The second stage propulsion system for N-launch vehicle

The pressure-fed second stage propulsion system for N-launch vehicle provides 53,348 N (5440 kg) thrust for about 250 sec at an Isp of 290.2 sec. Aluminum tanks, integral with vehicle structure, carry a minimum of 4.7 ton propellant combination of N₂O₄ and Aerozine 50. The gimbaled engine consists of a regenerative cooled chamber, ablative nozzle spacer, and a radiation cooled nozzle extension with an exit area ratio of 26. Utmost utilization of domestically available technology and facilities underlay the design concept. Development of the propulsion system took 5 years with the first flight occurring in 1975. Five consecutive flight successes up to 1979 have demonstrated the reliability and performance of the system.Improved N vehicle, designated as N-II, will succeed the N vehicle. New second stage propulsion system for N-II delivers 43,816 N (4468 kg) thrust at an Isp of 314.1 sec and has restart-capability.     

On the limiting mass of a dense stellar matter

In the present work, we have derived an expression $\text{M}{}_{\mathrm{L}}\text{? 4.738 M}{}_{\mathrm{\odot }}$ (M_⊙ = 1.985 × 10³³ g = mass of the Sun) giving the “limiting” value of the mass of a dense stellar matter, by introducing the concept of nuclear size correction in the theory of relativistic Thomas Fermi model for a compressed atom. We find that $\text{M}{}_{\mathrm{L}}\text{? 5.1571 M}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>Ch</mtext>}}\text{and}\text{=3.2750(M}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>O</mtext>}}\text{)}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>Prev</mtext>}}$ [M_Ch and (M_O)_Prev denote respectively the Chandrasekhar and author's “limiting” masses]. By making a comparative study with those of previous results it has been shown that our present treatment would provide satisfactory results for the density ranges from ? ? 10⁸ up to $\text{? ? 10}{}^{11}\text{g}\text{/}\text{cm}{}^3$. Other results of cognate interest in the non-relativistic regime 10³ < ? ? 10⁵ (without the nuclear size effect) are presented. The astrophysical implications of the results are mentioned.     

电动泵与挤压式推进系统对比研究

对电动泵和挤压式推进系统进行了对比研究,主要考虑了气瓶、增压气体、贮箱、电池和电机等因素对推进系统的影响,结果表明:相对于传统的挤压式推进系统,电动泵供应系统已经具有明显的优势,而且能够获得更高的综合性能;锂离子电池具有较大的能量密度和功率密度,更适合应用于电动泵供应系统;采用高性能永磁电机能够使得整个推进系统的质量更轻。在实际推进系统设计时,应综合平衡发动机推力、燃烧室压力和工作时间等参数的影响,才能有效地控制电池和电机的质量,保证整个系统具有较高的综合性能。     

Analyse du fonctionnement d'un propulseur a éjection modulée

ONERA developed, for studying the response of a propellant to a pressure or velocity fluctuation, an experimental rocket engine whose nozzle throat area can be modulated by a toothed disk.The paper presents a linearized theory of the functioning of this engine in the low frequency domain, i.e. when there is no wave propagation within the combuster.To describe the functioning of this motor, the Ryazantsev-Novozhilov method, which assumes that the gas response is instantaneous, is used. This analysis takes into account the erosion and radiation effects, the combustion efficiency and the thermal losses through the walls.Two particular cases are described, for two values of the Damköhler parameter $\text{D}{}_1\text{=}\text{t}{}_{\mathrm{c}}\text{t}{}_{\mathrm{th}}$, where t_c is the residence time in the combuster and t_th the characteristic thermal time of the heat penetration into the solid propellant. These two cases correspond, one to a classical propellant D₁ > 1, the other to a particular propellant of low burning rate ($\text{J}{}_{\mathrm{b}}\text{? 0.2}\text{to}\text{0.4}\text{mm s}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}$) D₁ < 1. The stability conditions are analysed as well as the pressure amplitute and phase as a function of the nozzle throat modulation frequency.Still in linearized theory, the complete solutions of the problem are presented, using a method of numerical resolution.     

