how the control system funct ional
I to the advance in the state of the control design must incorporate all the features
J art from the time the Mercury program started necessary to allow the vehicle to fulfill
I until the ti me the Gemini program started. its mis si on . In the reverse sense it is
J equally important that the control sys tem, and
Extending the comparison further we can for that matter all other systems , be desi~ed
look at Apollo and Mercury. Apollo does have to accomplish the mission purpose and nothing
orbital flight as part of its mission purpose. more. The reason for this i s fairly obvious.
139
3. If the weight of the Apol.lo control If for various reasons the equipment is
system i s compared to .he total gross weight of loca t ed outs ide the pressur ed area, it must
the translunar vehicle r ather than to that of usual l y be provided with a heat sink into which
the Command Capsul e a lone , the r a tio will be heat can be discharged by conduction. Ther e
almost 700 :1. This illustra tes an importan t can be an appreciable amount of cooling by
trend for future vehicles , namely that as the radiation alone, but this i s sufficient only
vehicle gr oss wei ght increases , the relat ive for v ery low power dissipation devi c es. The
control weight decre ases and thus becomes a amount of radi a tion occurring will not usually
less cri tical f ac t or in buildup of vehicle be sufficient for the average device and
weight . Thi s 17ill a llow greater use of car e must be taken to ensure adequate heat flow
redundant channels and de r ated components, thus from all compon ents t o eliminate hot spots.
making possible the reliability that will be The heat sink i s usua lly a metal -to-liquid heat
required for deep- space voyages. exchanger to which the chassis is attached .
The hot liquid is either circulated through an
The over- all effect then of an increased external space radia tor where he a t is radiated
vehicle wei ght (or a decreas e in control weight to spac e (Gemini and Apollo) or the liquid may
due to more advanced components) will be to be ejected overboard (Mercury).
allow more freedo m in the functional desi gn of
the control system . Thi s freedom will un- The liquid heat exchanger approach
doubtedly be used in improving performance and, eliminates t he proble m of equipment heat dissi ~
even more import ant , i n employ ing advanced pation during depressurization and als o may
multiple-channe l redundancy t echn i ques to have advantages during normal vehicle condi_
i mprove mission reliability . tions. Studies show t hat most manned spac e
vehicles in near-earth orbits or great er than
Equipment Therma l Contro l Concept apprOXimately O.S astronomical units from the
sun will require heating to maintain air
General Considerations .- The choice of a temperatures between 70 and SO · F . Thus, it may
thermal c ontrol concept for the control equip- be necess ary to obtain heat from electronic
men t in a manne d spacecraft is quite often eqUipment and add it to the air in various
determined by the seemingly unrel a t ed factor of compartments where it is lost through the
equipment locat ion. That is, i s the eqUipment vehicle walls .
located in a pressurized or unpres surized area?
This is quite importfl.nt because, with the Selection of Component Packaging Scheme ••
current trend toward a comfortable, air-condi- When the factors affecting thermal design of
tioned, shirtsleeve cabin enVironment, equip- the equipment have been defined and con~
ment in the pressurized area can operate under strained, a component packaging scheme must be
what is often referred to as r oom temperature seLected which is compatible with the other
labora tory conditions. Thu s a ir is available aspects of equipment deSign, such as electronic
for removi ng electronic eqUipment waste heat performance, vibration, and shock. Selection
a s long as the vehicle remains pressurized. of the thermal packaging scheme is based on
Such waste heat can be added to the air by realizing component temperatures commensurate
forced convection through the devices . with mission reliability and minimum package
mass. Detailed calcula tions are made for
If for some reason the air pressure is component temperatures, based on the thermal
lost, equipment waste heat must be dissipat ed environment and compone nt heat dissipa tion.
to the eqUi pment mounting structures and Di gital and anal og computer techniques can be
surroundings by conduction and infrared radia- employed for prediction of component tempera_
tion . Unless equipment power levels and duty tures. These analyses show problem areas
cycles are extremely low, excessive piece-part which must be r es olved by design modification.
temperatures can result and eqUipment. life may
be severely reduced or terminated. Many de- In convection- cooled electronic equipment,
vices can survive indefinitely under condi- problems occur with components whose internal
tions of mounting surface conduction and infra- heat generation is large compared with
red heat transfer if they are provided with envelope area available for heat transfer.
external package surface area proportional to Additional metal must be used to spread waste
the internal heat generation rate. For hea t over grea ter area . Heat transfer
example, neglecting conduction into the coeffiCients on the order of 10 BTU per square
v ehic le air frame, on the order of 10 watts foot-degre es F are attainable in convection¥
per square foot can be dissi pated f rom the cooled packages a t one atmosphere air pressure.
