美国未来运载器的推进系统

美国现有的空间运载器系列已为其军用、民用及商用任务服役了三十多年,但因它们操作困难、价格昂贵又缺乏改进投资而不能接受当今竞争的挑战。最近,发射服务市场又有了新的发射要求,即有效载荷大、费用低具有现代化运载器的设计。过去美国垄断了全世界的发射市场,但现在已降至25％,为改善竞争能力,要求改进制造工艺、采用先进技术和提高发射可靠性等三方面进行综合考虑以降低其成本。因此需要进一步改进运载系统。正如计划认定的NLS、STME等运载系统最关键的是推进技术。因此,本文从推进远景的角度着重讨论增强美国发射竞争力的几种可能解决途径。     

美国积极开展“先进发射发展计划”

美国未来航天计划顾问委员会去年11月提出应以现有技术迅速研制新型运载工具,供空间布署大型有效载荷使用,从而减轻对航天飞机的压力。据此,美政府和航天局希望研制国有发射系统,以提高国防部和NASA的发射效率和成本效益。这一希望的实现,将极大程度地取决于先进发射发展计划(ALDP)     

国外卫星推进技术发展现状与未来20年发展趋势

新形势下航天技术的发展对推进技术提出了更高的要求,无论在技术的广度和深度上都是前所未有的,如15年以上静止轨道卫星和8年以上低轨道卫星对高性能长寿命推进系统的要求、电推进技术的应用、微小卫星轨道保持的应用和深空探测对先进推进技术的依赖等。本文从先进化学推进技术、电推进技术、微推进技术和新概念推进技术4个方面分析了国外卫星推进技术的发展状况,总结了未来20年卫星推进技术的发展趋势,给出了对我国今后技术发展的启示。     

BSS-702系列平台低成本设计分析及启示

美国波音卫星系统-702(BSS-702)系列平台采用分舱模块化设计、电推进辅助变轨和全电推进等技术,有效降低了通信卫星系统的研制与发射成本,是目前国际上单路转发器价格最低的通信卫星平台。文章从发射服务、地面运行维护、总体设计,以及分系统与单机等方面,分析了BSS-702系列平台实现低成本的主要途径,并给出了针对我国下一代大型地球同步轨道卫星平台低成本设计的建议。     

中国载人航天推进技术发展设想

回顾了航天大国运载火箭及推进技术发展历程,重点分析了美国、俄罗斯等国航天运载器推进技术的发展现状和后续发展思路。通过对当前世界主流运载火箭的构型特点和推进技术水平的对比和发展趋势总结,对中国未来发展载人航天运载器和先进推进技术的主要方向提出了建议。     

固体火箭——价廉而可靠的航天运载动力

固体火箭用于航天飞行已有近30年历史。30年来美国航天发射的历史记录表明,固体火箭发动机工作可靠性相当于或优于液体发动机,研制成本和使用成本则低于液体发功机,因而获得了广泛的应用。当前美国政府正组织航天界积极探索进一步降低运载火箭的成本和提高其可靠性,要实现这一目标,无论对固体技术还是液体技术来说均需进一步提高和发展,但采用固体系统,技术上易于实现,所需投资较低。固体火箭在下一代先进的运载系统中将继续发挥重要作用。     

用于航天飞机改进的助推器及液体推进系统方案选择

NASA为满足空间发射需要,要求提高安全性和减少操作成本。本文将分析航天飞机助推器改进型及其推进系统方案以及它们在未来空间发射中的应用。主要是分析航天飞机各种改进方案的优点和液体推进系统。为深入了解航天飞机改进的益处,对其助推器推进系统进行比较,并介绍规范研制和操作成本的评估。     

甚小型卫星发展综述

介绍了立方星(CubeSat)、片上卫星(SpaceChip)、印制电路板卫星(PCBSat)、多芯片组件卫星(MCMSat)4种甚小型卫星的发展情况和技术特点。CubeSat技术最为成熟,已发射多颗此类卫星,但体积固定,成本较高;SpaceChip是卫星小型化的最终目标,它成本最低,集成度最高,体积最小,但通信距离较短;PCBSat的成本和性能居中,设计复杂度低,且元器件有商用现货供应,但功耗较大;MCMSat综合了PCBSat和SpaceChip的技术特点,技术复杂。我国甚小型卫星可选择优先发展PCBSat;重点突破商用现货元器件的筛选,以及空间应用技术、一体化姿态控制技术、新型微推进技术、轻型高效的蓄电池和太阳电池技术等。     

