Thrust Inclination Guidance and Control

In exo-atmospheric guidance the control is the thrust vector. A recent thrust vector approach has revealed that in optimal guidance the thrust inclination in an inertial frame is constant. Thus, in this talk, the usual acceleration vector command is replaced by the thrust inclination scalar command. An autopilot that keeps the thrust inclination constant completes the guidance loop. The guidance law is based on the range, Line-Of-Sight (LOS) angle, and their derivatives. This is done without kinematics linearization. Simulations demonstrate the overall performances.