Single crystal mo solar thermal thruster for microsatellites

One potentially attractive propulsion concept offering significant payload gains for orbit transfer from LEO to higher orbits, station keeping and attitude control of spacecraft is thermal propulsion using light gas (typically hydrogen) as propellant and various kinds of heat energy. Solar Thermal Propulsion (STP) is a typical thermal propulsion with high Isp (500 – 1,000 s) in an appropriate thrust magnitude range and provides possibly much less space pollution than conventional chemical propulsion.

This paper presents the test results of a 30 mm dia. (medium-sized) windowless type of single crystal Mo thruster for orbit transfer of 50 kg class microsatellites. The cavity dia. is 20 mm, double the size of the previous model, and can apply to a primary solar reflector of up to 3.5 m dia., which is the maximum size containable in the H-II rocket fairing without segmentation. The performed mission analyses indicate that this size of STP is suitable to orbit transfer of 50 kg class microsatellites, such as LEO to GEO, or only multiple apogee kicks from GTO to GEO or deep space missions.     

VentureStar… reaping the benefits of the X-33 program

Major X-33 flight hardware has been delivered, and assembly of the vehicle is well underway in anticipation of its flight test program commencing in the summer of 1999. Attention has now turned to the operational VentureStar^TM, the first single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) reusable launch vehicle. Activities are grouped under two broad categories: (1) vehicle development and (2) market/business planning, each of which is discussed. The mission concept is presented for direct payload delivery to the International Space Station and to low Earth orbit, as well as payload delivery with an upper stage to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and other high energy orbits. System requirements include flight segment and ground segment. Vehicle system sizing and design status is provided including the application of X-33 traceability and lessons learned. Technology applications to the VentureStar^TM are described including the structure, propellant tanks, thermal protection system, aerodynamics, subsystems, payload bay and propulsion. Developing a market driven low cost launch services system for the 21st Century requires traditional and non-traditional ways of being able to forecast the evolution of the potential market. The challenge is balancing both the technical and financial assumptions of the market. This involves the need to provide a capability to meet market segments that in some cases are very speculative, while at the same time providing the financial community with a credible revenue stream. Furthermore, the market derived requirements need to be assessed so as not to impose unnecessary requirements on the vehicle design that add unreasonable cost to the development of the system, yet provides the right capabilities for new markets that could be triggered by dramatically lower space transportation prices.     

我国载人登月重型运载火箭动力系统探讨

月球研究与利用是21世纪航天发展的重点之一。根据载人登月的需求,探讨了我国重型运载火箭及其动力系统的技术途径,提出研制大推力液氧/烃和液氧/液氢发动机的设想。重点论证了大推力下面级发动机的推进剂组合、动力循环方式及推力量级,认为该发动机推进剂应选择环保、廉价及高性能的液氧/烃组合,动力循环方式应采用先进的补燃循环或低成本的燃气发生器循环,推力应为4000kN左右。     

氧化亚氮推进技术研究进展

随着环境保护的加强,人们越来越希望找到一种绿色推进剂来代替现有的肼类有毒推进剂.氧化亚氮作为一种绿色推进剂,无毒性,地面实验操作处理方便,不需要繁琐昂贵的防护;常温贮存性,贮箱几乎不需要主动热控制;饱和压力高,可采用自增压方式供应推进剂;绝热分解温度较高,可作为单组元和双组元发动机的推进剂.分析了氧化亚氮作为推进剂的性能及其主要应用领域,着重研究其在液体火箭发动机的应用.通过对氧化亚氮自增压供应系统,单组元推进的催化分解系统,克服催化床限制的氧化亚氮与燃料混合的NOFBXTM技术,以及氧化亚氮作为氧化剂的双组元推进系统的国内外研究进展进行综述,指出当前研究工作中存在的问题,以期为该方面的进一步研究提供一定的参考.     

空天飞行器六自由度数学建模研究

研究了空天飞行器超声速和高超声速飞行条件下六自由度仿真模型,该模型包含了完整的六自由度动力学方程和运动方程。气动力和力矩系数是迎角、马赫数及控制舵面偏角的函数;发动机模型为吸气发动机和变推力火箭发动机的组合推进装置;飞行器的质心;惯性矩是飞行器质量的时变函数。所得结果可以用于未来高超声速飞行器或新一代单级入轨运载器轨迹优化、姿态控制等问题的概念设计和仿真研究。     

