"The Sub-orbital Re-Entry Test of the CIRA's USV Program: Phase A Trajectory Optimization and Control"

This work deals with the problem of identifying and controlling the trajectory of a small winged vehicle performing an aero-assisted re-entry maneuver from sub-orbital conditions. The vehicle considered is the Unmanned Space Vehicle (USV), currently under development at the Italian Aerospace Research Center (CIRA). The unusual mission objective of maximizing thermal stress on the vehicle's structure required particular attention in the Flight Mechanics problem statement and solution. Furthermore, the analysis conduced provided the maximum attainable performance of the mission objective, and also an estimate on the minimum performances requested to the command and actuation system. Finally, evaluation of the augmented vehicle performances has been performed by means of numerical simulation under nominal and perturbed conditions, including atmospheric disturbances.