Optimal aeroassisted return from high earth orbit with plane change

This paper gives a complete analysis of the problem of aeroassisted return from a high Earth orbit to a low Earth orbit with plane change. A discussion of pure propulsive maneuver leads to the necessary change for improvement of the fuel consumption by inserting in the middle of the trajectory an atmospheric phase to obtain all or part of the required plane change. The variational problem is reduced to a parametric optimization problem by using the known results in optimal impulsive transfer and solving the atmospheric turning problem for storage and use in the optimization process. The coupling effect between space maneuver and atmospheric maneuver is discussed. Depending on the values of the plane change i, the ratios of the radii, $\text{n =}\text{r}{}_1\text{r}{}_2$ between the orbits and $\text{a =}\text{r}{}_2\text{R}$ between the low orbit and the atmosphere, and the maximum lift-to-drag ratio E1 of the vehicle, the optimal maneuver can be pure propulsive or aeroassisted. For aeroassisted maneuver, the optimal mode can be parabolic, which requires only drag capability of the vehicle, or elliptic. In the elliptic mode, it can be by one-impulse for deorbit and one or two-impulse in postatmospheric flight, or by two-impulse for deorbit with only one impulse for final circularization. It is shown that whenever an impulse is applied, a plane change is made. The necessary conditions for the optimal split of the plane changes are derived and mechanized in a program routine for obtaining the solution.     

A small parameter method in problems of maneuvering space vehicles with aerodynamic efficiency

The motion of a satellite with aerodynamic efficiency along a low near-circular orbit is considered in the paper. The controls of bank angle γ and lift coefficient C_y are used as control functions. The introduction of a small parameter ($\text{? = (}\text{?}{}_0\text{· S · g}{}_0\text{2G}\text{)}$) makes it possible to integrate an adjoint system of equations and to obtain an approximate solution to the complete problem in the class of piecewise-constant control functions. Maximum values for the coordinates of heading angle η and lateral derivation from the plane of a reference orbit ?, which are connected with orbit plane angle by the relation cos i = cos ? · cos h, are used as criteria of maneuvering capability for a satellite with aerodynamic efficiency. Optimal programs for bank angle and incidence variation are derived and the influence of lift-to-drag ratio on the vehicle maneuvering capabilities has been estimated.It is shown that the process of the optimal motion is a special kind of gravitational skipping similar to the Keplerian motion but with continuous descent.     

长时间在轨上面级动力系统关键技术研究

上面级动力系统提供用于变轨所需要的动力,同时提供姿态控制、推进剂沉底、末速修正功能所需要的动力,将上面级和北斗导航卫星一起送入预定轨道。回顾了从早期的上面级动力系统选型论证到后续的关键技术攻关过程,对比研究了泵压式与挤压式动力系统的技术优势,分析了动力系统研制过程中的主要关键技术,并对关键技术的应用情况进行了总结,最后提出了长时间在轨上面级动力系统的后续发展建议。     

Theoretical study about the Marangoni convection in a liquid column in zero-gravity

The thermal Marangoni effect on the surface of a liquid bridge induces a convection inside the liquid. For an imposed arbitrary periodic axial circumferential temperature distribution on the liquid surface the velocity distributions in radial-, angular- and axial direction are determined theoretically by solving the linearized Navier-Stokes equations. Of particular interest is the effect of the viscosity parameter $\text{v}\text{a}{}^2$ and axial wave length to diameter ratio $\text{l}\text{a}$. It was found that the increase of viscosity decreases the magnitude of the velocity distributions and that for small axial wave length to diameter ratios the radial- and axial velocities exhibit peak values close to the free surface of the liquid. This is in a less pronounced way also true for the angular velocity, which shows for increasing moderate values $\text{l}\text{a}\text{(0 ≤}\text{l}\text{a}\text{≤ 2}$) a strong increase in magnitude and for larger axial wavelength a decrease again. For increasing axial wavelength the peak value of the radial- and axial velocity shifts towards the center of the liquid bridge, of which for a further increase a decrease of the magnitude appears.     

