TABLE OF CONTENTS In Chapter 1 it was mentioned that a ballistic missile's trajectory is composed of three segments. Because of their importance, we will repeat them here in more detail for the reader's convenience. These segments are:
Powered Flight: The portion, which lasts from the time of launch to missile motor thrust cutoff or burnout and exit from the atmosphere (depending on cutoff altitude). The terms cutoff and burnout, as used in this book, define the conditions at the beginning of the free-fall, that is, the termination of powered flight. Therefore, they denote the initial conditions necessary to solve the differential equations of motion. More specifically, this is the flight through the atmosphere and extending into free space where the aerodynamic forces maybe neglected. During this portion of the flight, the greatest force acting on the vehicle is the thrust, which is derived from a rocket engine. The acceleration of the missile from this thrust is usually about 1.1 to 1.5 g's at liftoff; it increases as the mass of the vehicle decreases with fuel consumption and staging, until a final value in the range of 5 to 10 g's will be reached. At the time of cut-off (or burnout), the vehicle will have attained analtitude such that aerodynamic forces are no longer of major importance to the trajectory. However, the velocity and position of the vehicle must be controlled along the trajectory so as to limit the aerodynamic loading of the structure and to...
