- From 8 September–1 October 2026 (4 Weeks, 8 Classes, 16 Total Hours)
- Every Tuesday and Thursday at 1–3 p.m. Eastern Time (all sessions will be recorded and available for replay; course notes will be available for download)
- All students will receive an AIAA Certificate of Completion at the end of the course
- This course provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in next-generation missiles and hypersonic vehicles, with a focus on the guidance and control challenges of these advanced flight vehicles.
- It also includes a variety of G&C design examples for advanced missiles and hypersonic vehicles, enhancing the learning experience.
- All students will receive a MATLAB software toolbox employing the numerical predictor-corrector guidance algorithm and its variants, as applied to atmospheric entry & descent guidance of hypersonic vehicles.
This course is intended for GN&C engineers/researchers, flight dynamics and control engineers, aerospace defense professionals, and graduate students, who are interested in a comprehensive overview of guidance, control, and flight dynamics of advanced missiles and hypersonic vehicles. It provides a variety of numerical examples of G&C analysis, design, and simulation of missiles and hypersonic vehicles, including atmospheric entry & descent vehicles and endoatmospheric space-based interceptors.
KEY COURSE TOPICS
- G&C overview for next-generation missiles, hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs), hypersonic cruise missiles (HCMs),endoatmospheric space-based interceptors (SBIs),etc.
- The basic physical concepts and mathematical/computational tools required for the flight dynamic modeling, analysis, design, and simulation of G&C systems of advanced missiles and hypersonic vehicles
- Nonlinear 3-DOF and 6-DOF equations of motion for missiles and hypersonic flight vehicles
- A variety of missile guidance laws and hypersonic entry & descent guidance algorithms
- Numerical case studies of guidance and control design problems for Mars ED&L missions, historic Apollo 10 reentry, lateral evasive maneuvering of HGVs, and endoatmospheric SBIs
- MATLAB software toolbox that employs the numerical predictor-corrector guidance algorithm and its variants
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This course is
intended for GN&C engineers/researchers, flight dynamics and control engineers,
aerospace defense professionals, and graduate students, who want to enhance
their basic understanding of G&C and flight dynamics of advanced missiles
and hypersonic vehicles.
COURSE FEES (Sign-In
To Register)
- AIAA
Member Price: $995 USD
-
AIAA Student Member Price: $495 USD
- Non-Member Price: $1,195 USD
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OUTLINE
1. Introduction (2 hrs)
1.1 Introduction to Hypersonic Weapons
1.2 Recent Advances in Next-Gen Missiles
1.3 Historical Overview of Hypersonic Vehicles
1.4 Guidance & Control Summary
2. Missile Guidance (2 hrs)
2.1 Overview of Missile G&C Systems
2.2 PN Guidance and Its Variants
2.3 Q-Guidance and Lambert Guidance
2.4 Optimal Feedback Guidance
2.5 ZEM/ZEV Feedback Guidance and Its Variants
2.6 ZEM/ZEV Guidance vs Apollo Guidance
2.7 Advanced Missile Guidance
3. Missile Flight Control (2 hrs)
3.1 Missile Flight Control Design
3.2 Thrust Vector Control of Rockets/Missiles
4. Hypersonic Flight Control (2 hrs)
4.1 State-Space Models of Hypersonic Aircraft/Missiles
4.2 Flight Control Design for Hypersonic Vehicles
4.3 Flight Control Systems of Hypersonic Vehicles
4.4 Flight Dynamics & Control Summary
5. Numerical Predictor-Corrector Guidance (2 hrs)
5.1 Introduction to Atmospheric Entry & Descent
5.2 Overview of NPCG Toolbox 2026
5.3 3-DOF Entry & Descent Guidance Problem
5.4 Entry & Descent Guidance Algorithms
5.5 Entry Guidance Design for Mars Missions
6. Hypersonic ED&L for Mars Missions (2 hrs)
6.1 Mars Robotic Mission (Case Study #1)
6.2 Mars Human Mission (Case Studies #2 and #3)
6.3 Powered Descent & Landing Guidance for Mars Missions
7. Hypersonic Reentry of Apollo 10 (2 hrs)
7.1 Historical Overview of Apollo 10 Reentry
7.2 Apollo 10 Reentry Guidance Redesign (Case Study #4)
8. Hypersonic Entry, Descent & Impact Guidance (2 hrs)
8.1 Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGVs)
8.2 CAV Entry & Descent Guidance (Case Study #5)
8.3 HTV-2 Entry & Descent Guidance (Case Study #6)
8.4 Lateral Evasive Guidance of HGVs (Case Study #7)
8.5 Hypersonic Missile Intercept Guidance
INSTRUCTOR
Bong Wie is Professor Emeritus of Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State University. He holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering from Seoul National University and a M.S. and Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University. In 2006, he received AIAA’s Mechanics and Control of Flight Award for his innovative research on advanced control of complex spacecraft such as solar sails, large flexible structures, and agile imaging satellites equipped with control moment gyros. He is the author of two AIAA textbooks: “Space Vehicle Dynamics and Control(2nd edition, 2008)” and “Space Vehicle Guidance, Control, and Astrodynamics (2015).” He has published 219 technical papers, including 82 journal articles. He holds three US patents on singularity-avoidance steering logic of control moment gyros. In the early 2010s, he was actively involved in guidance, control, and astrodynamics research for deflecting or disrupting hazardous near-Earth objects (NEO). During 2011-2014, he was an NIAC (NASA Advanced Innovative Concepts) Fellow for developing an innovative solution to NASA’s NEO impact threat mitigation grand challenge and its flight validation mission design. His NIAC study effort has resulted in two distinct concepts for effectively disrupting hazardous asteroids with short warning time. They are referred to as a hypervelocity asteroid intercept vehicle (HAIV) and a multiple kinetic-energy impactor vehicle (MKIV). During the late 2010s, his research focused on further developing the ZEM/ZEV feedback guidance strategies for robotic/human Mars precision powered descent & landing with hazard avoidance and retargeting. Since 2020, he has been investigating the guidance and control problems of hypersonic entry vehicles as well as high-performance missiles with precision impact time and angle control (ITAC) constraints. He was Associate Editor of AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics (1986-1991) and AAS Journal of the Astronautical Sciences (1993-1995). During 2018-2023, he was co-Editor of Astrodynamics, an international journal established in 2018. A variety of on-demand short courses by Dr. Wie are available from AIAA, as:
- Fundamentals of Space Vehicle Guidance, Control, and Astrodynamics
- Fundamentals of Classical Astrodynamics and Applications
- Flight Vehicle Guidance Navigation and Control Systems (GNC): Analysis and Design
- A Practical Approach to Flight Dynamics and Control of Aircraft, Missiles, and Hypersonic Vehicles
- Guidance and Control of Hypersonic Vehicles
- Advanced Flight Dynamics and Control of Aircraft, Missiles, and Hypersonic Vehicles
- Fundamentals of Astrodynamics for Space Missile Defense
Course Delivery and Materials
- The course lectures will be delivered via Zoom. Access to the Zoom classroom will be provided to registrants near to the course start date.
- All sessions will be available on demand within 1-2 days of the lecture. Once available, you can stream the replay video anytime, 24/7. All slides will be available for download after each lecture.
- No part of these materials may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted, unless for course participants. All rights reserved.
- Between lectures, the instructors will be available via email for technical questions and comments.
Cancellation Policy: A refund less a $50.00 cancellation fee will be assessed for all cancellations made in writing prior to 7 days before the start of the event. After that time, no refunds will be provided.
Contact: Please contact Lisa Le or Customer Service if you have questions about the course or group discounts (for 5+ participants).