surface of a device without exceeding lSO·F For a typical power tranSistor, the resulting
component temperatures (for 140·F ambient) . thermal impedance between the envelope and the
air stream is approximately 12·C per watt. If
For equipment with greater unit area heat
this impedance is too great, the c omponent
flux, piece-part temperature may become ex-
must either be mounted on a metal chassis or
cessive after ~oss of pressure so that opera- must be attached to a separate finned
ting life will be reduced. For earth orbit-
assembly. The l atter approach is less
ing spacecraft this condition need not be
desirable be cause it requires addition to the
c atastrophic because the thermal capacity of
package mass without increase in the package
the equipment package and its mounting can
structure. In the case of large complex
absorb enough heat to prevent immediate packages it is often nece ssary to employ a
damage. For a well-designed package, an "cut and try" approach in order to obtain
opera ting time of 30 to 90 minutes is usual ly
available after depressurization, and during desirable component temperatures with a
t his period the s pacecraft can leave orbit, minimum of cooling air flow .
re-enter, and land.
140
The internal d&sign of packages cooled by lircraft Corporation . Certain components of
conduction to a heat sink involves siz ine of the ASeS , such as the horizon scanners and the
t h ermal conduction paths from components to reaction jet system, were developed by other
the packace mountin ~ surfaces ; ho~ever jt is companies under j,\cDonnell contracts.
also important to consider internal infrared
radiation fr om the com ponents . For example , a Functional Reguirements . - Because man ' s
4 by 3-inch circuit board spaced 3/4 inch on ability to perform in space was not completely
each side can dissipate apprOXimately two wat ts understood before the Mercury fli ghts , the ASCS
with components at 180° F and surroundinll's a t had to be fully automatic , that is, capable of
140°F . !.lany switching and logic circuits have performance throughout the entire mission
heat dissipation within two watts and thus no profile without astronaut assistance .
conduction heat transfer paths are necessary t o Reliability was therefore the i mportant design
prevent excessive pi ece- part temperatures . objective , since the ASCS is the pri mary system
for Mercury capsule atti tude control . Other
There are several general approaches to be major desi gn constr aints Ivere minimum wei ght ,
considered in the design of conduction- cooled minimum power consumption , and maximum use of
packag es . One approach is to sort out the previously developed and proven hardware .
piece-parts with high internal generation (such
as power transistors, resistors , zeners, diode~ The ASeS (Figure 6) consists of attitude
and mount these directly to the metal chassis . reference components , rate sensor s , logic
The remainde r of the componen ts could then be e lectro niCS , and suitabl e displays . It is
mounted direc tly on epoxy component boards or desi gned to sense spacecraft attitudes and
in open or potted 17e lded modules . rates and send sig nals to the control jets to
maintain the desired attitude or to chang e from
In circuits where the majority of piece - one attitude to another . Automatic , semi-
parts &enerate a l a r ge amount of heat (one automatic, and manual control may be selected
wa tt and up) and are a lso of large size , epoxy for any or all of the three axes , and
card mountinll' is generally undesirable for simUltaneous operation of manua l and automatic
structural and thermal reasons . In this case, control is also possible . The functional
metal chassis mounting is the best approach . requirements of the ASCS are best described in
terms of six opera ting modes :
In circuits where piec e- parts gen erate
between zero and 1. 5 Ivatts and a re of small Rate Damping - Reduce pitch-yaw rates from
size , it is poss ible to mount all components 50 de c rees pe r second (or less) to 0 . 8 de gr ee
in open or potted welded modules Ivhich a re per second within five seconds . Reduce roll
attached to composite aluminum and epoxy rate from 10 de brees per second (or less) to
boards . During equipment operat ion in high 0 . 8 degrees per second within five seconds .
v a cuum (greater than 10- 4 torr), heat c onduc -
tance ac ro ss interfaces is grea tly reduc ed Orientation - Perform 180-degree yaw
unless interface pressures are kept hi gh maneuver and position capsule in pitch to
(greater than 30 to 50 psi) . Bolted, welded, command ed attitude of 14 degrees. Hold
or glued joints mus t be used in packages commanded att i tude in each axis within five
designed for steady- s t ate space operation . deB"rees .
One interesting general conclusion can be Or bit Main tain attitude in eac h axis
drawn from Honeywe ll's experience in thermal within five degrees .
design of hard - mounted electroniC equipment .
For either convection- cooled or conduction- Retrograde - Position capsule to retro -
cooled packages, stress and shock considera- grade pitch attitude of 34 degrees.
tions, not thermal considerations , determine
cross-sectional areas and surface areas of Post- Retrograd e - Position capsule in pitch
metal chassis parts . As a rule, therefore, to re-entry a ttit ude (one degree down) and
e ood thermal design can be added to a package maintain attitude in each axis within five
with little or no increase in package weight degrees.
or volume .