国外主要通信卫星技术计划及其进展

近年来,国外通信卫星技术有了长足的发展,无论是在军事还是商业领域都不断有新型高质量、大功率、长寿命的卫星发射升空。目前国外最先进的通信卫星技术仍掌握在包括波音、洛马、劳拉、休斯以及阿尔卡特等美国和欧洲的几大卫星制造商手中。欧洲正在通过研制开发新一代大型通信卫星平台阿尔法舱缩短与美国存在的差距。俄罗斯则是通过与欧洲和日本的国际合作来大力推进本国通信卫星技术的进步。     

运载火箭发动机动力循环综述

对将来的空间运载系统来说,关键是要降低发射成本、提高运载器的可靠性和工作效率。对各种运载器的系统分析结果表明:采用总体结构和推进系统先进的单级入轨运载器能够达到这个目标。本文将介绍所有液体火箭发动机动力循环方式,接着针对各种循环类型的发动机进行运载器/推进系统组合分析,旨在确定将来的单级入轨运载器推进系统和与之相关的热力循环方式。现有的和已提出的具备完成单级入轨任务的发动机动力循环方案在此也做了阐述。     

New Power for Boosting China's Aerospace Industry

China's new-generation launch vehicle LM-5 successfully completed its maiden launch in November 2016.Among the new technologies applied in the launch vehicle,four types of liquid rocket engines attracted extensive attention.These engines feature advanced concepts and technologies such as a staged combustion cycle and expander cycle.The engines are the results of hard effort of more than ten years,which is also an epitome of the development history of China's aerospace industry.This paper gives a brief introduction to the technological schemes,main parameters,development process and application of the four types of engines that powered the new-generation launch vehicle.Finally,proposals for new liquid propulsion technology development in the future in China are presented.     

NanoSail-D: A solar sail demonstration mission

In the early to mid-2000s, NASA made substantial progress in the development of solar sail propulsion systems. Solar sail propulsion uses the solar radiation pressure exerted by the momentum transfer of reflected photons to generate a net force on a spacecraft. To date, solar sail propulsion systems were designed for large robotic spacecraft. Recently, however, NASA has been investigating the application of solar sails for small satellite propulsion. The NanoSail-D is a subscale solar sail system designed for possible small spacecraft applications. The NanoSail-D mission flew on board the ill-fated Falcon Rocket launched August 2, 2008, and due to the failure of that rocket, never achieved orbit. The NanoSail-D flight spare is ready for flight and a suitable launch arrangement is being actively pursued. This paper will present an introduction solar sail propulsion systems and an overview of the NanoSail-D spacecraft.     

European Sail Tower SPS concept

Based on a DLR-study in 1998/99 on behalf of ESA/ESTEC called “System Concepts, Architectures and Technologies for Space Exploration and Utilization (SE&U)” a new design for an Earth-orbiting Solar Power Satellite (SPS) has been developed. The design is called “European Sail Tower SPS” and consists mainly of deployable sail-like structures derived from the ongoing DLR/ESA solar sail technology development activity. Such a SPS satellite features an extremely light-weight and large tower-like orbital system and could supply Europe with significant amounts of electrical power generated by photovoltaic cells and subsequently transmitted to Earth via microwaves. In order to build up the sail tower, 60 units - each consisting of a pair of square-shaped sails - are moved from LEO to GEO with electric propulsion and successively assembled in GEO robotically on a central strut. Each single sail has dimensions of 150m × 150 m and is automatically deployed, using four diagonal light-weight carbon fiber (CFRP) booms which are initially rolled up on a central hub. The electric thrusters for the transport to GEO could also be used for orbit and attitude control of the assembled tower which has a total length of about 15 km and would be mainly gravity gradient stabilized. Employing thin film solar cell technology, each sail is used as a solar array and produces an electric power in orbit of about 3.7 MW_e. A microwave antenna with a diameter of 1 km transmits the power to a 10 km rectenna on the ground. The total mass of this 450 MW SPS is about 2100 tons. First estimates indicate that the costs for one kWh delivered in this way could compete with present day energy costs, if launch costs would decrease by two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, mass production and large numbers of installed SPS systems must be assumed in order to lower significantly the production costs and to reduce the influence of the expensive technology development. The paper presents the technical concept and an economic assessment as well as results of a recent solar sail deployment ground demonstration at DLR's facilities in Cologne.     

