Many young privately-held space companies quickly
find that one of their most daunting problems is finding a place to test their vehicle
technology. Unlike other businesses, developing rocket engines and trying to test fly
rocket vehicles often grabs the attention of the local zoning authorities...
Frontier Astronautics has obtained a retired Atlas-E
missile silo in rural Wyoming for just such testing. The State of Wyoming, Platte County
and the City of Chugwater have been extremely supportive. Frontier Astronautics has been
issued a Special Use permit for the zoning of the property (specifying rocket engine
testing and launching of rocket vehicles) as well as an exemption from any county fire
bans during the summer, as the rocket test facilities are concrete and designed to
withstand an Atlas-E missile launch.
Thus, entrepreneurial space companies can come to
Frontier Astronautics' facilities and test their hardware without worry.
You will not find an friendlier place to start a
rocket company!
Propulsion for launch vehicles and spacecraft
typically involves rocket engines, but it can also apply to other means of moving through
space such as solar sails. Rocket engines have traditionally been developed under
government contract, and as a result are often very, very expensive. It doesn't have to be
this way.
In a free market environment absolute performance
may be secondary to reliability and cost. Frontier Astronautics strives to bring more
affordable rocket engine technology to the burgeoning entrepreneurial space industry.
Engines can be designed, constructed and tested to meet your mission requirements at a
small fraction of the cost charged by government-subsidized aerospace companies.
2000 lbf test firing of the
Asp™ engine.
Attitude Control Systems:
"Attitude Control" is engineering parlance
for controlling the orientation and direction of flight of a vehicle. Sometimes referred
to as a "Reaction Control System" when rocket thrusters are used, attitude
control systems can also use momentum wheels, control moment gyros, gravity gradient
systems etc.
Finding engineers that have the understanding of the
kinematics of how a rocket powered vehicle flies, and the forces that are required to keep
it flying in the direction you want, are difficult to come by for free-market space
companies. Learning to do this by trial and error can be expensive in time, money and
equipment loss. Frontier Astronautics brings specific expertise in this field of
engineering to this new space industry. We are able to tell you up front if your system is
controllable (many are not) and quickly and reliably model the dynamic forces on your
vehicle and develop a control system to make it fly under control.
Located directly under the rocket engine nozzle,
three vanes direct the flow of hot gases to alter the force on the vehicle. By changing
the angle of the vanes in the correct combination, roll, pitch and yaw forces can be
created. This is how the Laramie Rose will be conrolled in flight.
Hot Fire Vane Mapping on SpeedUp's Laramie Rose
Will the vanes generate enough force to control the
vehicle? Are they fast enough?
"Hardware in the loop" (HIL) testing is
when the flight computer is "tricked" into thinking it is flying while the
vehicle is actually safely bolted to the test stand. The forces generated by the vanes can
be measured by firing the engine over the flame trench, using three-axis load cells. This
way, the flight hardware can be tested to insure it will perform properly prior to
attempting a flight.
Here a single-axis attitude control system is
tested, showing that it correctly senses and adjusts it's orientation. High pressure
nitrogen is fed to cold gas thrusters via a regulator. An on board IMU senses orientation
and the proper cold gas thrusters are actuated. Such a system is well suited for use in an
upper stage of a sounding rocket for roll control and upper stage pointing.
Frontier Astronautics
demonstrates an ACS demonstrator, known as the "Ice Cream Cone" at the
2006 X Prize Cup. Essentially an inverted cone that maintains its balance on its point by
sensing which way it is falling and then firing any of a combination of eight cold gas
thrusters. This demonstrates the basic control theory for keeping a rocket flying
vertically.
