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APOLLO SPACECRAFT CONTROL SYSTEMS
by Robert 0 , Chilton
NASA Manned Spacecraft Center
Houston, Texas, UIS, A.
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To be Presented at
The Symposium on Automatic Control in Peaceful Uses of Space
e,
Sponsored by the
International Federation of Automatic Control
Stavanger, Norway
June 21-24, 1965
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(CATEGORY)
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APOLIX) SPACECRAFT CONTROL SYS" S
by Robert G, Chilton
Deputy Chief,
Guidance and Control Division
NASA Manned Spacecraft Center
Houston, Texas
ABSTRACT
The overal l Apollo spacecraft configuration includes two separ-
ate manned spacecraft.
earth launch and reentry and ci sl unar f l i ght including lunar orbi t,
and the lunar excursion module designed f or the excursion from lunar
orbi t to the moon's surface and return. Each spacecraft has i ts own
independent guidance and control system. This paper describes the
Apollo spacecraft control systems including engine control and rocket
engine configurations f or atti tude control. TheApollo guidance sys-
tems are not discussed.
They are the command module designed f or
The purpose of thi s paper i s to describe the automatic control
systems employed for maintaining atti tude control over the Apollo
spacecraft. The Apollo spacecraft i s a modular design and i s de-
fi ned as that part of the Apollo space vehicle which sits atop the
Saturn launch vehicle and which is separated from the launch vehicle
after i nj ecti on i nto a translunar traj ectory, i n the case of a lunar
mission, or i nto an earth orbi t, i n the case of an earth-orbi tal mi s; -
sion,
at launch, Fig. 1 i l l ustrates the Apollo space vehicle, except for
most of the Saturn launch vehicle which has been deleted to show more
detai l of the spacecraft,
TheApollo space vehicle is defined as the total configuration-
The launch escape assembly houses a system of sol i d-fuel rockets
which is employed to separate the command module from the rest of the
space vehicle i f it is necessary to abort the mission during the,at-
mospheric phase of the launch traj ectory. The abort maneuver i s pas-
si vel y stabi l i zed, and no control system i s employed, I n normal mi s-
si ons, the launch escape assembly i s j etti soned after the space ve-
hi cl e ha6 l eft the atmosphere.
The command module houses the three-man crew during the enti re
misaion, except f or the excursion tri p from lunar orbi t to the moonls
surface and return which i e accompliehed with the lunar excursion
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module. The command module, which al so provides protection to the
crew against reentry heating and acceleration, has a system of mer-
gol i c rocket engines f or three-axis control during the fi nal earth
entry phase of the mission.
ule guidance and control system which includes the sensing devices,
el ectroni cs, displays, and controls which consti tute the automatic
and mandl control systems f or the spacecraft.
It al so houses the command-service mod-
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The kervice module houses the service propulsion system and the
major support elements f or providing environmental control and el ec-
tri cal parer f or the spacecraft, The service propulsion system in-
cludes a gimballed engine which provides the major vel oci ty correc-
ti ons f or changing the traj ectory af ter separation from the launch
vehicle, and a system of hypergolic rocket engines similar to those
on the command module f or providing three-axis atti tude control and
vernier transl ati onal control f or the spacecraft.
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The lunar excursion module (LEN) which houses a two-man crew
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separates from the command-service module (CSM) i n lunar orbi t for
the excursion tri p to the moon's surface and return.
a descent engine, which i s staged on the moon's surface, an ascent
engine, and a system of hypergolic rocket engines similar to those
on the CSM for threeaxi s atti tude control and vernier transl ati onal
control.
tem including sensors, el ectroni cs, displays, and controls.
The LE24 employs
The LEN has i ts own independent guidance and control sys-
The Saturn instrument uni t i s a part of the Saturn launch ve-
hi cl e and contains the Saturn guidance and control system which con-
trol s the space vehicle during al l the boost phases of the mission.
The guidance system i n the command mod7fie provides data to the crew
f or monitoring the performance of the Saturn guidance system.
command module system i s al so capable of providing the steeri ng si g-
nals to the Saturn control system as a back-up to the Saturn guidance
system.
mand module can al so provide atti tude control commands to the Saturn
control system,
and steeri ng interfaces of the command module system with the Saturn
system are discussed i n thi s paper.
