Orbit selection and EKV guidance for space-based ICBM intercept

摘要

Boost-phase intercept of a threat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is the first layer of a multilayer defense. This thesis investigates the requirements and limitations of the U.S. space-based ICBM defense against North Korea, Iran and China by introducing an ICBM trajectory prediction, selecting an orbit for exoatmospheric kill vehicles (EKV) and developing a hybrid guidance algorithm. The prediction of the ICBM trajectory takes the rotation of the earth and the atmospheric drag into account along with the gravitational forces and thrust. The threat ICBM locations, specifications and capabilities of the EKV and EKV carrier, and the capabilities of the space launch vehicle are analyzed to determine an appropriate orbit for the space-based intercept. The pursuit guidance, proportional navigation guidance and bang-bang guidance rules and their performances are investigated and simulated for three example ICBM threats in three-dimensional environment. The simulation results performances are compared and analyzed for minimum miss distance, intercept time and total command effort. The guidance rules are combined to meet the mission requirements, resulting in a hybrid guidance algorithm, which uses different guidance rules for different stages of a boost-phase intercept scenario.