VSB-30 sounding rocket: history of flight performance
doi: 10.5028/jatm.2011.03032211

Alexandre Garcia*
Institute of Aeronautics and Space
São José dos Campos/SP – Brazil
alexandregarciaag@iae.cta.br

Sidney Servulo Cunha Yamanaka
Institute of Aeronautics and Space
São José dos Campos/SP – Brazil
sidneysscy@iae.cta.br

Alexandre Nogueira Barbosa
Institute of Aeronautics and Space
São José dos Campos/SP – Brazil
nogueiraanb@iae.cta.br

Francisco Carlos Parquet Bizarria
Institute of Aeronautics and Space
São José dos Campos/SP– Brazil
bizarriafcpb@iae.cta.br

Wolfgang Jung
German Aerospace Center
Oberpfaffenhofen – Germany
wolfgang.jung@dlr.de

Frank Scheuerpflug
German Aerospace Center
Oberpfaffenhofen – Germany
frank.scheuerpflug@dlr.de

*author for correspondence

Abstract:
The VSB-30 vehicle is a two-stage, unguided, rail launched sounding rocket, consisting of two solid propellant motors, payload, with recovery and service system. By the end of 2010, ten vehicles had already been launched, three from Brazil (Alcântara) and seven from Sweden (Esrange). The objective of this paper is to give an overview of the main characteristics of the first ten flights of the VSB-30, with emphasis on performance and trajectory data. The circular 3σ dispersion area for payload impact point has around 50 km of radius. In most launchings of such vehicle, the impact of the payload fell within 2 sigma. This provides the possibility for further studies to decrease the area of dispersion from the impact point.

Keywords:

VSB-30, Sounding rocket, Trajectory, Performance.

J. Aerosp.Technol. Manag., São José dos Campos, Vol.3, No.3, pp. 325-330, Sep. - Dec., 2011
Received: 30/05/11
Accepted: 23/09/11