The
While coasting i n earth parking orbi t the crew i n the com-
Neither the Saturn control system nor the monitoring
MI SSI ON PROFILF:
A summary of the several phases of the Apollo mission is shown
i n Fig. 2.
(1) under the control of the Saturn launch vehicle and i ts separate
guidance and control system as described above.
coasts f or one or more orbi ts (2) unti l the correct posi ti on for
launching i nto the transl unar traj ectory i s reached, Upon completion
of the transl unar i nj ecti on boost phase ( 3) , which is accomplished i n
the same manner as the earth orbi t injection, the CSM separates from
the space vehicle, rotates through 180, and docks with the LEMwhich
is sti l l attached to the last launch-vehicle stage. The CSM and UBI
The Apollo space vehicle is launched i nto earth orbi t
The space vehicle
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separate from the launch vehicle and continue the mission alone.
The necessity f or thi s procedure can be seen by comparing Fig. 1
which shows the rel ati ve position of CSM and LEM at the end of trans-
lunar i nj ecti on, and Fig, 5 which shows thei r posi ti on is readiness
f or the first midcourse correction maneuver which is to be executed
as soon as practi cal after injection,
engine provides the thrust f or that maneuver.
The CSM servi ce propulsion
A maximum of three midcourse maneuvers (4) is. planned pri or to
reaching the vi ci ni ty of the moon where the spacecraft i s i nserted
i nto a ci rcul ar orbi t around the moon ( 5) .
ber of orbi ts, the LE'Mwith a crew of two separates from the CSM and
maneuvers i nto a transfer orbi t (6) which w i l l take it near the
moon's surface. As the surface i s neared the descent engines are
started, and the f i nal powered descent and landing (7) i s made on
the surface of the moon. A t the prescribed time the LEM, using the
ascent engine, i s launched from the moon's surface (8) i nto a lunar
orbi t along an i ntercept traj ectory with the CSM.
ti onal maneuvers are performed ( 9 ) to bring the LE' Mi nto posi ti on
with the CSM so that docking can be accomplished.
After an appropriate nm-
One or more addi-
When the crew of three men has once again been assembled i n the
CSM, it i s separated from the I;EM and at the appropriate time i s in-
j ected i nto a transearth traj ectory (10) leaving the LIEN i n lunar
orbi t,
on the out-bound l eg and, fi nal l y, the command module i s separated
from the servi ce module and oriented f or entry i nto the earth's at-
mosphere (12). During the atmospheric entry phase the command module
i s stabi l i zed i n two axes and maneuvered about the rol l axi s i n order
to di rect the aerodynamic l i f t vector of the module i n sxch a way as
to achieve the desired landing si te on the earth's surface. When the
vel oci ty has been reduced to a low value and the module'is i n essen-
tially verti cal fal l , a parachute system i s deployed to achieve a
landing e
The necessary midcourse correction maneuvers are made (11) as
OVERALL BLOCK DIAGRAMS
The overal l guidance and control block diagram f or the CSM i s
shown i n Fig. 3 and that f or the LF51 i s shown i n Fig. 4.
development fl i ghts in earth orbi t wi l l be accomplished with the CSM
Biocic I config-urution ~hci a i i ~ Pig. 32.
the CSM including lunar missions w i l l f l y the Block I1 configuration
shown i n Fig. j b . The si mi l ari ty between the system concepts of the
LE34and CSM i s i l l ustrated i n Figs. 3b and 4. On the l ef t si de of
the diagrams are depicted the controls and displays which comprise
the i nterface between the crew and the automatic guidance and con-
tr ol systems. The displays f or the CSM and LEMare designed to pro-
vide spacecraft atti tude and rate information, vel oci ty information,
and other data tai l ored to the parti cul ar requirements of each space-
craft.
craft atti tude control by command inputs from the crew and a
The earl y
611 suhseyient f l i ghts of
Each spacecraft has a hand-controller for threelaxis space-
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hand-controller f or three-axis transl ati onal control of
craf t, There are several modes of control avai l abl e to
through these hand-controllers including attitude-hold,
and open-loop accel erati on control. No more detai l ed d
the displays and controls w i l l be given i n thi s paper.
the space-
the crew
rate-command,
scussions of
On the ri ght si de of the block diagram of both CSM and M are
depicted the engine controls and atti tude-control engines which are
the primary control elements f or accomplishing two general classes
of spacecraft maneuvers. These are ori entati on maneuvers i n coasting
f l i ght and steeri ng maneuvers i n powered fl i ght. I n addition, there
i s a speci al cl ass of maneuvering fl i ght i n the atmosphere i n which
ori entati on of the l i f t vector accomplishes the equiv l ent of steer-
ing the cormnand module to control the reentry traj ecto IY. The en-
gine configurations are the same f or CSM Block I and It, but the LEN
configuration i s somewhat di fferent eince the mission is dffferent
from that of the CSM. These w i l l be discussed i n more detail l ater
i n thi s paper.
