Course Contents IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please read the restrictions under "Assessment"
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The course aims at giving a complete overview of re-entry systems, mainly from a mission point of view, but also from the
system point of view. To begin with the mission, the fundamental principles of mechanics (Newton's Laws) are applied to derive
the equations of motion for translational and rotational motion. Subsequently, simplifications are applied to give a description of
planar ballistic, gliding and skipping flight, where the focus will be on analytical solutions for quantifying maximum mechanical
and thermal loads. Next, typical mission applications, such as planetary entry and descent with parachutes and/or propulsion
systems are discussed, as well as terminal-area flight of winged entry vehicles. To extend the mission applications, attention is
also paid to the atmospheric flight aspects during an aero-gravity assist, aerocapture and aerobraking. As many re-entry missions
rely on the application of guidance, navigation and control systems, the fundamentals of each of these three sub-systems will be
discussed and applied in simple examples, such that after the course the student has a starting point for further study. The relation
between vehicle configurations (capsule, winged, lifting body, etc.) and mission aspects, such as flight time and (maximum)
system loads is a typical system aspect that will pass review. Finally, all presented theory will be combined in a so-called
development plan for building a simulator that can be used for performance analysis of both controlled and uncontrolled re-entry
vehicles. How to use such a simulator efficiently is depending on what kind of simulation and analysis technique will be used.
Therefore, the course is concluded with an overview of such techniques like Monte-Carlo Analysis, and how to extract the
required information from the simulated data.
Course Contents
Continuation
Lecture Topics (the actual topics covered may vary per year):
#01 Introduction
#02 Entry Environment and Aeroheating
#03 Fundamentals of Motion
#04 Ballistic entry
#05 Gliding Entry
#06 Skip Entry
#07 Guidance, Navigation and Control
#08 Planetary Entry and Descent
#09 Advanced Descent and Landing Systems
#10 Terminal Area Energy Management
Study Goals At the end of this course, the student will be able to (depending on topics covered):
1. Identify the influence of the planetary environment on the motion of and loads on an entry vehicle
2. Derive the equations of planar motion
3. Identify the three unpowered entry mechanisms (ballistic, gliding and skip entry), and derive the corresponding equations of
motion
4. Apply a sizing methodology to design an entry descent system (parachute and/or propulsion)
5. Understand the fundamental functions of a Guidance, Navigation and Control System and design a simple system
6. Name the characteristic phases of the Terminal Area flight, and derive the equations for maximum range and maximum dive
(steady-state approximation)
7. Solve typical re-entry problems through a combination of physical insight, analytical skills, and numerical evaluation