Space nuclear power: technology, policy, and risk considerations in human missions to Mars

There is a large discrepancy between potential needs for nuclear propulsion and power systems for the human exploration of Mars and the current status of R&D funding, public opinion, and governmental support for these technologies. Mission planners and spacecraft designers, energized by the recent claims of possible discovery of life on Mars and responding to increased public interest in the human exploration of Mars, frequently propose nuclear reactors and radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) for interplanetary spacecraft propulsion and for power supply on the surface of Mars. These plans and designs typically assume that reactors will be available "on-the-shelf," and do not take the extensive R&D costs required to develop such reactors into consideration. However, it is likely that current U.S. policies, if unchanged, will prohibit the launch of nuclear reactors and large RTGs in response to a perceived risk by the public.     

微纳卫星新型动力系统研究进展

微纳卫星指采用现代技术、微电子技术、机械技术等设计制造的具有高性价比的现代微小卫星。因其具有发射成本低廉、应用灵活等特点,微纳卫星受到各国的广泛关注。微纳卫星动力系统具有良好的发展前景。本文综述了微纳卫星动力系统的发展现状,针对自中和射频离子推力器、离子液体推力器、碳纳米管阵列推力器、石墨烯材料光驱动等几种新型且有望用于微纳卫星推进的方案,简要说明其工作原理,并分析其核心技术以及性能优势。给出了发展建议:提升总冲、功耗、调节精度等参数是微纳卫星动力系统未来主要的发展方向;研发工作中需要重点关注结构工艺、离子束流中和等关键技术。     

新概念推进技术及其应用前景

综合评述了到目前为止人们所提出的几种新概念推进系统(包括核热能推进、反物质推进、束能推进、微推进、绳系推进和太阳能推进等)技术方案的特点,分析了所存在的主要技术难点,并简要论述了其未来的发展和应用前景。     

我国大推力补燃氢氧发动机研究进展

氢氧火箭发动机因具有很高的性能,在国内外运载火箭中得到了广泛应用。为了更好地开展深空探测,必须研制大推力氢氧火箭发动机。本文综合分析了国内外氢氧发动机的发展历史和现状,简要介绍了我国220 t补燃循环氢氧发动机方案和关键技术研制进展,该技术方案先进。通过开展试验件冷态试验和缩尺组件热试验等,研究了核心部组件的关键技术和方案选型。开展全尺寸预燃室热试验等分系统热试验,研究组件级技术,初步突破了部分关键技术。建议加快开展大推力氢氧发动机工程研制,促进我国航天推进技术发展。     

The Reliable and Intelligent Propulsion Pressurization System of the Long March 7 Launch Vehicle

The reliable and intelligent propulsion pressurization system is one of the key technologies of new Chinese generation launch vehicles; a high reliability design is an important guarantee for the success of launching. This paper analyzes the domestic and overseas liquid launch vehicles in the area of propulsion pressurization systems, based on comprehensive analysis, demonstrating the reliable and intelligent propulsion pressurization system of the Long March 7(Simplified as LM-7) has been raised. By applying a full chain redundancy design, setting proper pressure control bandwidth and control mode reconstruction under extreme fault conditions, the reliability and adaptability of the propulsion pressurization system has enhanced significantly. In addition, the complete system has been verified by the first two flights of LM-7.     

烃类推进剂航天动力技术进展与展望未来

为研究烃类推进剂航天动力技术在中国的后续发展和未来应用方向,对比分析煤油、甲烷和丙烷等典型烃类推进剂的物理化学性质和应用特性,简要介绍烃类推进剂航天动力在一次性运载火箭、可重复使用运载器、高性能上面级推进、无毒空间推进和吸气式推进领域的发展动态及应用状况。当前国内外航天动力系统的发展和应用情况表明,以液氧煤油发动机和液氧甲烷发动机为代表的烃类推进剂航天动力将引领未来高性能低成本航天推进系统的发展趋势,依照中国液氧/烃火箭发动机的研制进展和技术水平,以其为核心的新型动力体系在中国未来的天地往返、载人登月和深空探测等多任务适应性方面具有良好应用前景。