The center porti on of the block diagrams f or CSM and LEM i n-
cludes the sensors, electronics, and computation necessary to close
the overal l guidance and control loops. I n the CSM Block I1 and the
LEMthere are two major systems, a primary guidance and control sys-
t em and a stabi l i zati on and control system which i s employed as a
secondary channel of control available to the crew.
up atti t' e reference the stabi l i zati on and control system is suffi-
ci ent to ~~110~ the crew, with assistance from ground control systems,
to bring the CSM safel y back to earth i n the event of primary gui-
dance and kontrol system failure, A n abort guidance system is re-
quired to provide steeri ng si gnal s to the stabi l i zati on and control
system f or the LEMto enable the crew to abort the descent to the
moon and steer back to the CSM i n case of fai l ure of the primary gui-
dance and control system.
Wi t h the back-
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The primary difference between CSM Block I and Block I1 i s that
\ Block I the two major systems are operated i n seri es and i n
Block I1 they are operated i n paral l el . I n the Block I configuration
shown i n Fig. 3, the stabi l i zati on and control system (SCS) performs
the primary control function, accepting steeri ng error commands from
the primary guidance system or fromthe crew control l ers and sending
si gnal s to the gimbal-drive electronics of the service-propulsion en-
gine and io sokroi d- zentrzl x d ~e a nf the reaction-control SYS-
tem. I n the Block I1 configuration shown i n Fig, 3by the primary
guidance system is expanded by increasing computer capabi l i ty to i n-
clude the stabi l i zati on and control function. The guidance computer
accepts inputs from the crew control l ers and sends si gnal s di rectl y
to the gimbal el ectroni cs for the service-propulsion engine and to
the driver-amplifiers f or the reaction-control solenoid valves.
SCS becomes a paral l el back-up system available to the crew.
l i nk between the primary guidance computer and the SCS retai ns the
option f or series operation of the two major systems. The remainder
of the paper i s concerned with the stabi l i zati on and control systems
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The
The
of the CSM and the LEM and with the engine control and atti tude-
control engine configurations. "he primary guidance and control
system is not discussed.
CONTROL CONFIGURATIONS
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In thi s section the right-hand portions of the overal l block
diagrams of Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 are discussed.
control elements for accomplishing spacecraft maneuvers.
employed with both the SCS and the primary guidance and control
system. Two cl asses of engines are discussed:
gines f or developing the thrust necessary f or accomplishing major
maneuvers f or changing the spacecraft traj ectory, and the small
reaction-control engines f or developing the control torques neces-
sary f or controlling the atti tude of the spacecraft,
module has I 2 reaction-control engines.
1 l arge rocket engine and 16 reaction-control engines. The LF51 has
2 l arge rocket engines, 1 for descent and 1 f or ascent, and
16 reaction-control engines.
LEM and service module are al so employed to obtain vernier trans-
l ati onal control.
These are the primary
They are
the main rocket en-
The command
The service module has
The reaction-control engines f or the
There are some general statements that can be made about the
engines before going i nto parti cul ar configurations.
gol i c rocket engines designed for mul ti pl e,starts.
hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxi de or variations thereof as f uel and
oxidlzer. A l l of the reaction-control engines are very similar i n
thrust l evel and other design features.
require speci ai attenti on with regard to cooling. The reaction-
control engines are solenoid-controlled to provide off-on thrust
control. The total of the hypergolic chemical reaction time and the
electro-mechanical response time of the solenoid valves and dri ver
is very short; therefore, very short control pulses can be obtained.
For thi s reason very good limit-cycle performance can be achieved i n
the control loops.
A l l are hy-per-
They employ
Those on the command module
In the remainder of thi s section the control configurations w i l l
be discussed f or the command-service module combination both with
and without the LFMattached, the command module alone, and the LE24
alone.
