Analysis of samara-wing decelerator steady-state characteristics

Abstract

A method has been developed for computing the steady-state descent characteristics of a samara-wing decelerator. The system is modeled with 11 degrees of freedom taken into account. Analytic requirements for steady vertical descent in lunar rotation derived from the equations of motion are imposed by iteratively varying the dependent variables defining steady descent. Solutions obtained are in good agreement with test data for configurations weighing 1.5-17 Ib.