Order of magnitude analysis of convective effects in dendritic solidification

The different types of convective phenomena which may occur during the dendritic solidification of metallic alloys are discussed from an order of magnitude analysis. Bulk thermal convection and/or interdendritic solutal convection have to be considered according to the values of the experimental data. Scaling laws for the solute boundary layer resulting from bulk thermal convection have already been derived. It is shown here that the interdendritic flow depends on a solutal Grashof number Gr based on the horizontal density gradient and a characteristic length L_s which is of the order of the liquid channels width. For Gr < 1, which is generally verified in practical cases, the interdendritic flow velocity U_r is proportional to the Grashof number. This a priori law compares favorably with the results of horizontal solidification experiments where the mean interdendritic flow velocity has been estimated from the resulting measured macrosegregation. In these experiments, as well as for most horizontal dendritic solidifications of metallic alloys at 1 g, the ratio $\text{U}{}_{\mathrm{r}}\text{R}$ (R is the growth rate) is of order one. In order to cancel the interdendritic flow effects, this ratio has to be lowered by one order of magnitude. According to our analysis, this can be obtained by performing the experiments either at a slightly reduced g level (～10^?1 g), or at 1 g in a vertical stable configuration with a sufficiently low residual horizontal thermal gradient.     

可贮存推进剂泵压式液体火箭发动机多次起动系统研究

在推力超过一定量级、任务时间较长的情况下,泵压式发动机比挤压式发动机具有明显的技术优势。从国内外上面级及重型空间飞行器推进系统的发展需求来看,均要求其主发动机具有多次起动工作的能力。针对采用可贮存推进剂的泵压式液体发动机多次起动需求,对几种可选的多次起动系统方案进行了比较分析,介绍了起动箱式起动系统的研究情况。     

Orbit prediction for IRAS using vector and analytic techniques

This paper describes the techniques of a vector approach to the solution of the differential equations of motion of a near-Earth satellite. The method provides a good stable foundation for developing the orbital elements, thus allowing an analytic approach to be used in subsidiary algorithms. The mathematical concepts used in these algorithms are explained, and equations are developed for calculating Earth and Moon eclipses, radiation zone crossings, atmospheric density effects, solar cell decay, look angles and a geographical ephemeris. Results are presented for the IRAS satellite, and show that prediction errors of less than $\text{1}\text{1}\text{2}$ sec over one week or errors of less than 15 sec over $\text{3}\text{1}\text{2}$ months are possible.     

Benefits from incorporation of combined cycle propulsion

The X-33 program was initiated to develop a testbed for integrated RLV technologies that pave the way for a full scale development of a launch vehicle (Venture Star). Within the Nasa Future X Trailblazer program there is an Upgrade X-33 that focuses on materials and upgrades. The authors propose that the most significant gains can be realized by changing the propulsion cycle, not materials. The cycles examined are rocket cycles, with the combustion in the rocket motor. Specifically, these rocket cycles are: turbopump, topping, expander, air augmented, air augmented ram, LACE and deeply cooled. The vehicle size, volume, structural weight remain constant. The system and propellant tank weights vary with the propulsion system cycle. A reduction in dry weight, made possible by a reduced propellant tank volume, was converted into payload weight provided sufficient volume was made available by the propellant reduction. This analysis was extended to Venture Star for selected engine cycles. The results show that the X-33 test bed could carry a significant payload to LEO (10,000 Ib) and be a valuable test bed in developing a frequent flight to LEO capability. From X-33 published information the maximum speed is about 15,000 ft/sec. With a LACE rocket propulsion system Venture Star vehicle could be sized to a smaller vehicle with greater payload than the Venture Star baseline. Vehicle layout and characteristics were obtained from: http:// www.venturestar.com.