Command-Service Module Configuration - There are two CSM control
configurations, the CSM with LE24 attached (Fig. 3 ) and the CSM alone
(Fig. 6).
rocket engine for performing the major thrusti ng maneuvers and
16 small attitude-control engines which make up the reaction control
atti tude control, three-axis transl ati onal control for docking,
ul l age f or the servi ce propulsion system, and vernier control f or
midcourse corrections and separation of various stages.
trated i n Fig. 5 the reaction control system includes four hypergolic
As described above, the service module employs 1 l arge
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system, The reaction control system i s employed f or three-axis -_
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As i l l us-
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rocket engines i n a quad arrangement located at four stati ons around
the sides of the servi ce module.
gines are employed for three-axis atti tude control i n coasting
f l i ght, 1 The engines are normally fi red i n pai rs to produce control
couples 'i n pi tch, yaw, and rol l . There i s a redundant pai r of rol l
engines., A partially redundant control capabi l i ty exi sts f or the
pi tch an yaw axes si nce the engines can be employed si ngl y with
only min k r degradation i n performance,
Fig. \5b i l l ustrates the operation of the servi ce propulsion
Fig, 5a illustrates how the en-
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engine f or performing the major thrusting maneuvers such as lunar
orbi t i nserti on, transearth injection, and ci sl unar midcourse cor-
rections. This engine operates at constant thrust l evel and is
designed for multiple starts.
and controlled by electro-mechanical servo actuators to achieve
Bists of a constant speed motor driving a gear trai n and two
magnetic-particle clutches for driving the gimbals i n the posi ti ve
and negative directions.
and vel oci ty feedback for gimbal position control, There are two
complete servo loops f or each axi s to provide paral l el redundancy.
Roll control while thrusti ng is obtained from the servi ce module
reacti on control system as i l l ustrated i n Fig. 5b. Two rol l en-
gi nes are shown operating, but al l four roll engines may be operated
at the option of the crew.
use of only one rol l engine when desired,
when taking navigation sighting6 under conditions of low i nerti a,
I n pi tch and yaw a speci al sequence is followed when a thrust maneu-
ver i s i ni ti ated. The pi tch and yaw reaction control engines are
disabled 1 second af ter i gni ti on of the service propulsion engine
to prevent transi ents during thrust buildup and to conserve fuel .
The gimbal servo-actuators are turned off 1 second after engine
cutoff to prevent transi ents during thrust decay.
The engine assembly is gimbal-mounted
\pi tch and yaw control while thrusting, The gimbal dri ve servo con-
The servo loop incorporates both posi ti on
Special provisions w i l l al so allow the
The need f or thi s occurs
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Fi g. 6 i l l ustrates the operation of the reaction control system
For trans-
to achieve three-&is transl ati onal control,
ated i n pai rs i n order not to induce disturbing moments.
l ati on along the longitudinal axi s, ei ther two or four engines can
be employed at the option of the crew. There i s no redundancy af-
forded f or lateral transl ati on except by rol l i ng through 90".
The engines are oper-
Command Module Configuration - Fig. 7 lllusti26kS thz emfi g-
urati on of reaction control engines required to provide three-axis
atti tude stabi l i zati on and control f or the command module. Two com-
pl etel y independent systems are provided f or paral l el redundancy.
The center of gravi ty of the command module i s off-set from the axi s
of symmetry to cause the reentry body to assume an aerodynamic t r i m
angle wi th the rel ati ve wind.
control the reentry traj ectory so that the desired landing si te can
be reached,
spacecraft during reentry. When the lift is di rected downward, the
traj ectory steepens; when it i a directed upward, the traj ectory
The resul ti ng l i f t i s employed to
This is achieved by controlling the rol l angle of the
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becomes shallow, and ri ght and l ef t rol l angle causes the traj ectory
to curve i n that direction.
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Because the command module i s at a constant angle of attack
with respect to the rel ati ve wind, one si de of the module exper-
iences much more heating and is unsuitable f or locating control en-
gines.
of the conical section of the module.
control couples.
gines without introducing excessive i nter-axi s coupling,
As sham i n Fig. 7 they are al l located i n the upper half
It i s very di ffi cul t to position the rocket en-
No attempt i s made to provide
IXM Descent Configuration - The LEM descent configuration il-
l ustrated i n Fig. 8 employs a single hypergolic engine f or achieving
the necessary thrust f or the descent and landing maneuver.
gine is throttl e-control l ed over a wide range of thrust to allow the
capabi l i ty f or hovering above the surface of the moon.
thi s engine is gimbal-mounted, as i n the case of the servi ce module,
the gimbal actuators are very di fferent,
gimbal actuators are employed only as a rel ati vel y slow-acting trim
loop. The main control loop i s closed, uti l i zi ng the small
rocket engines of the IEM reaction control system, The gimbal act-
uators are screwjacks driven by a reversible constant-speed motor
which is operated i n an off-on mode.
