Soft Recovery of a Supersonic Rocket using Un-Stablizing Technique

In this study, the idea of “Soft recovery using un-stablizing” technique applied to a supersonic rocket. The tail of rocket is separated and the tumbling ogive-cylinder body decelerates very soon and then recovers with a two stage parachute mechanism. Aerodynamics of tumbling ogive-cylinder was solved numerically by a finite volume method using a pressure based implicit upwind scheme. Further, second order upstream interpolation and Spalart-Almaras turbulence model were employed. Governing flight dynamics equations of tumbling body were solved numerically using fourth order Runge-Kutta integration method. Numerical results were verified using available velocity-time curve of tumbling fore-body, which recorded experimentally by Doppler radar. Finally, comparing with commercial soft-recovery methods the un-stablizing technique was proposed.