Postflight Dynamics of the BOLT-1B Flight Experiment

The BOLT-1B flight experiment, a joint development of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), was successfully launched on September 2, 2024. As the successor to BOLT-1A, its goal was to acquire in-flight boundary-layer transition measurements during hypersonic flight. This paper compares the preflight prediction models of BOLT-1B with the actually achieved trajectory. From a flight dynamics perspective, the unique, reflection-symmetric design of the BOLT-1B payload required detailed stability analyses prior to flight. The achieved flight profile was well in line with the anticipated trajectories, except for exceeding the simulated roll rate. This paper presents some possible reasons for this. The postflight trajectory analysis furthermore focuses on the agreement between the pre- and postflight Monte Carlo trajectory predictions and the actual flight-measured performance.