飞行器固体火箭助推器设计优化方法比较

综合考虑飞行器总体设计约束、轨道设计、气动特性与固体火箭助推器设计间相互影响的情况下,建立了飞行器固体火箭助推器总体/气动/轨道/动力多学科的系统分析模型和设计优化模型。采用传统设计优化方法和多学科设计优化(MDO)方法进行了固体火箭助推器设计优化。结果表明,固体推进单学科的最优设计不等价于飞行器总体多学科的最优设计;与传统设计优化方法相比,MDO方法一次设计优化就可得到满足飞行器总体设计指标的最优设计,得到内外弹道相匹配的助推器最优推力-时间曲线。传统设计优化方法需要飞行器总体和固体推进学科两个设计优化过程不断迭代协调,容易漏掉满足飞行器总体设计指标的最优设计。采用MDO方法,可提高固体火箭助推器的设计质量,大大减少设计迭代次数,从而缩短设计周期。     

碘工质电推进储供系统设计及实验

霍尔推力器越来越多地用于空间电推进,由于高纯度氙气获取难度大、成本高昂,故需要寻找其他种类的工质代替氙气用于空间推进。碘的升华温度较低,且常温储存时为固态,作为推力剂具有减小系统体积、降低成本等优势,但是适配的储供系统尚不成熟。通过比较碘和其他工质的相关特性,阐明碘作为空间电推进工质的优势,总结了国内外相关实验,说明使用碘作为推进剂的可行性,设计新型热辐射加热储罐,完成了碘工质储供系统的初步实验,对系统设计进行规划。实验结果表明:热辐射加热储罐相比于传统外部加热储罐具有更好的调节性能。     

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。     

补燃循环发动机推力调节研究

推力调节是提高液体火箭发动机适应性和运载火箭性能的有效措施。研究认为补燃循环发动机最佳的推力调节方案是调节预燃室中较少组元的流量。通过控制预燃室的温度,改变涡轮泵的功率,最终达到调节推力的目的。由于补燃循环发动机推力调节时。对预燃室温度的影响较大,推力向上调节幅度不宜过大,但可进行较大幅度的向下调节。上述推力调节方案对发动机比冲的影响很小,可以忽略不计;对发动机混合比的影响也较小,只需在大范围推力调节时考虑;推力调节速率不宜过快,应小于20％／s。     

Development tests of LOX/LH2 tank for H-I launch vehicle

H-I is a future launch vehicle of Japan with a capability of placing more than 550 kg payload into a geostationary orbit. The National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) is now directing its efforts to the final development of H-I launch vehicle. H-I's high launch capability is attained by adopting a newly developed second stage with a LOX/LH₂ propulsion system. The second stage propulsion system consists of a tank and an engine. The tank is 2.5 m in diameter and 5.7 m in length and contains 8.7 tons of propellants. This tank is an integral tank with a common bulkhead which separates the tank into forward LH₂ tank and aft LOX tank. The tank is made of 2219 aluminum alloy and is insulated with sprayed polyurethane foam. The common bulkhead is made of FRP honeycomb core and aluminium alloy surface sheets.The most critical item in the development of the tank is the common bulkhead, therefore the cryogenic structural test was carried out to verify the structural integrity of the bulkhead. The structural integrity of the whole LOX/LH₂ tank was verified by the cryogenic structural test of a sub-scale tank and the room temperature structural test of a prototype tank.     

液氧／煤油补燃循环发动机起动过程研究

液体火箭发动机起动过程是发动机研制过程中的难点和关键技术之一。针对某液氧／煤油补燃循环发动机,进行了起动过程研究。建立了发动机各组件的动态数学模型,并进行了适当简化。计算得到了起动过程发动机性能参数随时间变化的仿真曲线。计算结果与试车数据基本相符,初步验证了所建立的仿真模型及采用的仿真方法的正确性。还分析了部分干扰因素对发动机起动过程的影响。     

探空火箭动力系统优化设计

提出了探空火箭动力系统设计参数优化计算方法.综合考虑了动力系统与火箭外弹道之间的关系.在给定有效载荷、最高射高的条件下,选取动力系统的设计参数使火箭的起飞质量最小.选用了增广拉格朗日法约束优化技术和牛顿迭代法求解数学模型.计算结果表明,该计算方法是合理的.     

液体火箭发动机关机水击特性仿真

关机水击是引起液体火箭发动机及其试验台故障的常见现象之一.为获得关机水击的主要影响规律,采用一维有限体积法建立了发动机关机水击仿真模型,通过地面试验验证了模型的正确性.针对发动机常见设计变量,开展仿真研究,结果表明:水击增量与推进剂流量、流速成正比;管路足够长时,水击增量与其长度无关,但管路过短时,管路越短,水击增量越...     

基于压力变送器及智能仪表的箱压自动控制技术

目前发动机地面试验过程中的泵入口压力控制主要是通过控制介质贮箱内压力来实现的.介绍了大型液体火箭发动机研制试验中介质贮箱压力自动控制的一种新方法,这种方法集试验过程信号采集、动态工艺参数显示、上下限设定值显示、报警显示输出及自动控制为一体,减小了手动调节箱压继电器的操作误差,使系统的可靠性得到了很大程度的提高.     