The en-
Although
The LEN descent-engine
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The LEN reaction control system (Fig. 8) i s made up of four
sets of engines fixed to the spacecraft with four engines at each
location.
the spacecraft axes.
axi s atti tude control.
couples are available for each axis.
pai rs may be selected to provide double control authority. The
method of providing transl ati onal control while i n the hovering
condition i s to tilt the spacecraft by means of the atti tude con-
trol system,
the descent engine thrust i n the desired di recti on which i s stopped
by returning to verti cal and reversed by ti l ti ng i n the opposite
di recti on.
The engines are located on axes rotated 45O i n rol l from
They are operated as control couples f or three-
As can be seen in Fig. 8 two pai rs of control
A t the option of the crew, both
This produces a l ateral component of accel erati on from
LED4 Ascent Configuration - The LEMascent configuration i l l us-
trated i n Fig. 9 employs a single rocket engine of constant thrust
f or achieving the launch ascent. The engine i s fixed, and atti tude
control i s obtained by tile i-eattior zoztrsl system 2s rlescrthed for
the descent configuration. The control power i s suffi ci ent without
the necessity f or the main engine t r i m feature. I n the ascent con-
fi gurati on, atti tude control is obtained as i n the descent config-
urati on except that al l of the engines pointing upward are disabled.
This allows al l the downward-firing engines to augment the ascent
thrust. The fuel saving for ascent propulsion more than offsets the
extra fuel burned as a result of cross-coupling which thi s i ntro-
duces. I n case of failure of an engine, normal operation i s resumed.
Fig. 9 illustrates how the samereacti on control system is employed
for three-axis transl ati onal control to achieve fi nal rendezvous and
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docking with the command module.
sameas that employed f or the CSM.
The operation i s essenti al l y the
SCS FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION
I n thi s section the SCS systems of the CSM and L@M are dis-
The general requirements f or both systems ar8, the same. cussed.
Attitude control i s required under conditions of l arge disturbance
torques (during thrusti ng maneuvers ); atti tude control i s required
under conditions of very small disturbance torques (during coasting
fl i ght); provisions are required f or accurate control (narrow dead
band) to meet certai n maneuver requirements (for example, LEM atti -
tude control while main engine i s thrusting); provisions are re-
quired f or coarse control (wide dead band) to provide stabi l i zati on
economically f or long periods of time; provisions are required to
achieve the ultimate capabi l i ty of the reaction control engines to
del i ver a small impulse i n order to assure that limit-cyc;le periods
during 40% duration coasting fl i ghts are economical; and provisions
are required f or control to be exercised by the crew under various
conditions of automatic assistance by stabi l i zati on loops, However,
the configurations of the spacecraft, the engine configurations and
the missions are di fferent, and the SCS mechanizations to meet these
requirements are di fferent f or each spacecraft.
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Before describing the individual systems some remarks are i n
order concerning the design of space stabi l i zati on systems employing
reacti on control engines which operate i n an off-on mode. The char-
gcteri zi ng feature of such a system is that a l arge dynamic range
is required, Control f or maneuvering and control against rel ati vel y
l arge disturbance torques require a high gain or effecti ve control
power.
i n the presence of extremely small disturbances requires small ver-
ni er control capability.
control l ogi c which provides off-on control i n the cl assi cal sense
when l arge control gain i s required and which meters out smal l con-
trol impulses to achieve low-rate l i mi t cycles i n the presence of
small errors. A s stated previously the Apollo reacti on control en-
gines have a very short response time permitting low impulse opera-
ti on. Therefore attenti on to the control l ogi c has large potenti al
benefi t to the system operation.
ployed i n the CSM and LEN to achieve essenti al l y the same resui t.
