Gyroscope automatic control technology has been used until now. All ballistic missiles, launch vehicles, fighter jets, bombers, airliners, and drones need to be equipped with gyroscopes. Without this device, automatic flight control and navigation cannot be realized. Let's focus on the gyro automatic control principle of the launch vehicle. After reading this article, you can understand why the rocket does not crook after launch.
Whether it is a ballistic missile or a rocket, they are all carrier rockets. For example, my country's Long March series of carrier rockets, their technical foundation is improved from the "Dongfeng" series of ballistic missiles. The requirement for ballistic missiles is to be able to accurately hit the target, and the requirement for rockets is to be able to accurately deliver the spacecraft to orbit, so they must be able to complete the entire flight process like a manned aircraft and reach the destination accurately.
Therefore, before the rocket is launched, people need to formulate a flight path for the rocket according to the delivery destination, and then design the flight attitude control program according to the path, and then input these programs into the rocket control system.
The picture above shows the nozzles of a single-chamber multi-push rocket engine of a large launch vehicle. When the rocket needs to turn left, the power of the two nozzles on the left will be reduced, while the power of the two nozzles on the right will remain the same, so that it can turn left.
For example, during the launch stage, you need to fly straight for 14 kilometers, turn westward at 22 degrees after reaching 17 kilometers, throw the booster after 30 kilometers, separate the first and second stages after 50 kilometers, throw the fairing after 100 kilometers, and throw the second stage after 140 kilometers. The rocket adjusted its flight attitude. After 200 kilometers, the satellite and rocket were separated, and the satellite was fine-tuned into orbit.
The whole process is completely sensed by the gyroscope, the program control system is used to issue instructions, and the rocket flight system is used to adjust the flight attitude. For example, "turn west 22 degrees", the turning command is issued by the program control system. When the altitude reaches 17 kilometers, the gyroscope starts to deflect 22 degrees, and the rocket engine realizes the change of the rocket's flight attitude by adjusting the power of the nozzle.
If during the flight, the gyroscope does not deflect, but the rocket's flight attitude is skewed, then the rocket nozzle will also correct the flying rocket to return to the correct flight attitude through power adjustment. That's why vertical rockets don't crooked after launch, a technique called "vertical launch."
The picture above is a close-up of the nozzle of the rocket engine of the anti-aircraft missile. Since it uses a single-chamber single-spray solid fuel, it cannot turn by adjusting the power of the nozzle. Therefore, it is necessary to set four air rudders on the nozzle, and realize the flame by changing the deflection angle of the air rudder. Jet direction, and then realize missile maneuvering.
In addition to the application of vertical launch technology to launch vehicles and ballistic missiles, modern ship-borne/land-based air defense missiles, anti-ship missiles, anti-tank missiles and even long-range rockets have all been used. The core factor for them to achieve automatic attitude control is the gyroscope. Gyroscope technology is also widely used in civilian fields, the most common of which is mobile phones.
You can think about this question: Why when we use the mobile phone to watch movies and TV dramas in full screen, no matter how we turn the mobile phone, the video always automatically adjusts the positive image to face us, instead of turning the mobile phone to reflect it? The answer is that there is a gyroscope chip integrated in the mobile phone. When we select the "auto-rotate" function of the mobile phone, the gyroscope chip will be activated, so that the image can be automatically controlled according to the posture of the mobile phone to always be positive.
As far as this principle is concerned, it is the same as the principle that a rocket will not fly crookedly. The difference is that the gyroscope used to control the rocket is more expensive and more complicated.