Re - Entry - Upon senSing 0 . 05- g deceleratio~
Examples of Current Manned Spacecr aft maintain pitch- yaw rates of less than 0 . 8
Control Systems degree pe r second. Establ i sh and maintain
constant roll rate of 10 to 12 degrees per
Mercury Automatic Stabilization and Control sec ond.
System
Mechanization .- Two unfloated two - degree -
The first United States manned spacecraft of- freedom displacement gyros are used for
program was conceived and carried out in an attitude reference . The roll - pitch gyro is
atmos phere of urgency, with no background of used as a vertic a l gyro with its spin axis
direct experience, and with deep concern for aligned to loc al vertical . The roll - yaw gyro
fli ght safety . Under such circumstances , t he is used as a directional gyro with its spin
:~ ercur:r Aut omatic Stabilization and Control axis al i gned perpendicular to the orbital
System ( AS CS) was the result of conserva tive plane. The vertical gyro gi~bals are slaved
and prove n design principles to minimize to periodic horizon scanner signals for long-
operating risks and development time . term vertical reference. When the horizon
scanners are not ener B"ized , a signal propor-
.\ major porti on of the ASeS was designed tional to orbital rate is used to orient the
by Soneywell under c ontract from McDonnell vertical gyro in pitch .
141
Three rate GYros are provided in the system, The control logiC, which is mechanized by
each having outputs at discrete rates rather transistor and diode circuits n ot critically
than proportional rates . These gyros are used dependent on voltage, receives the step
for control in the damper and re - entry mode s function outputs of the attitude repeaters and
and are used with attitude error signals to the d iscrete r ate signals from the rate gyros .
command the switching lo~ic in the orientation, Using these step indications of attitude and
retrograde, and pos t - retrograde modes . The r ate conditions, alone with the output of the
rate gyros are not used during orbit mode . mode switching logic delivered by the current
.'hase of the mi ssion , "decisi ons" are mad e
The maj or electronics unit of the ASCS , which result in actuat ion of appropri ate
known as the amplifier-calibrator , contains reaction control valves . .
four major sections: mode logic , gyro slaving
loops, attitude repeater servos, and control The attitude and rate Gyros are exam pl es
logic . The ~~ plifiers and logic systems use of previously developed hardware wh ic h was
solid- state devices thrOUGhout and approxi - adapted on short notice for use in t:er cury.
mately 500 diodes and transistors a re The gyros \Vere originally desi[;ned for
re quired . operation in autopilots of hi &h- perforoance
aircraft . To meet Me rcury requirements, the
vertical gyro \Vas equipped with a heavy metal
The mode log ic res ponds to input commands rotor to decrease drift r at e by increasing
and places the ASCS in an appropriate mode of rigidity . By minimi zing gyro drift rate , the
control . The attitude repeater servos take number of horizon scanner slavinG periods
the attitude gyro output signals representing coul d be reduced, thus conserving spacecraft
pitch, roll, and yaw anGles and drive multiple po"er . Special h i gh- temperature lubricants ,
outputs: sector switches for control logiC, wire , and insulation had to be provided in t he
potentiometers for telemetry; and synchro attitude and rate Gyros to ensure operation
repeaters for att itude indication to the for extended periods at zero pres sure without
astronaut . benefit of external cooling .
MASTER SEQUENCER
MODE PITCH
LOGIC SWITCHING
ACCEL EROMETER
I
LOGIC
4-1 I
FLY-BY·WIRE I
PITC:y:~TE i SECTORS f - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - '
I
I
I
I
I
ROLL
I SWITCHING
ROL~YR~ATE i lOGIC
I
I
LH
SE CTORS f - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + - - + --+l
I FLY-BY-WIRE
YAW RATE
SECTORS f--------------------------~
GYRO
YAW
SWITCHING
LOG IC
,
fTiijE]
~!: o"OFF
..
ON
rsu.v:l~ POWER
I
I
I
Y FLY' BY·WIRE
L______ _~-~-~
LEGEND
II - MOTOR
P,- RETROGRADE AlTITUDE COMMAND
P3-POST- RETROGRADE ATTI TUDE COMMAND
TO-TI ME DELAY
TG - TORQUE GENERATOR
TM- TELEMETER
TR-SYNCHRO TORQUE RECEIVER
TX- SYNCHR O TORQUE TR AN SMllTE R
V GEH-VELOCITY GE NERATOR
I
I
I
I
L__ -@_TOR
SEC
W
l42
Although we i ght , space, power, and Rel i abi lity of the AS CS ha s been excep-
development time al l prevented the use of tionally good on all fli ghts with no control
functional r edundancy i n the ASCS , several system f ailures to date . This r esult has thus
design cons iderat i ons are worth not inG: veri f ied the wisdom of the c onserva tive design
approach for the lercury program .
