Some Aspects of Jettisoning Dynamics Related to Launch Vehicle.

The design of separation/jettisoning hardware for multistage launch vehicles is discussed and illustrated with drawings and diagrams, summarizing the results of simulations involving a 6-DOF trajectory (Biswas et al., 1984). The critical parameters for the respective separation types are determined to be as follows: retronozzle cant misalignment for retrorocket separation of large booster stages, spring stiffness variations (SSVs) for spring-thruster separation (STS) of nonspinning upper stages, SSVs and dynamic imbalance for STS of spinning upper stages, SSV and center-of-gravity offset for STS of payloads, aerodynamic moment for STS of strap-ons, spring location misalignment for STS of heat shields (in the coasting phase), and fairing structural vibration for zipcord separation of heat shields (in the thrust phase).