Elach transforms the input si gnal to a seri es of width and frequency-
modulated pulses which dri ve the solenoid control ci rcui try. I n the
CSM the technique i s cal l ed pseudo-rate logic; i n the I ;EMit i s
cal l ed pulse-ratio modulation.
scri bed i n more detai l i n the paragraphs to follow.
/
To provide economical long-term limit-cycle stabi l i zati on
It i s desirable, therefore, to employ a
Two di fferent pri nci pl es are em-
These two techniques w i l l be de-
- CSM - The SCS functional diagram f or the CSM is i l l ustrated i n
Fig, 10.
the servi ce propulsion gimbal drive actuators are functionally in-
dependent.
The control loops f or the reaction control engines and f or
The latter is cal l ed the thrust-vector control loop
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since it i s employed for al l major thrusti ng ma euvers.
mode for thrust vector control, as illustrated 7 i the lower hal f of
Fig. 10, has the loop closed to hold a constant atti tude i n space.
A manual gimbal trimcapabi l i ty is provided to aline the engine
thrust axi s with the estimated position of the spacecraft center-
of-gravity pri or to i ni ti ati ng thrust, Rate gyro feedback i s em-
ployed, and f i l teri ng and gain adjustment are provided to accommodate
the l arge differences i n i nerti a and bending frequencies between the
configuration with LEMattached and CSM alone.
i ntegrated and summed with the atti tude error i n order to reduce the
error i n pointing the thrust vector which resul ts from lateral
shi f ts of the center-of-gravity.
intierest of simplicity since it is a back-up mode,
&&e and control steeri ng loop is not subject to thi s error.
ti on\
thi s loop employing vi sual reference ei ther by di rect control of the
gimbal-drive servo loop or with assistance by closing the rate gyro
feedback loop.
The primary
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Gi mbal posi ti on i s
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This technique is employed i n the
The primary gui-
The
& inputs from the atti tude control l er the crew can control
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gimbal-drive actuator servo loop was described i n a precious sec-
i
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The reaction-control engine loop i s i l l ustrated i n the upper
hal f of Fig, 10.
vided i n the samemanner as i n the thrust-vector control loop.
rate i n the i nterest of f uel economy. The output of the atti tude
control l er is limited f or the same reason when the crew exercises
manual control. The atti tude dead band is sel ectabl e at ei ther
k5' or f1/2'. The switching amplifier and pseudo-rate l ogi c pro-
vide an off-on pulse to the engine-select logic i n response to the
analog error si gnal input. The pri nci pl e of operation of pseudo-
rate l ogi c i s i l l ustrated i n Fig. 11. This technique, sometimes
Attitude error and rate ~ y r o feedback are pro-
' atti tude error i s limited i n order to l i mi t the maximummaneuver
The
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cal l ed derived-rate increment stabi 1i zati onl L I , has been employed i n
other space stabi l i zati on applications.
switching amplifier controls the thrust of the reaction control en-
gines and, therefore, i n an idealized system, i s proportional to ve-
hi cl e angular acceleration. When thi s si gnal i s feed back through
the l ag network, the feedback i n a short period sense i s proportional
to angular rate, hence the name pseudo or derived rate. The gain and
t i me constant of the l ag network are sel ected to provide the desired
si gnal f or an average spacecraft i nerti a. When the switching ampli-
f-iar is closed. the feedback si gnal builds up unti l , through the
hysteresis loop of the dead band, it is opened again, ii-ledoy- shtipiiig
the pulse to the solenoid control valve,
t o obtain the desired thrust impulse f or l i mi t cycling.
entry and during manual maneuvers the pseudo-rate feedback is
switched out to prevent an overdamped response.
The on-off output of the
The hysteresi s loop i s set
During re-
(l)Superior numbers refer to si mi l ar l y numbered references at
the end of thi s paper.
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The control pulse enters the engine sel ect l ogi c which al so
accepts signals from the transl ati on controller. The function of
the l ogi c is primarily to provide i sol ati on of the j et dri ver ci r-
cui ts to prevent undesirable el ectri cal i nteracti on. The solenoid
dri vers apply a fi xed voltage to the engine control solenoid valves,
The ci rcui t i s designed to suppress inductive spikes at turn-off,
The solenoid control valves of both command module and servi ce mod-
ul e reacti on control system have a primary and a secondary coi l .
The primary coi l provides the normal driving force.
coi l s are connected di rectl y to the transl ati on and atti tude con-
trol l ers and are powered from the battery bus.
