Orbital Pegasus - Manual (Page 3)

Release 7.0 Apr 2010 iii
Pegasus User’s Guide
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 1
2. PEGASUS DESCRIPTION..................................................................................................................... 3
2.1. Pegasus XL Vehicle Description .................................................................................................... 3
2.1.1. Solid Rocket Motors .................................................................................................................. 3
2.1.2. Payload Fairing.......................................................................................................................... 3
2.1.3. Avionics ..................................................................................................................................... 4
2.1.4. Flight Termination System......................................................................................................... 5
2.1.5. Attitude Control Systems ........................................................................................................... 5
2.1.6. Telemetry Subsystem................................................................................................................ 6
2.1.7. Major Structural Subsystems..................................................................................................... 6
2.1.7.1. Wing .................................................................................................................................... 6
2.1.7.2. Aft Skirt Assembly ............................................................................................................... 7
2.1.7.3. Payload Interface Systems ................................................................................................. 7
2.2. Orbital Carrier Aircraft..................................................................................................................... 7
3. GENERAL PERFORMANCE CAPABILITY ........................................................................................... 8
3.1. Mission Profiles .............................................................................................................................. 8
3.2. Performance Capability .................................................................................................................. 9
3.3. Trajectory Design Optimization ...................................................................................................... 9
3.4. Orbit Insertion Accuracy ................................................................................................................. 9
3.4.1. Actual Pegasus Insertion Accuracies ...................................................................................... 10
3.4.2. Error-Minimizing Guidance Strategies..................................................................................... 10
3.5. Collision/Contamination Avoidance Maneuver............................................................................. 12
4. PAYLOAD ENVIRONMENTS............................................................................................................... 13
4.1. Design Loads................................................................................................................................ 13
4.2. Payload Testing and Analysis ...................................................................................................... 14
4.3. Payload Acceleration Environment .............................................................................................. 14
4.4. Payload Random Vibration Environment ..................................................................................... 14
4.5. Sinusoidal Vibration...................................................................................................................... 15
4.6. Payload Shock Environment ........................................................................................................ 15
4.7. Payload Acoustic Environment..................................................................................................... 15
4.8. Pressure Profile ............................................................................................................................ 16
4.9. Payload Thermal Environment ..................................................................................................... 16
4.9.1. Payload Processing................................................................................................................. 16
4.9.2. Transportation ......................................................................................................................... 16
4.9.3. Ground Operations at the Flightline and Launch Operations.................................................. 21