• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.156-165
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• 2015

A survivability-analysis program has been developed to analyze the ground collision risk of atmospheric reentry objects, such the upper stages of a launch vehicle or satellites, which move at or near the orbital velocity. The aero-thermodynamic load during the free fall, the temperature variation due to thermal load, and the phase shift after reaching the melting point are integrated into the 3 degree-of-freedom trajectory simulation of the reentry objects to analyze the size and weight of its debris impacting the ground. The analysis results of the present method for simple-shaped objects are compared with the data predicted by similar codes developed by NASA and ESA. Also, the analysis for actual reentry orbital objects has been performed, of which results are compared with the measurement data.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.487-501
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• 2017

The main purpose of the paper is to analyze effect of geometrical parameters of the reentry capsules such as radius of the spherical cap, shoulder radius, back shell inclination angle and overall length on the flow field characteristics. The numerical simulation with viscous flow past ARD (Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator), Soyuz (Russian) and OREX (Orbital Reentry EXperimental) reentry capsules for freestream Mach numbers range of 2.0-5.0 is carried out by solving time-dependent, axisymmetric, compressible laminar Navier-Stokes equations. These reentry capsules appear as bell, head light and saucer in shape. The flow field features around the reentry capsules such as bow shock wave, sonic line, expansion fan and recirculating flow region are well captured by the present numerical simulations. A low pressure is observed immediately downstream of the base region of the capsule which can be attributed to fill-up in the growing space between the shock wave and the reentry module. The back shell angle and the radius of the shoulder over the capsule are having a significant effect on the wall pressure distribution. The effects of geometrical parameters of the reentry capsules will useful input for the calculation of ballistic coefficient of the reentry module.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.149-159
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• 2021

This paper represents a reentry time prediction analysis of CZ-5B rocket-body in China, subject to analysis of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee Reentry (IADC) reentry test campaign conducted in May 2021. Predicting the reentry of space objects is difficult to accurately predict due to the lack of accurate physical information about target, and uncertainty in atmospheric density. Therefore, IADC conducts annual re-entry campaigns to verify analysis techniques by each agency, and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute has also participated in them since 2015. Ballistic coefficient estimation method proposed to predict target reentry time and the result confirmed the difference of 73 seconds, which confirms the accuracy of the proposed method.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.79-85
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• 2018

The demand for the development of atmospheric entry vehicles, dealing with reentry and solar-system planet exploration, is increasing. Generally, atmospheric drag and heating accompany the entry into atmospheric air. Accordingly, the selection of the thermal protection materials and the design and application of the thermal protection system are very important. In this paper, the atmospheric entry environment and the type and characteristics of the thermal protection materials are discussed. The design and application status of a thermal protection system for spaceplanes are described.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.23-34
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• 2012

Space launch vehicles are designed to fly according to the elaborate pre-determined path. However, if a vehicle went out of the planned trajectory or its thrust terminated abnormally, or if a free-fall atmospheric reentry vehicle tracked by a tracking sensor became impossible to be measured, it is required to attempt to track by a another track equipment or estimate its impact point rapidly. In this paper a new algorithm is proposed, named the ITS-EKF combined with the Integrated Track Splitting (ITS) algorithm and the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) to obtain the location information of a ballistic projectile without thrust, create its track and maintain it in an environment with clutter. For the reentry vehicle, the track performance is to be verified and the impact point is estimated by applying the simulation through ITS-EKF algorithm. To ensure the proposed algorithm's adequacy, by comparing the track performance and impact point distribution by the ITS-EKF with those of ITS-PF combined with ITS and Particle Filter (PF), it is confirmed that the ITS-EKF algorithm can be used an effective real-time On-line impact point prediction.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.289-302
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• 2017

The key risk analysis technologies for the re-entry of space objects into Earth's atmosphere are divided into four categories: cataloguing and databases of the re-entry of space objects, lifetime and re-entry trajectory predictions, break-up models after re-entry and multiple debris distribution predictions, and ground impact probability models. In this study, we focused on reentry prediction, including orbital lifetime assessments, for space situational awareness systems. Re-entry predictions are very difficult and are affected by various sources of uncertainty. In particular, during uncontrolled re-entry, large spacecraft may break into several pieces of debris, and the surviving fragments can be a significant hazard for persons and properties on the ground. In recent years, specific methods and procedures have been developed to provide clear information for predicting and analyzing the re-entry of space objects and for ground-risk assessments. Representative tools include object reentry survival analysis tool (ORSAT) and debris assessment software (DAS) developed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), spacecraft atmospheric re-entry and aerothermal break-up (SCARAB) and debris risk assessment and mitigation analysis (DRAMA) developed by European Space Agency (ESA), and semi-analytic tool for end of life analysis (STELA) developed by Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). In this study, various surveys of existing re-entry space objects are reviewed, and an efficient re-entry prediction technique is suggested based on STELA, the life-cycle analysis tool for satellites, and DRAMA, a re-entry analysis tool. To verify the proposed method, the re-entry of the Tiangong-1 Space Lab, which is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere shortly, was simulated. Eventually, these results will provide a basis for space situational awareness risk analyses of the re-entry of space objects.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1228-1233
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• 2005

In this paper, we present a new guidance law for a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) that lands vertically after reentry. In our past studies, a guidance law was developed for a vertical/soft landing to a target point. The guidance law, which is analytically obtained, can regenerate a trajectory against disturbances because it is expressed in the form of state feedback. However, the guidance law does not necessarily guarantee a vertical/soft landing when a dynamical system such as an RLV includes a nonlinear phenomenon owing to the atmosphere of the earth. In this study, we introduce a design of the guidance law for a nonlinear system to achieve a vertical/soft landing on the ground using the exact linearization method and solving the two-point boundary-value problem for the derived linear system. Numerical simulation confirmed the validity of the proposed guidance law for an RLV in an atmospheric environment.