OPTIMIZING TRAJECTORIES FOR SUBORBITAL HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT

摘要

The ANSARI X PRIZE, a $10 million cash prize for the first privately built and funded reusable spaceship to reach space twice in two weeks, has been won and the future objective for private spaceflight has expanded to reaching space as many times as possible during a fiscal year. The competition is now for the market of potential customers, and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic is leading the pack with the first purchase of a fleet of spaceships from ANSARI X PRIZE winning designer Burt Rutan. As a follow-on event to the ANSARI X PRIZE, the X PRIZE CUP will offer a venue in New Mexico for ANSARI X PRIZE teams and new teams to come and compete with their diversely designed spaceships and customized suborbital trajectories. The goals of this paper are to show how trajectories can be customized to meet the demands of the paying passenger or X PRIZE CUP contender by the manipulation of vehicle performance variables, and to develop a "menu" of possible flight options based on user defined interests.rnIn order to accurately analyze the possible suborbital trajectories, a proven software package must be used. EasyPOST, the graphical user interface to POST3D, allows a user to easily generate multiple cases of their vehicle and flight plans. A powerful tool when used correctly, the software provides a large range of potential output variables and allows simple to complex trajectory modeling.