Flight Simulation for Aerospace Planes: Tool-development plan

Within the framework of the Advanced Earth-to-Orbit Launcher Upgrade Studies (AEOLUS), Work Package 151 has been defined to identify existing and available flight­ simulation tools. This report, AEOLUS document code AE-DUT-TN-9302 (1 ), begins with a review of the requirements, relevant for flight simulation, based on input from the Systems­ Engineering level. This review discharges into a list with specifications, which have to be incorporated into the flight-simulation tool, to verify the requirements. The tools, which have been identified to serve as a basis for further development, are ASCENT and START, both available at Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. Two additional program packages, i.e., ALTOS and POST, of which documentation is available, can be of assistance in the tool development. The report concludes with an overview of the models which have to be developed as extensions to ASCENT and START. The tool-development plan has been divided into three major steps, each of which aim at extensions of the Trajectory Optimizer and the Flight-Dynamics Software. In Step 1, ASCENT will be extended to a full 3-degrees-of-freedom program. In Step 2, the pitching stability will be added (4 degrees-of-freedom). In Step 3, the Flight Dynamics Software START (6 degrees-of-freedom) will be extended, such that a controlled ascent flight can be simulated.