Questions tagged [thrust-vectoring]
questions regarding an engine's capability to control the direction of its thrust.
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Space Shuttle Main Engine TVC actuator torque
Curious if there are references for the Shuttle Main Engine Gimballing actuator torque and the arm distance between CG of the Shuttle and the gimballing point.
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Commercial Sources of variable thrust Rocket Engines [closed]
The project is to build a model rocket to take off and land vertically. Max height perhaps 100 feet.
Looking for a suitable engine which can provide variable thrust control and thrust vectoring which ...
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Using a reverse sling + compression sock to give an asteroid an initial boost - possible?
building my a related question, I have a hypothesis in question:
Assuming that we can get a tug spacecraft near an asteroid worth mining, at appropriate but faster speeds can we use a slingshot with a ...
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Does thrust vectoring by a gimballed nozzle in rockets affect thrust/efficiency?
I was wondering if thrust vectoring via a maneuvering gimballed nozzle affected the thrust of a rocket. I've read a couple times that a gimballed rocket engine's thrust doesn't change while exhaust ...
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Simplified rocket lateral dynamics model sign convention
I had came across a simplified simplified rocket lateral dynamics model seen in this image below:
. It has vanes at the exit which generate lift force and can control the rocket orientation- the lift ...
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Joint between actuators and structure in thrust vector control systems
I've been wondering how exactly it is that actuators are joined to the structure of a thrust vector control system. The reason I'm confused may be illustrated by the following image of a Vernier ...
user42130
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Space Shuttle SRB Hydraulic Power Unit Controller Schematic: "One Shot" block, what is it?
The space shuttle SRB's Hydraulic Power Unit (HPU) provided hydraulic power to the booster's TVC system. This HPU controller schematic shows "One Shot" blocks that I'm suddenly curious ...
user39728
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Space shuttle TVC hydraulic line diameter?
Curious what diameter the hydraulic lines of the space shuttle thrust vector control system might have been. Even a ballpark figure would be OK. Is this info by chance public?
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ISP losses associated with exhaust vane TVC
What is the impact of exhaust vanes, such as those in the A4 and Redstone rockets, on exhaust velocity and overall ISP? As well as this, what is the relationship between ISP losses and the width of ...
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Solid state thrust vectoring
Usually thrust vectoring for the whole rocket is done by changing the orientation of individual engine(s) by hydraulic/electric actuators. So in this system the engine simply moves and with it the ...
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Falcon 9 TVC: Which engines participate in roll control?
Stage 1 of Falcon 9 uses its gimballed engines during launch to control roll, pitch, and yaw.
Only the eight peripheral engines can be used for roll control since the center engine couldn't possibly ...
user36480
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How does MEV use its "ion thruster on a stick" technology?
I was reading Politico's Biden’s space policy: One giant leap for climate change and some algorithm embedded a "Learn more about MEV; Northrop Grumman" advertisement in the story. (...
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Why did the SSMEs gimbal during ignition?
During Shuttle ignition sequence:
the engines always slightly gimbal closer together as they reach full combustion (I'm guessing, from the plume appearance). Why?
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How common is the ability to compensate for a lost engine through gimbaling?
Discussing a system of regulating thrust through lighting/extinguishing engine pairs, I was met with a reply:
Really there is no need to treat engines as a pair in this context.
In fact, beyond ...
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Optimal Thruster Layout For Cubesat
I am working on a simulation of a Cubesat for rendezvous. Using the Clohessy-Wiltshire equations I calculate delta-v. Now that I know the thrust needed for operation, I would like to know how to ...
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Have any vehicles used asymmetrically variable thrust for active stabilisation? [duplicate]
Have there been any tests or attempts at developing a propulsion system that uses variable thrust for attitude control (particularly during launch)?
Conventional systems often use fully gimballed ...
