Recovery System Development

The design and development of a recovery system involves extensive studies and tests to determine the best configuration for each specific application. Thought should be given to using off-the-shelf, well proven components where applicable in any new recovery system design. This will reduce the development cost and yield higher system reliability. In discussing the design and development of recovery systems, the over-all problem can be broken down to include considerations of structural integrity of the vehicle; i.e., deceleration loads it can safely withstand, re-entry heating, practical end conditions of velocity and altitude at which recovery system sequence can be initiated with reliable operation, efficiency of system; i.e., weight and space requirements of the system for the amount of braking force developed, flotation equipment if required, and locating devices. This paper discusses these considerations in detail and their application to present and future booster and payload recovery systems being developed by the U. S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency.