GPS Alternatives for Reentry

In Phase I, SpaceWorks Enterprises, Inc. conducted an extensive Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) and selected a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)-aided INS solution to meet the Navy SSPÆs requirements for a GPS alternative for reentry (see the Phase I Final Report for an overview of this solution). The proposed MachSAR system was able to improve position and velocity prediction accuracy by 100x compared to an Inertial Navigation System (INS)-only Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) system for a 15-minute boost glide reentry vehicle trajectory that reached speeds of Mach 12. Ā In Phase II, SpaceWorks with subcontractor Aloft Sensing, will refine the MachSAR navigation model with complete and refined requirement inputs from the Navy Strategic Systems Program (SSP), update the design for vehicle-specific integration while optimizing on Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP), and advance the MachSAR design for the NavyÆs vehicle of interest to critical design level. SpaceWorks will also manufacture representative system components into a scaled prototype architecture of the MachSAR and conduct checkout, laboratory, and ground testing to prepare the prototype for flight test. Finally, SpaceWorks will advance the MachSAR prototype to Technology Readiness Level (TRL)-5 through high-speed real-world testing on a Phoenix Air Gulfstream at 400 knots over various ground and sea terrains. Ā To advance the MachSAR design, SpaceWorks will leverage our 20 years of company experience in hypersonic vehicle development, reentry capsule production & flight testing, trajectory and aerodynamics computation modeling of high-fidelity aerospace systems, and novel avionics system / software development. SpaceWorks has experience analyzing various high-speed weapon and Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) systems for several Department of Defense (DoD) contractors, and maintains a cleared facility capable of processing classified information. Recent reentry and hypersonic flight vehicle hardware development efforts include our flagship program, the Generation Orbit X-60 hypersonic flight test vehicle and high-altitude testing of our Low Earth Orbit (LEO) payload return reentry devices (RED Capsules).