Speaker: Dr. Jeffrey Caplin & Dr. Scot Osburn

Guidance Analysis Department

Aerospace Corporation

Abstract:

Successfully placing a spacecraft in its intended orbit requires a precise interplay between a launch vehicle’s Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) systems.  The Navigation System uses sensors (accelerometers and gyros) and software algorithms to determine the vehicle’s position in inertial space.  The Guidance System steers the vehicle along a trajectory from the current navigation-derived position to a final point that satisfies the desired target conditions (i.e., orbital parameters) in the presence of vehicle dispersions and environmental variations.  The Control System manipulates suitable control effectors (e.g., thrust vectoring actuators or pulse jets) to align the vehicle with the guidance-commanded thrust pointing direction, while maintaining vehicle stability.  This seminar gives an overview of the individual functions of each GN&C system, and explains how they interact during the course of a mission.