Trajectory Optimization and Guidance Law Development for National Aerospace Plane Applications

The problem of on-board trajectory optimization for an airbreathing, single-stage-to-orbit vehicle is examined. A simple model representative of the aerospace plane concept, including a dual-mode propulsion system composed of SCRAMJET and rocket engines, is presented. Consideration is restricted to hypersonic flight within the atmosphere. An energy state approximation is employed in a four-state model for flight of a point mass in a vertical plane. Trajectory constraints, including those of dynamic pressure and aerodynamic heating, are initially ignored. Singular perturbation methods are applied in solving the optimal control problem of minimum fuel climb. The resulting reduced solution for the energy state dynamics provides an optimal altitude profil1e dependent on energy level and control for rocket thrust. A boundary-layer analysis produces an approximate lift control solution in feedback form and accounts for altitude and flight path angle dynamics. The reduced solution optimal climb path is presented for the unconstrained case and the case for which a maximum dynamic pressure constraint is enforced.