Date of Award

3-1-2004

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

First Advisor

Steven G. Tragesser, PhD

Abstract

Rather than delivering conventional munitions through the airspace of uncooperative nations, a constellation of space-stored weapons could potentially target any point on the Earth and arrive within the time it takes to de-orbit and re-enter through the atmosphere. The research involves applying the dynamics of atmospheric re-entry to a Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) and defining a footprint of attainable touchdown points. The footprint is moved forward to create a swath representing all the possible touchdown points in a 90 minute window. A nominal constellation of CAVs is established using a streets of coverage technique, and both analytic studies and numeric genetic algorithm techniques are used to modify the nominal constellation. A minimum number of CAVs is identified which ensures payload delivery to an area of interest within 90 minutes.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GSS-ENY-04-M01

DTIC Accession Number

ADA424273

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