:':echanization .- The Gemi ni roll axi s ?!le Gemini contro l syste is also c a.pab le
c ontrol d ia ~r arn is shorrn in Figur e 7 . of opera tin ' iro 'i;'Hl or it r: ode '.'I i t'l a tti tude
Htitude error si ~ na l s ori.:;inatine in the signals from the hori zon scanner alone , using
computer. inertial pl atform , or radar system, pseudo - r ate for damping . Th e sys tem power COll-
a re presented t o the attitude control sUr.1ption i s thcn only t:lree ~etts , 1/25th t':"t
electronics for summinc ITit h r ate information of the Hercury control systen in the orbit mode.
fro m th e r a te ros . Propor tional a ttitude This is made pos s ible in part by pseudo- rete
hand controll er signal s ar e a lso presented to circuitry IThic h provides r ate s i gnals without
the electronics for processinG . Ac cording to the use of rate gyros and their attendant pO\7er
the com'C.anded mode , the a tti tud e control consumption . Other i mp ort ~t fcc tors contribu-
electronics selects the proper i nput signals ting to efficient use of power are the use of
a nd establishes the re uired gains for signal de- ene r Gized re l ays in orbit mn e , trans is -
processin u • The in ut error s i Gnal i s t hen torized amplifi ers , S\'/i tches and Gain- chanGing
amplified, demodulated , di s criminated , and circuits, and optimiza tion of the pOITer supply
c ompared to a reference SITi tching level . ':.'hen for orbit mod e loads .
the er ror si.:;nal exceeds the reference s r/i tch-
in!; level , an on command i s s ent to the The ·\tti tude Control and ' :nneuver
attitude or re - entr y react i on jet solenoids ~l ectronics i s re qu ired to mee t extreme l y hiGh
or, for translat i onal thl'us tin3 . to t he orbit reli abil i ty fi.:;ures . For a t,':o - weel. mission,
attitude maneuver electronics . the control system probabi lity of success is
0 . 99721, and for a t 'lo- day nission, the fiGure
PO'.'Ier consu::lption i n the Genin i AC!.lE system is 0 . 999347 . To attain t his kind of reli abili1;y
i n t h e orb i t mode , usinG r ate '-71roS , i s about the system incorporat es high - reliabi li ty _=ts ,
one - four th th ~ t of the r.:ercury system in t!le extensive redundancy , and deratinG of a ll
Garle n ode . T:1is i G accompli shed throu -h the co cponents . Fi ~ure 7 S ~1 0 ·.1 S the uenera.l areas
use of very 10\'1 current c i rcuit s . For of redundancy . Th e r ate'Gyro s are redundan t
instance, th e low hysteres i s swi tch , .:hi ch and can be individually selected by axis . The
converts t1e an.:lloG attitude infor l'lation into S71i tC:1inG a'r.plifi ers and lOGic ar e also
on- off cOLL'1ands to the solenoid driver s , redundant and can be individually selected .
operates a t only three "licroanper es of input
RADAR
I
I
I
REOUNDANT CHANNEL I
I
I
I
I ___ _ ______ ______ _ ____ _______ JI
~
L,"
REDUNDANT PRE-Ab'P (NASA CONSIDERATION I
DIRECT COMMAND
SINGLE PULSE
TO RING A 8 RING 8 JETS
L -____________________________________________________________-+ TO JETS
maneuverab ility over a thousand mi l es in combined, shaped and used t o drive the three I
diameter . It s range of speeds extends from control el ements on the ri ght . Input s t o the I
over 15,000 mil es an hour i n orbit dovm to a system come from three sources: pilot stick
l anding spe ed of l ess than t hat of some of our commands, v~ h icle mot io n sensed by gyros and an
present comba t aircraft . accelerometer, and angle - of- attack co~~ands
from the inertial eui dance system . These
The self- adaptive concep t of fli gh t control
is being used in the X- 20 because of the widely
varying flight conditions encountered during
its miss i on. The dir ec t forerunner of the X- 20
control concept i s the self- adapt ive f li ~ht
signals drive three control elements: the
elevon surfaces, a servo-driven rocket nozzle
se t, and the react ion c ontr ol jets. I
control system 17hic h has been proven in the no. The pilot has four modes of flight c ontrol \
3 X- I S vehicle. Since the X- I S and X- 20 must oper ation availab l e to him:
function both as a ircraft and as spac ecraf t ,
many of thei r design problems are simila r . lIanual-Direct - In the manual - direct mode ,
The se lf- adapt i ve control system for each the pilot uses hi s c ontrol s tic k to command
vehicl e results in uniforml y satisfactory vehicle movemen t throut h the fli : ht c ontrol
performance over an extremely wid e range of electronics . He may command control surface
fli ght condit i ons without dependence upon a ir position, rocket motor thrust vector pOSition,
da t a scheduling of system gains . or re act i on control operation. llo aU{,,'7Jllentation
is provided in the manua l- dire c t mode .
