Autonomous reusable launch vehicles (RLV) are being pursued as low-cost alternatives to expendable launch vehicles and the Shuttle. The employment of autonomous, reusable launch vehicles requires additional guidance and control robustness to fulfill the role of an adaptive human pilot, in the event of failures or unanticipated conditions. The guidance and control of these vehicles mandate new g...

A tank and intertank sizing tool that includes effects of major design drivers, and which allows parametric studies to be performed, has been developed and calibrated against independent repzresentative results. Although additional design features, such as bulkheads and field joints, are not currently included in the process, the improved level of fidelity has allowed parametric studies to be p...

In the last few years, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) sponsored several research projects on a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) whose design, operation, and logistics requirements are intended to be much simpler than for the Space Shuttle. As part of these efforts, the previous researchers developed a discrete-event simulation model, called Maintenance, Integration, and Launch Pad Operat...

NASA researchers recently demonstrated successful real-time fault detection and isolation of a virtual reusable launch vehicle main propulsion system. Using a detailed simulation of a vehicle propulsion system to produce synthesized sensor readings, the NASA team demonstrated that advanced diagnostic algorithms, running on flight-like computers, can, in real time, successfully diagnose the pres...