空中发射技术特点的量化分析

近几年,随着小卫星市场的蓬勃发展,小型卫星发射市场持续升温,以飞马座XL和运载器一号火箭为代表的空射火箭完成多次发射任务,将数十颗卫星送入近地轨道。空射运载火箭具备快速响应、机动灵活、发射成本低、任务适应性强等技术特点。运载火箭从空中发射可以充分利用载机的飞行高度和飞行速度,在相同的系统运载能力下,火箭的起飞质量更小;在相同的火箭起飞质量下,系统运载能力更高;同时,对于规模星座快速部署,空中发射的灵活优势显著。围绕空射火箭的上述技术特点,基于空射火箭模型开展仿真分析研究及不同发射方式的结果对比,结果表明空射方式对提升系统效益效果显著。     

Small cryogenic propulsion unit for upper stage application

The feasibility study was conducted to use the cryogenic propulsion system for the third stage of the future H-1 vehicle. While the $\text{LO}{}_2\text{LH}{}_2$ third-stage mass fraction is less than the current solid propellant third stage, the 50% higher Isp results in a significantly higher payload. Two basic configurations of the new propulsion system were proposed: one pressure-fed system and two pump-fed systems. The first is a pressure-fed system providing a 700 kg thrust at an Isp of 441 sec with restart capability. The second is a pump-fed system, operating on an expander cycle principle. A midget turbopump with a 90 000 rpm shaft speed feeds the thrust chamber which delivers 1 ton of thrust at an Isp of 471 sec. The third proposed system is also a pump-fed design using a unique expander bleed cycle, and delivers a 1 ton thrust at an Isp of 470 sec with a turbopump speed of 80 000 rpm. The results of engine testing predict the performance feasibility of respective propulsion system designs.     

MDO approach for early design of aerobraking orbital transfer vehicles

This paper presents a new multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) methodology for preliminary design of an aeroassisted orbital transfer vehicle (AOTV) performing a two-way transfer between a low-Earth “parking” orbit and a high-energy orbit. This work has been performed in the frame of Onera's CENTOR [N. Bérend, C. Jolly, F. Jouhaud, D. Lazaro, Y. Mauriot, C. Monjaret, J.M. Moschetta, M. Parlier, J.L. Pastre, Y. Servouze, J.L. Vérant, Project CENTOR: Preparing the design of future orbital transfer vehicles; IAC-07-D.2.3.07, in: 58th International Astronautical Congress, 24–28/09/2007, Hyderabad, India] project whose objective is to prepare tools and methodology for studying and designing future space transportation systems for new kinds of missions such as on-orbit servicing (OOS), payload ferrying, or in-situ observation of space-debris. Using simplified models and an appropriate low-dimension formulation for the optimization problem the method makes possible to obtain rapidly and easily a global view of the trade-off between the payload mass and the total mass. It also makes possible to discuss the feasibility of the vehicle with regard to different multidisciplinary constraints and technology hypotheses for the heat shield. This approach is illustrated by eight different AOTV design studies, considering two different missions (LEO–MEO and LEO–GEO), two different propulsion technologies (LOX-LH2 and LOX-CH4) and two different thermal protection system (TPS) characteristics. In each case, we discuss the feasibility and characteristics of the lightest vehicle carrying a prescribed 100 kg payload, and, conversely, a heavy vehicle with a prescribed 18 ton total mass, carrying the heaviest possible payload.     

MPT在探月中的应用方案初探

借鉴“东方红3号”卫星的推进系统组成和“SMART-1”探月器的飞行轨道,提出了2种微波等离子体推力器(MPT)应用于月球探测器的推进系统方案(即复合推进方案和统一推进方案),分析计算了MPT用于姿态控制时对推进剂耗量的影响及用于主推进变轨时推进剂耗量和飞行时间的变化,并讨论了MPT的电源系统带来的附加质量。结果表明,在付出一定飞行时间代价的条件下,MPT的引入将大大增加有效载荷质量。     

氢氧末级长时间滑行贮箱压力控制及关键技术分析

为通过弹道优化设计提升火箭发射圆轨道卫星的运载能力,同时提高火箭对不同发射任务的适应性,需要火箭末级具备长时间在轨滑行能力。对氢氧末级火箭而言,延长在轨滑行时间需要解决的一个重要问题是液氢贮箱压力、推进剂温度的预示和控制。结合微重力下贮箱内低温推进剂力热耦合运动特征,给出了低温火箭在轨滑行过程中贮箱压力控制的设计流程和计算方法,并通过计算分析获得了整个滑行阶段液氢蒸发量、补压气瓶需求量等关键设计参数,为工程研制提供参考。