News Article

Engineering professor to receive Mechanics and Control of Flight Award

 

Ames, Iowa—Ping Lu, professor of aerospace engineering at Iowa State University, has been selected to receive the 2008 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Mechanics and Control of Flight Award.

The award recognizes Lu for his significant contributions in advanced guidance algorithms for entry and ascent flight. He will receive the award at the 2008 AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, in August.

“This is such a great honor – the Mechanics and Control of Flight Award is arguably the most recognized award in aerospace control and guidance community,” said Lu. “Many of the past recipients have been towering figures in their fields. It is both humbling and gratifying to be among their ranks.”

Lu has been working on projects for NASA and the U.S. Air Force, including research for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) that will replace the Space Shuttle when it is decommissioned in 2010. NASA requires the capsule-shaped CEV to be able to land within five kilometers of a designated target. Lu’s high-precision guidance algorithms will help accurately steer winged spacecraft like the shuttle or capsule spacecraft like the CEV during their complex re-entry flight and landing.

He is also developing closed-loop optimal ascent guidance algorithms. Such algorithms enable the launch vehicles’ guidance control systems to repeatedly compute the optimal ascent trajectory based on actual conditions as the vehicle climbs through the atmosphere. Previously, launch vehicles depended on open-loop guidance, which meant engineers had to base the optimal ascent trajectory on data available prior to launch. The new capability is essential for rapid launch missions and will allow the onboard guidance system to adapt more readily to contingencies, system failure, and unplanned events during the mission.

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