Rocket Fairing Recovery via Aerodynamic Guide and Aircraft Towing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing recovery methods for rocket fairings, which involve falling into seawater, face significant difficulties due to low maneuverability of marine receiving ships, making reuse challenging.
Innovation Solution
A recovery system comprising a guide structure with rudder and canard wings, a tow device connected via an abutting joint structure, and a soft-landing airbag that allows the fairing to be controlled and towed to a land-based recovery area, where it can glide and land safely, reducing impact forces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the fairing is recovered by falling into seawater and using a marine receiving ship, then the impact force during landing is buffered, but the recovery difficulty increases due to low maneuverability of the marine receiving ship and long immersion time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a guide structure (including rudder and canard wings) as an intermediary device between the fairing and the recovery environment. This guide structure enables active control of the fairing's flight trajectory and attitude, transforming the passive seawater impact recovery into an active controlled gliding recovery, thereby resolving the contradiction between impact buffering and recovery ease
Solution Approach 2:
The fairing is equipped with self-contained control systems including the guide structure with rudder and canard wings, and an airbag system for soft landing. These self-service capabilities allow the fairing to control its own descent and landing without requiring highly maneuverable marine receiving ships, significantly easing the recovery operation
2Duration of action of moving object
If the fairing immersion time in seawater is very short, then the fairing can be reused, but the recovery becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the seawater impact absorption mechanism with an airbag-based soft landing system. This substitution allows the fairing to achieve controlled land-based recovery with minimal immersion time, enabling reuse while simplifying recovery operations through the guide structure's active trajectory control
3Reliability
If a marine receiving ship is used for salvage, then the fairing can be recovered from seawater, but the ship's low maneuverability reduces recovery efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The guide structure serves as an intermediary that enables the fairing to perform controlled gliding flight and precision landing on land. This eliminates the need for marine receiving ships entirely, thereby resolving the contradiction between recovery capability and recovery efficiency by achieving both through land-based recovery
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables smooth and controlled recovery of rocket fairings on land, overcoming the limitations of offshore recovery by using an aircraft to tow and stabilize the fairing, allowing for precise landing and reducing the complexity and cost associated with offshore salvage.
Implementation Method 1
the guide structure includes a rudder and canard wings arranged on the rocket fairing... controlling, by a guide structure, a flight track of a fairing in a landing recovery process
Implementation Method 2
the soft-landing structure includes an airbag, the airbag being arranged on the fairing, and after being inflated, the airbag being located under the fairing in a flight attitude... the airbag to be inflated and opened... enabling, by a soft-landing structure, the fairing to glide on the ground for landing, wherein the soft-landing structure buffers an impact force on the fairing
Implementation Method 3
the tow device includes an aircraft and an abutting joint structure, the aircraft being configured to be connected to the fairing through the abutting joint structure... the aircraft tows the fairing to fly toward a preset area
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4
AI summary
The present invention provides a recovery system and method for a rocket fairing, relating to the technical field of rocket fairing recovery. The recovery system for a rocket fairing comprises a guide structure, a tow device and a soft-landing structure, wherein the guide structure comprises a rudder and canard wings arranged on a fairing; the tow device comprises an aircraft and an abutting joint structure, the aircraft being configured to be connected to the fairing through the abutting joint structure; and the soft-landing structure comprises an airbag, the airbag being arranged on the fairing, and after being inflated, the airbag being located under the fairing in a flight attitude. In the recovery system for a rocket fairing of the present invention, the guide structure is used to control the flight track of the fairing at a high altitude, the aircraft is used to tow the fairing at a low altitude so that the fairing glides toward a designated landing area, and the soft-landing structure is used to enable the fairing to glide on land and buffer an impact force of the fairing so that the fairing can be recovered smoothly, thereby reducing the difficulty of fairing recovery.