The fli ~h t control subsyst em is composed of
r at e and a cc elerati on measuring devices, Pilot- Selectabl e Gain - In this mode the
computing electronics, and control element three-axis stability au ~m ent at i on system i s
drivinc devices to (1) augment the gl i der ' S act ivated in pl ace of the manua l - direc t con trol .
natural aerodynamic stability, (2) compensate The aU5~enta ti on system con tro ls the aero -
for undesirable control characteristics , dynami c surfaces , rocket motor thrust vector,
(3) control the glider through pilot or and reaction jets in response t o gyro and
guidance sys te m commands, and (4) keep the a ccel erometer commands . Pilo t command provi des
forces ac ting on the gl i der within tol er ab le commanded aircraft r a te for st i ck displacement
limit s . instead of commanded c on trol mov ement for stick
displa cement as in the manual - direc t mode . The
Me chani zat ion .- The X- 20 flight control system loop gains ar e se lected by the pilot for
electronics is actually three separ a te systems, the Mach rang e through \7hic:l he is fl ying .
one controlling each of the aircraft axe s . The
pitc h axis is illustrat ed in functional for m in ~~nual - Augmen t - The manual - aubment mode is
Figure 10 . This diagram shows the way input id enti ca l to the pilot- selectable gai n mode
a nd feedb a ck signals, sensed on the left, are except tha t the system loop gains are auto -
MAf(UAL
STICK DIRECT
GAIN
LEAD
NET WORK
..... PLIFI ER GAIN
w
>
- NORMAL ;::
~
ACCELE RATION
U WIT
! ...,.
PITCH
COMPUTER
+ NORWAL
ACCELERATION
LIMIT
146
-~---- -----
matically com puted by the fli ght control failure wi thout loss of function or
electronics ins tead of being selected by the performance .
pilot . (The Honeywe ll self- adapt ive c oncept
used for this is described in reference 4. 2 . The nystem will a utomatic al ly disengage
it sel f a s a result of any second failure wh ich
c an cause a dangerous condition .
Automa tic - ~h e automatic mode is ide n tical
to manual - a ugme nt except that outer - loop Fi Gu re 11 s hows tha t t he control syst em
signal s are accepted from the inertial gu i dance sensors and servos are each dual redundan t
systeM to control a ng le of a ttack , s i de slip wh il e the electroni cs is t ri pl e redundan t. The
ang le , and roll angle . These three parame ters dual sensor out pu ts are mon i tored and then
are programmed for an aut omat ic re - entry , and cr oss fed to the system electronics, a nd the
the fli ght control e lectroni cs aut oma ti cally outputs of the e l e ctronic channels ar e
d irects the vehicle to fo llow th e programmed monitored and then cros s fed to the servo
gui dance s;rs te m commands . ampl i f i ers . Th e dual - redundant servo loops
a re monitored and the primary servo loop
The c ommand signal limit er (see Fic ur e 10) operates the c ontrol a ctua tor und er normal
is desi gned to limi t the pi tc h c cmmands from cond i tions wh ile the second ~ry se rvo loo p
the gui dance system or pil ot ' s stick t o v a lues remains on s t andby .
wh ic h will no t endanGer the vehicle .
Under the ab ove ground rules , it was
Extreme l y h i gh mi ss ion relia bility is a necessary to make the system electronics
r equire me nt of the X- 20 . The fli Ght control tri pl e redundant . During normal oper a tion the
e lectronic s mus t have a 50 , 000- hour mean - time - el ectron i cs output may be pos i tive hardover,
be t ween- f a ilur e for a two - hour .mi ss ion i n the nega ti ve hardover, or any value bet\7een .
manual - augment mode . In addition , nei ther Ther efore, i f one e le ctroni c chann el f a ils,
manua l nor au~ented performance shall be lo st it \"fill not have an out put unique t o a
by a single f a i lure . No component repl a ce ment f a ilure. A voting mechanism , or monit or ,
is permitted in fli ght . determines wh ic h channel differs from the
other t·::o and d isengat;es t hat channe l. Thi s
The h i gh fli ght c on tro l reli ab ilit is s a tisfies th~ first ground r ul e . If either of
ac hieved by the combined tec hniqu es of the rema ining channe ls fails , the voting
redund ancy , monitoring , and crossfeeding . The monitor senses a di sagreement between the two
fli gh t c ontrol redundancy is ba sed on t wo channels and di sengages the axis of control .
ground rules : Thi s satisfi es the sec ond gr ound rule .
