Re-entry trajectory tracking of reusable launch vehicle using artificial delay based robust guidance law

A Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), during the re-entry phase of its flight, experiences uncertain environment and extreme turbulence. This calls for an effective control strategy to guide the vehicle efficiently on a trajectory that allows safer landing conditions while providing robustness against external disturbances and system uncertainties. In this regard, a Time-Delayed Control (TDC) strategy has been proposed to track the space vehicle on a predetermined trajectory in the presence of these uncertainties. In the proposed approach, the system vector and the uncertainties are lumped into a single function which is estimated using the input and output data from the previous instant. Theoretical analysis of the control strategy executed using Lyapunov’s method, proves Uniformly Ultimately Bounded (UUB) stability of the closed loop system. The efficacy of the proposed approach has been verified through simulation studies which affirm robust tracking of the optimal trajectory generated through Pseudo-Spectral method (PSM), in the presence of time-varying uncertainties.     

Exploring links between crater floor mineralogy and layered lunar crust

Floors of similar sized craters, representing material from similar depth horizons, have been studied to explore their suitability as mineralogy indicators at various depths within the lunar crust. Clementine UV–vis multispectral data was used to generate mineral abundance maps of crater floors and surroundings using a modified version of algorithm given by Pieters et al. (2001) [Pieters, C.M., Head, J.W., Gaddis, L., Jolliff, B. and Duke, M. Rock types of the south pole aitken basin and extent of basaltic volcanism, JGR (106) E11, 28001–28022, 2001.]. Substantial processing of the crater floor material due to variety of geological processes is evident in the generated maps, making straight forward interpretations difficult. However, systematic compositional trends in fresh craters on the floors of target craters seem to indicate the feasibility of such an effort.