This paper is one of two in a dual abstract submission to AIAA Aviation 2016, "Air Transportation Integration and Operations -Unique and/or transformational Flight Systems"and details the design, construction, testing and results of a team-devised package pickup system and CG relocation apparatus. Said technology was created in parallel with a tailsitter vehicle, Proteus, whose design, construction and testing are outlined in the companion paper, "An Unmanned VTOL and Fixed Wing Package Retrieval and Delivery Vehicle" [1]. Note that all technology outlined in this paper may be integrated into various vehicle configurations, not just Proteus. The vehicle itself and subsequent technology are the culmination of a project assigned to the 2015 NASA Multidisciplinary Aeronautics Research Team Initiative (MARTI) at Langley Research Center. MARTI was tasked with developing an unmanned vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle for the purpose of package identification, pickup and delivery. From conception to completion, the team had 12 weeks. To meet these and other requirements, MARTI constructed a dual-functioning, tail-sitting aircraft, named Proteus, which is capable of transition from traditional quadrotor mode to fixed wing design for drag-efficient forward flight. Consult "An Unmanned VTOL and Fixed Wing Package Retrieval and Delivery Vehicle" for additional vehicle details, as such information will only be referenced in support of the topics discussed in this paper [1].

This paper is one of two in a dual submission to AIAA Aviation 2016, "Air Transportation Integration and Operations -Unique and/or transformational FlightSystems" and will outline the design, construction, testing and results of a project assigned to the 2015 NASA Multidisciplinary Aeronautics Research Team Initiative (MARTI) at Langley Research Center. MARTI was tasked with developing an unmanned vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle for the purpose of package identification, pickup and delivery. From conception to completion, the team had 12 weeks. To meet these and other requirements, MARTI constructed a dual-functioning, tail-sitting aircraft capable of transition from traditional quadrotor mode to fixed wing design for drag-efficient forward flight. This paper will discuss the vehicle itself-an unmanned aerial system (UAS), named Proteus, which has automated elements, designed to reach speeds of 50 mph at cruise (75 mph sprint) and is also designed for path planning, obstacle avoidance, and selective package identification and retrieval. The aircraft was constructed using primarily commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) electronics and flight hardware housed in a customfabricated airframe. The results of the flight tests, design, safety and logistics, and further testing objectives will also be presented. The sister paper, titled "An Airborne Package Retrieval & Delivery System with Mechanized CG Relocation" will detail the design, construction, testing and success of the vehicle's package pickup system with capability to shift the vehicle's center of gravity (CG) and will be hereon cited [1]. Note that manual package retrieval with in-air delivery was fully demonstrated with automated components.

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Precision landing of large payloads on Mars presents a challenge to the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) community. Previous studies indicated that by incorporating the capability for a Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) to morph during reentry would result in a more accurate landing footprint by allowing modulation of the liftto-drag (L/D) vector directly instead of through bank angle control. However, morphing the HIAD shape for trajectory control may expose the HIAD to potential structural loads or aero heating concerns. In this study, the application of an optimal control allocation (OCA) technique was investigated that would to enable the morphing HIAD to maximize trajectory control capabilities while simultaneously keeping the structural loads and aero heating below some thresholds. This concept was demonstrated in a 3 degree-of-freedom (DOF) EDL simulation and provides basis for future research.