1. The system wi ll to l erat e any single Dual redundancy is pr ovided for the sensors
BB • BODY SENDING
LNA • LEAO NETWORK AMPlIFIER
SA I SERVO AMPLI FIER
L.~
because un i que indications of sens or failures, level of the conput er. The coolant is
such a s a bfr o open or hardove ' , ca n be dischar Ged t hrou~h t he screened air vents near
monitored . A spinmotor rot a tion detector is the top of t he comput er . The confi Gur a tion of
also provided to detect CYTo motor f a ilures . t he ca r d a ssembli e s wit hin t he chas s is offers
a chimney effect to f a cilita te th e coolant
The s ervo system i s a l so dual redundant, flo w. Th e a ir inle t hol es in t he b ottom of
but the failure detection monitor employs a the cha ssis as well a s t he air pass aG e h oles
tripl e channe l arrangement simila r to tha t in t he she lves of t he co mputer are loc a ted f or
described for the syste m electronics . The maxi mum u t iliza tion of t he coolant . Under
monitor contains a servo- loop model which is an eme r g ency con ditions 11i t h out coolant , t he
electronic anal og of the other two loops . By comput er is capable of oper a t i n~ f or two hours
comparin " the outputs of the primar y and wit h only s li Ght degrad a tion of performance by
sec onda ry ser vo loops, and a lso the out put of using t he chassis and mounts as he a t s inks .
the s er vo model, t he monitor detects uhich of
th e cha nnels has sustained a failure . A
failur9 of the primary loop results in
transfer of c ontrol to the s econd ~ry loop .
2 . For r ate damping , the y ro out put i s Fi.;ure 14 shows the pr esent e.pproa ch to in-
fed back into the :yro torquer to provide fli ght maint enan ce, as evide nced by the SCS
i mmed i a te backup r at e GYro capability . rate and a ttitude BYros a nd a cceler ometer in
the Co:::ltnc.nd Module . The rate f>;YT o package
3. For a ttitude reference , t he gyro out - contains three orthozona lly mount ed r a te ~os .
puts ar e synchronized throu-!, a t hre e- axis Each :yro has a shroud containing an integral
a t t i tude -yro coupling unit (.\ GCU) to provide circuit connector . ~ ~u ick - di sconnec t clamp-
Eul er anGle refe rence informa tion for di splay ing mechanism is used to secure eac h gyro in
and co~and purposes . The out put s of the AGCU pla ce . Each bYTo and a l so the &yr o electronic
a re compatib le i n reference orienta tion with module is easi ly re pl a ceab le by an astronaut .
the Gui dance and favi c " tion (G and N) system Positive , a ccurat e alignment of the ~r os to
siGnals . the spacecra ft axes is assured by precision
surfa ces and clamping tec~n i ues so t h~ t no
Att itude error si:;nal s benerated by either inflic ht a liGnmen t procedur e is necessary . A
the G l1nd If Sys t em or the SCS l1ttitude GYros color indic ut or a t the -yr o cl umpinG device
are fed thr oueh a deadband and a ttitude error shous the as tronaut when positive loc kin: is
lioi ter. Phe dead oand provides 11 wi de deadband achieved .
limi t cycle for the noncritic~l coast phases of
the mi ssion. Durin ~ these phases a un i que The a t titude gyro a nd accel erome ter
pseudo- rate feedback i s used :7hich causes limit package contains three orthogonally mounted
cycle operati on e ll r:i t'lin the exten t of the rate inte gr u tin~ bYTos and a hinged pendulous
rate ,;yro deadbl1nd . In addition the width of accelerometer . Each sensor has a t he r mal l y
the deadband its e lf c('.n be v~ried by the cr ew insula ted shroud with an inteGr a l connector .
in order to further min i miz e react ion jet fuel These sensors , like the r a te GYros , may be
consul!lption i n those !,eriods of the fli Sht ';The n re ad ily re.laced without a lignment necessity .
close att itude control is not ne ce ssary . The Any r a te or attitude ;yr o may be re placed
a t ti tude error li miter a ct s as a r a te command under shirtsleeve condi ti ons :1ithout re moving
limiter to conserve f ue l durin,s extensive the mountin6 package fr om the har d',mre
au t o:n c~ tic m'l.neuvers . Ra te s i Gnals ar e suml!!ed compartment. Even under pressure - suit condi -
,·.·i t 1 he li·'i ted .,tti tude error :md are fed tions, the package desi cn pe r mi ts an
throu "1 the jet s lect lo.:;ic, t o the swi tc\ing astronaut to perform any nece ssary maintenance .
