Model-based system-level health management for reusable launch vehicles

The next generation of reusable launch vehicles are expected to radically reduce the cost of accessing space thus enabling a broad range of endeavors including the commercialization of space and further manned exploration of the inner solar system. A reduction in operational costs requires more sophisticated techniques for monitoring and controlling the vehicle while in flight and techniques to streamline the ground processing of the vehicle. For both tasks, it is often necessary to synthesize information obtained from multiple subsystems to detect and isolate both hard failures and degraded component performance.