Proposal of Frictional Dampers for Landing Legs’ Absorbers and Quick Review of Dropping Tests

Abstract

This paper proposes frictional dampers as new absorbers for landing legs of reusable launch vehicle. At first benefits of frictional dampers compared with other mechanism is discussed. Next characteristics of a certain frictional damper are investigated by drop-weight tests. Landing legs of certain reusable vehicle using the frictional dampers are designed based on the drop-weight test results. At last the design of the legs and frictional dampers are verified by drop tests of the whole vehicle. The test results of damper stroke are different from estimation based on rigid body, and modification considering elasticity of the vehicle improves the estimation.