:1 . . ~ l if i ~r o.n l -t o "i; ' lC :..' e .ction je~ driv er
,. ;>li:i Jr ;:l i c" : rovi':.es t :1e :-o',:er to drive t he Infl i Ght replacement of circ uits is also
reaction jet solenoi ds . required so special considera tion l7as ··iven to
the need fo r packaging all pie ce - parts
In order to :>rovide the ', polIo crer! ':li t h a toget her in a re placeable subchassis . "'i thin
'.~er : i er r ~; .... c o:_ ~.' ol ' :1 e' C_. -=:i~ for precision each subchassis , small pi ec e- parts ar e
n vi.;ation~ l sichtin;;s, a oini::lU!ll impul se packaged in potted, welded modules wh ich are
con ~.nd tec .1i ue na~; ~ e sel ected to c:'.use very thermally connected to the subchassis . Larger
3:1,,11 v ehicle rate cha nbes by pulsi ng t: e piece- parts are mounted on brackets formed on
re a ction j et soleno i ds . the subchassis . Each subchassis i s clamped in
place in an assembly which mounts on the
Thrust vector control i s based on a r a te - spacecraft cOldplate .
plus - dis )l a c e::lent technique . In this mod.e an
a tti tude cor:u:land i s sl),mned ',:i t:l a tti tude and The na ture of the Apo llo mission demands
fed into t:le cO:1trol loop . ~n ('.tti tude that the control sy s tem desi gn must have a high
li tJi ter ac ts as a r e te cOIllJ:land limiter , and a inherent reliability ; parts must be of tested
Gimbal travel li l it er prevents the act u ~ tor and proven hi gh reliability ; the techniques of
from runninc aGainst its position stops . Prior reliability analysis must be valid; and quality
to thrustin~ , a ttitude hold in a ll thr ee axes control must be rigorous . In addition all
is provided by the reaction j e t system . ~t parts must to lerate long exposure to high
thrust ini tiation , the pitc h and yau control is humidity and 100 per cent oxyg en without any
transferred to the thrust vector c ontrol loops, change in cha r acteristics or release of toxic
and the pitch and yau reaction systems are dis - fumes . To obtain the required reliability and
abled . Roll rea ction control continues still ke ep onboard spares at a minimum, it is
throughout the thrusting maneuver . necess a r y to use parts wh ich in many cases
exceed 1linuteman standards . The use of such
IInvironmental and lJaintenance Fa ctors .- pa rts assures the highest inherent reli a bility .
Coldpl a te mounting of the electronics and Reliability beyond this level is a direct
sensors re quires efficient thermal conduction result of reliability and desig n teamwork
pa ths . At the same ti me , the reliability thrOUGhout the system development process . The
requirement demands standby redundancy , as va lue of this factor to control sys tem
indic a ted in Figure 5, which i s provided by performance is of the highest importance in
inflight replace ment of ~yr os and electronic manned space programs.
circ uit subassemblies . To solve both the
ooldpl ate mounting and maintenance problems,
special hardware packaging designs have been
150
2
1. Rate ro package
4. Package clamp
7. Package clamp
14 . Removable r a te cyros
16 . Elapsed ti ne indicator
151
~.- -
Control System Re straints. - For any space axes uill be necessary . Attitude control in
station confi ~ration, the major f actors either trro or three axe s, depending on the
affe ctinG control system desi gn stem fro m requirements for solar, orienta tion and antenna
operational considerations, such as one to five pOintinG, must be provided . In addition ,
year life , onboard maintenance r e~u i rements , com,and control of an unmanned r esupply vehicle
and orienta tion towa rd the sun for effici ent may be necessary for rendezvous and dockin.:; .
utiliz a tion of solar ener gy . I n addition , a
space station would prob ab ly re qui r e periodiC For spinnina configurat ions, some ne"
resupp l y of food , propellant , and other approa ch to c ontrol lo ~ ic and control el ement
expendable items . T!J.is ,'(ould be provided by a utiliz a ti on may be an tiCi pated . For exa-pl e ,
manned or unmanned resuppl y vehicle uhich .,ould cons id er the modes of mo tion of a spinning
rendezvous '·, i th the s t a tion and dock for equi p- vehic le (Figure 16) :
ment transfer .
6 . Any maintenance ",h ich t he crew could c\pparent Coning Mod e - .las s imb a l a nce out
be expected to perform must be carefully of the station spin plane causes a misalignment
considered in the desi gn of tools and of the spin axis and the body reference axis .
component packaging . The "tip" of the reference axis tra vels a t a
fixed r ate and describes a "circle" in ;'
7. Effic i ent manaaement of energy dissi - inertial space as it does in simple l'Iobbl e .
pation for orienta tion control and r ate damp- HO'.7 ever , the r a t e i s a l 17ays the st.:ltion spin
ing will be a primary restraint on control rate, all body angul a r accelerations a re zero,
sys t em design a nd may be a more significant and all body r a tes are cons tant . r!omentum
parameter than sys te m weight . exc ;~an :' e devi ces can very effectively
counter ac t out- of- plane mass imb a lance .