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Non-axial thrust during Falcon 9 Block 5 launch? [duplicate]
Looking at video of the Block 5 launch today (2018 May 11) I noticed that from the ground tracking views, the vehicle roll axis and the exhaust plume appeared not to be collinear. When they cut to the ...
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Active thrust vectoring
I am new to this group, and so glad I found it.
Rockets use thrust vectoring, fins or both for flight control. Lets say when SpaceX launches a Falcon 9, from liftoff until MECO, when is thrust ...
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Calculating spacecraft thrust manoeuvres with JPL data
I've recently programmed an animated simulation of the main elements (core planets and Sun) of our solar system: by using the initial coordinates from the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA) ...
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Which engine failed during CRS-1?
During SpaceX's CRS-1 mission, "engine 1" failed, but the booster still completed its primary mission due to a plentiful thrust and fuel margin.
Clearly, an outboard engine failure is more critical ...
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What was the purpose of the small red tank attached to the Titan-Centaur launcher?
Watching a documentary on the Viking missions, I noticed the launcher had a small red tank/rocket attached to one of the solid boosters. It struck me as an odd feature/placement, as I thought you'd ...
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Falcon 9 Merlin engine thrust vectoring
One of the ways that the Falcon 9's attitude is controlled is through thrust vectoring of the main Merlin engine(s?). In images of older thrusters i've seen hydraulic or electric linear actuators to ...
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How to numerically solve an optimal thrust-vectoring problem?
This question is a follow-up to this question and is linked to this question, where if needed more details can be found on the parameters used in the following.
For an in-plane non-impulsive orbital ...
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Retromotor thrust-vectoring strategy (boundary value problem)
EDIT October 15, 2017: the problem in this question is cast as an optimal control problem and reformulated here.
The spacecraft I am designing is flying in an elliptical orbit (8 x 3000 km) around ...
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Did any rockets use differential throttling instead of gimbal?
It seems the standard approach to control of rockets during launch is either vernier thrusters, or gimbals on the main engines. Sure that works, and is quite efficient, but I wonder about a simpler ...
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Do gimbaled engines have to be carefully test-fired to ensure the thrust axis intercepts center of rotation?
A smoothly running rocket engine will have a center of thrust axis. If the engine is gimbaled, that axis should pass through each of the gimbal axes (if it's a classical gimbal), or if it is a ball ...
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What kind of forces and response times/accelerations are needed to gimbal a mid-sized nine-engine rocket's engines?
This answer explains that the gimbaling actuators on each of the nine Rutherford engines on the Electron rocket are in fact electrically powered DC brushless motors. Currently it's not known if they ...
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SpaceX Engine Mounting / Gimbaling
Inspired by the discussion on What are the two very large "blue" cylinders attaching to the combustion chamber of each Rutherford Engine? and especially jkavalik's excellent picture of the ...
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What are the two very large "blue" cylinders attaching to the combustion chamber of each Rutherford Engine?
The NASA Spaceflight article Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket set for inaugural flight from New Zealand mentions the upcoming opening of a 10 day launch window:
Rocket Lab, a U.S.-based launch service ...
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Is it pretty much a given that all deep-space spacecraft have gimbaled engines?
I'm starting to see a pattern. Both this answer about Cassini liquid propellant engine and this answer about ion thrusters discuss a particular necessity for gimbaling engines to keep thrust aligned ...
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Thrust vectoring for ion propulsion - any plans or current research?
While most applications of ion thrust involves long "burns" with either a tiny, slow rotation or none, in the case of this question: Thrust strategy to circularize a standard GTO orbit using ion ...
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Is it unusual to vector the thrust from an SRB?
Let me explain. The term SRB (Solid (fuel) Rocket Booster) usually refers to a solid (fuel) rocket which is attached to something else in order to "boost" it.
But I just read this answer by @...
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How does a rocket navigate during launch?
From what I understand, a rocket changes its direction during launch by gimbaling its engines (i.e. swiveling the engine nozzles so the thrust of the engine points in the correct direction).
But what ...
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