2018 Volume 3 Pages 27-29
A multi-parabola thruster was proposed to suppress rotational moments during generation of centering feedback forces when an incident beam has lateral offset. A computational fluid dynamics simulation was conducted to reproduce blast wave propagations and evaluate the lateral and angular impulses. The centering feedback force of the multi-parabola thruster decreased in comparison with the lightcraft because negative pressure waves were repeatedly reflected between the cowl and central body. However, the angular impulse of the multi-parabola thruster became 1/25 of the lightcraft because symmetry of the vehicle shape was maintained on the surface that the blast wave contacted. There is possibility that a stable beam-riding flight is maintained for a longer time by utilizing the multi-parabola thruster proposed by us.