Performan ce Re guirements .- Control system
performance requirements for the nonsFinning CirclinG:ode - lass i mbal ance in the
zero gravi t ;'r labora tory wi ll not be sisnifi- sta tion s pin plane causes spin about Qn ~~is
cantly different from requirements for other parallel to but not cOincident iri t :l the body
spac e vehicles . Rate damping about three re fe ~ en c e axis . T~ is is a diffic ult mode to
152
- ~- - - -- -~-~-- --- --- -- -
sense because it produces no inputs to gyro and to the level repre sented by the Apollo
cel estial orientation type of sensors . Body trans lunar ve hicle . The cost of the control
r a te a bout the reference is cons t an t, the other system for scientific exploration vehicles
r a tes a re zero , and a ll body angular will probab ly be of secondary importance
accelerations are zero . Circling can be be ca us e it, like the wei(l'ht , will be quite
e li minated by deployment of station masses to negl i gible compa red t o the cos t of the entire
put the center of mass on the reference axis . vehi cle . These circumstances uill al low
control sys tem designers much greater freedom
Vehicle attitude mu s t be controll ed by i n choosing the functions to be included and
orienta tion of the spin axis . Reaction jets t he mechanizat i on by "hich the function 17ill
or magne tic torquers ar e nost effective in t his be a ccomp lished .
I role . Reaction wheels are not effective in
control of a ttitude, but uould provide effi- It i s very probable that digital
J ci ent control of apparent coning and wobble mechani zation will play an i mport a nt part in
damping . Control moment gyros could be used in future space ve hicle control, and in fact the
place of reaction whee l s . identifiable separate control elements may be
I
reduced to sensors and t or que producing
For both spinning and non- spinning config- devices wi t h all computation and si(l'nal
ura tions, the mos t significant source of shaping taking pl ace in a central di gita l
external disturbance tor ques ~ ill prob ab ly computer . For thi s millenium to be attained
result fr om gravity adient a cross the one certain requirement is the development of
station. Thi s tor que result s fro m the f a ct di gita l computers with the required long- t i me
that the configurations a re not symme tric and reliabili ty .
the difference s in the principal momen t s of
inertia ui ll be fairly large . In order to It a l so seems probable tha t a requirement
control a ttitude against the influence of the will arise for s pace vehicles of a totally
gr avity gr adient t orque, a significant amount different t ype from the exploration veh2cles .
of ener gy 17ill be re quired . If reac tion jets These will be mi lita ry v ehicles, perhaps of
are used t o supply t his energy, appr oximately a satellite inspector or an interceptor type .
1000 pounds of fuel per month could be The se vehicles would necess a rily be as small
expended for some confiGUra tions . The as poss i ble in order to mini mi z e l aunch cost .
character of the torque is such tha t it can be They should ideally of course a l so be as
effectively unidirectional for periods as long simple as pOSS ibl e , y e t it seems probable tha t
a s 40 to 50 day s. The influence can be a an opera tional mil i tary vehicle uoul d hav e to
signific ant f a ctor in control system design . have t he ab ility t o reach a re asonab le choice
of l anding sites and t hus will have to be of
Qualific a tion ·-Testing .- 11 final considera- the lif ti ng r e- entry type . Again fr om a n
tion uhich must influence system de s i gn is that opera tional viewpoint such vehicles wou l d need
the cha racter of the system a nd s i ze of the some form of automatic energy management system
c ontrol elements may require a new philosophy aSSO Cia ted with the basiC control system . This
of system qualific a tion testing . For some class of vehicles would probab ly present
space stations being c onSi dered, it would be control probl ems some\7hat similar to those now
i mpr actical t o develop a full scal e s pace faci ng t he desi gn ers of equi pment for high-
station s imula tion to check out and qualify performance mili tary a ir pl anes , name ly, a
th e control sys tem in the manner used for the conflict between r eliab ility and the required
developme nt of pre sent systems . La ck of a functi onal comp leXi t y , a confli ct between coso
zero gr avity te st environment and the large and both rel i ab ility and performance , and
size of possib l e control elements re quired wi ll fin a lly one probl em (familiar to those who have
complica te the design of ade quate tests, and wor ked with manned a ircra ft control systems)
this factor must be c onsidered in the i nitial providing handling quali t i es t hat will please
stage of syst em design. all the pilots .
_.-.-..J,-____ ._ _. 153 I
ASA -Langley, 1964 s-4o I
"Th, NdflQ"al A,rolldll''', dlld Spa" Adm"'IJ'ra',on . . . ,halt .
prov"l, for the /UUI"f practICal npproprrare dlJJtllJm(ltion of InformanorJ
cOrJ"mlng IfS (lCfIVlfi,s and th, ,"miff therMf ' . ob}""v,s b'l1lg th'
'XpanJl011 of h"mull bowledg' of phmOlllmd i,1 Ih, t1tllJo,ph", fmd ,pac,."