H-IIA rocket range safety - GPS application

The National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) is developing a GPS receiver for its H-IIA rocket. The GPS is used for the H-IIA rocket to measure its position and velocity on the trajectory. Navigation solutions of GPS are used for the primary data source of range safety for the downrange area. Therefore the onboard GPS equipment is designed to be independent of the vehicle guidance and control system. The existing radars are also used as the data source of range safety for the uprange area. The first H-IIA rocket is scheduled to be launched from Tanegashima Space Center (Fig.1) in summer 2001. The implementation of GPS will lead to greater flexibility at lower operation costs. Requirement specification, system analyses and implementation of the GPS receiver for the H-IIA rocket is presented in this paper.