Adaptable Deployable Entry and Placement Technology Sounding Rocket One Modeling and Reconstruction

Abstract

Sounding Rocket One (SR-1), the first flight test of the Adaptable Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT), was performed on September 12, 2018. ADEPT is a deployable aeroshell that is stowed for launch and deployed before atmospheric flight to increase the drag area of the spacecraft. The main objectives of the SR-1 flight test were to demonstrate that the ADEPT vehicle deploys exo-atmospherically and to characterize the stability of the vehicle during atmospheric flight. The SR-1 test vehicle was a 0.7-m-diam, 70°-half-angle faceted sphere-cone and was the primary payload on an UP Aerospace Spaceloft launch vehicle from the White Sands Missile Range. ADEPT successfully separated from the spent booster in its stowed configuration, opened above 100 km altitude, and landed in the deployed configuration within White Sands Missile Range. ADEPT was able to reach peak Mach number of 3.1 and was able to show angle-of-attack stability through Mach 0.8, which was the objective of the mission. The aerodynamics and flight mechanics of the vehicle were modeled preflight for performance and range safety predictions. After the flight, the on-board instrumentation was used to reconstruct the flight performance. This paper describes the predictions and postflight reconstruction, and how the predictions compared with the flight data.