Advanced Pintle-Controlled Motor with Thrust Vector Control

The development of a motor combining a pintle-controlled nozzle with gimbaled supersonic splitline thrust vector control (TVC) was undertaken in an effort to exploit the increased performance flexibility of a rocket system which is offered by thrust magnitude and thrust vector control. That is, the ability to perform widely different duty cycles, maneuvers, or fly different trajectories. The major objective is to demonstrate the effectiveness of a controllable solid-propelled rocket motor which features variable thrust, attitude control, and high propulsion efficiency. To date, three half-duration motors have been static-fired, two at sea level and one which contained a thrust vector control system at simulated altitude. Although each of these preliminary tests experienced some difficulty, several of the major design objectives were successfully demonstrated.