Pilot control and navigation of a spacecraft during entry into the earth's atmosphere at parabolic velocity were investigated on a fixed-base analog simulator. The simulation included an analog computer, on which a set of sixdegree -of-freedom vehicle equations of motion were solved, and a pilot station consisting of vehicle controllers, a display of standard-research-type-flight instruments, an integrated oscilloscope display of guidance and situation data, and an x-y plotter on which trajectory data were recorded. The spacecraft configuration considered was a blunt-face capsule and was trimmed to a constant lift-drag ratio of 0.5 by offsetting the center of gravity from the axis of symmetry. Reaction controls applying moments about all three axes of the vehicle were simulated with which attitude could be controlled by the pilot and automatic or manual damping augmentation could be introduced. With a fixed lift-drag ratio, the spacecraft trajectory was controlled by rolling the vehicle to vary the vertical and sidewise components of lift. Extreme entries in which the pilot task was to achieve both a long or short range and entries using a minimum of display instrumentation were considered.
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