The secondary
- LEM - The SCS functional diagram for the LEMis illustrated i n
Fig, 12.
error and rate gyro feedback,
same reason as stated f or the CSM, The loop error i s introduced to
a separate assembly mounted on the descent stage,
descent-engine gimbal t r i m function which i s l eft with that stage
when the LEN i s launched from the moon. The t r i m function was de-
scribed i n an earl i er section. As i n the case of the CSM, the LEM
SCS rovides a narrow dead band and a wide dead band.
g
*0.3 and f?', respectively.
The loop i s closed i n a conventional manner about atti tude
The atti tude error i s l i mi ted for the
This i s the
They are
The combinational l ogi c f or the LEN provides, i n addition to
the i sol ati on function of the CSM engine logic, the necessary l ogi c
ci rcui try to sel ect the proper combination of engines to be fired
to achieve the desired torque.
45" engine configuration described earl i er, Each engine i s capable
of producing torques about two axes. The combinational l ogi c sel ects
the desired engines to perform ei ther rotati on or transl ati on about
any axi s without fi ri ng opposing 'engines. Fromthe combinational
l ogi c the si gnal goes to the pulse-ratio modulator which produces
the off-on control si gnal s which drive the solenoid control valves.
The solenoid dri vers and control valves work i n the same fashion as
described for the CSM except that the transl ati on control l er i s not
connected to the secondary coi l s of the solenoid valves.
gency transl ati on feature i s provided i n the posi ti ve longitudinal
di recti on only and i s controlled from a panel switch.
This is required because of the
This emer-
The pulse-ratio modulator ( PRM) i s so named because the input
si gnal control s the duty rati o of the pulse trai n(2).
performance can be similar t o t-hat obtained from pi70j+i-tiGnd CGE-
trol . Fig. 13 i l l ustrates the switching characteri sti cs of the FSM
i n comparison with off-on control. PRM introduces an interim range
of values of atti tude error between that required to exceed the
dead band and that required f or f ul l "on" control.
characteri sti c gives a proportional relationship between duty rati o
and atti tude error, The PRMf or the LEN SCS has a non-linear char-
acteri sti c.
duty rati o varies nonlinearly with attitude error making the tran-
si ti on from small infrequent pulses to f ul l off-on over a small range
The resul ti ng
The linear PRM
PRMperformance f or LEN i s i l l ustrated i n F i g . 14. The
11
a -
of errors.
The maxi mumpul se f requency i s l ess t han 6 pul ses per second i n t he
i nt erest of reduci ng t he number of cycl es f or t he sol enoi d val ves.
The mi ni mumpul se wi dth i s approxi mat el y 10 mi l l i seconds.
CONCLUSI ONS
Thi s paper has descri bed i n some det ai l t he engi ne cont rol s and
at t i t ude- cont rol engi nes whi ch are t he pri mary cont rol el ement s f or
accompl i shi ng t he maneuvers requi red of t he Apol l o spacecraf t . The
st abi l i zat i on and cont rol l oops f or t he command- servi ce modul e and
t he l unar excursi on modul e have al so been descri bed.
compri se t he back- up met hod of provi di ng cont rol t o t he crewf or r e-
t urni ng saf el y t o eart h i n t he event of f ai l ure of t he pri mary gui -
dance and cont rol system.
These l oops
NOMENCLATURE
CCW
CSM
CW
LE24
K
m
scs
T
count ercl ockwi se
command and servi ce modul e combi nat i on
cl ockwi se
l unar excursi on modul e
gai n
pul se- rat i o modul at i on
st abi l i zat i on and cont rol system
t i me const ant
REFERENCES
(1) Ni ckhs, J . C. and Vi vi an, H. C. , Deri ved- Rat e I ncrement
St abi l i zat i on :
Probl em, J et Propul si on I aborat ory, Cal i f orni a I nst i t ut e
of Technol ogy, Pasadena, Cal i f orni a, Techni cal Report
I ts Appl i cat i on to t he At t i t ude- Cont rol
( 2 )
Schaef er, - R. A, , A NewPul se Modul at or f or Accurat e D. C.
Ampl i f i cat i on wi t h Li near or Nonl i near Devi pes, IRE Trans-
act i ons on I nst rument at i on, Vol ume 1-11, No.\ 2, Sept. 1962,
'*
-- .
- _ -
PP. 34-47.
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NASA-S-65-2496
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