Engineering topics

Meyerson, Robert E.

Publications and source records attributed to Meyerson, Robert E..

4 records

NASA NTRS2001

Space Shuttle Orbital Drag Parachute Design

The drag parachute system was added to the Space Shuttle Orbiter's landing deceleration subsystem beginning with flight STS-49 in May 1992. The addition of this subsystem to an existing space vehicle required a detailed set of ground tests and analyses. The aerodynamic design and performance testing of the system consisted of wind tunnel tests, numerical simulations, pilot-in-the-loop simulations, and full-scale testing. This analysis and design resulted in a fully qualified system that is deployed on every flight of the Space Shuttle.

Meyerson, Robert E.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Facilities and capabilities catalog for landing and escape systems

This catalog serves as a single source reference for designers of landing and escape systems for spacecraft, aircraft, weapons, and airdrop system. It includes those facilities which may be required by a system designer in planning a development test program for many applications. The primary objective of this catalog is to provide a means for identifying critical facilities with the U.S. which can be used for the development of landing and escape systems. A secondary objective is to provide a useful tool to the system designer for picking and choosing facilities and capabilities. The six chapters in this volume include wind tunnels, drop zones, test aircraft, fabrication facilities, design tools, and other miscellaneous facilities. A different data sheet format is used for each of the chapters which provides information on performance, location, special capabilities, and a local point of contact. All inputs were solicited from the individual facilities and have not been independently verified for accuracy.

Meyerson, Robert E.↗

NASA NTRS1990

An experimental study to improve Space Shuttle approach and landing performance

Experiments have been conducted by engineers at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center to study the effects of modifications to the base area of the Space Shuttle Orbiter on approach and landing performance. A candidate configuration, the 'OMS plate', has been chosen for further study based on wind tunnel test results. This modification consists of a curved plate which extends the length of the upper portion of the Orbiter base. The addition of this plate reduces Orbiter base drag by up to 16 percent and has positive effects on performance. An aerodynamic model including the effects of these modifications has been produced for use in Space Shuttle landing simulations.

Meyerson, Robert E.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Aeroassist vehicle requirements for a Mars Rover/Sample Return Mission

A three degree-of-freedom computer simulation has been developed to perform Martian aeroassist trajectories using the HYPAS guidance algorithm. This simulator was used to perform a parametric study at the Johnson Space Center of various low L/D vehicles and their performance with the inclusion of vehicle and atmospheric dispersions. The ultimate goal is to define an extreme (minimum L/D) aeroassist configuration for the Mars Rover/Sample Return Mission to compare with the previously defined biconic aeroshell. The study shows that a raked cone vehicle with L/D betweeen 0.3 and 0.6 will perform adequately in the Martian environment in the presence of dispersions. Average apoapsis error for the 0.6 L/D vehicle was 11.9 km (6.4 nm) above the 2000 km target which compares fairly well with an error of 3.5 km (1.9 nm) for the 1.5 L/D biconic vehicle. The study concluded that the low L/D raked configuration warrants further study which could include stability analysis as well as the inclusion of density shears and dynamic atmospheric variations.

Meyerson, Robert E.↗