Characterization of a Thermodynamic Vent System (TVS) for an On Orbit Cryogenic Reaction Control Engine (RCE) Feed System

Jiménez, Rafael Manuel Mérida; Flores, Sam; Romig, Kris; Hurlbert, Eric A.

doi:10.2514/6.2008-4553

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…35,36,37 The Radio Frequency Mass Gauge (RFMG) has been developed and demonstrated as a mass gauge in micro-gravity for various propellants, showing promising accuracy. 38 , 39 Vacuum chamber testing of cryogenic feed systems 40 with multiple RCS engines and single main engine have been conducted. On the Morpheus vehicle, a Joule-Thompson device was used to pre-chill the transfer lines of the auxiliary control propulsion system.…”

Section: E Jaxa (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency)mentioning

confidence: 99%

International Space Exploration Coordination Group Assessment of Technology Gaps for LOx/Methane Propulsion Systems for the Global Exploration Roadmap

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As part of the Global Exploration Roadmap (GER), the International Space ExplorationCoordination Group (ISECG) formed two technology gap assessment teams to evaluate topic discipline areas that had not been worked at an international level to date. The participating agencies were ASI, CNES, DLR, ESA, JAXA, and NASA. Accordingly, the ISECG Technology Working Group (TWG) recommended two discipline areas based on Critical Technology Needs reflected within the GER Technology Development Map (GTDM): Dust Mitigation and LOX/Methane Propulsion. LOx/Methane propulsion systems are enabling for future human missions Mars by significantly reducing the landed mass of the Mars ascent stage through the use of in-situ propellant production, for improving common fluids for life support, power and propulsion thus allowing for diverse redundancy, for eliminating the corrosive and toxic propellants thereby improving surface operations and reusability, and for increasing the performance of propulsion systems. The goals and objectives of the international team are to determine the gaps in technology that must be closed for LOx/Methane to be used in human exploration missions in cis-lunar, lunar, and Mars mission applications. An emphasis is placed on near term lunar lander applications with extensibility to Mars. Each agency provided a status of the substantial amount of Lox/Methane propulsion system development to date and their inputs on the gaps in the technology that are remaining. The gaps, which are now opportunities for collaboration, are then discussed.

show abstract

Section: E Jaxa (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency)mentioning

confidence: 99%

International Space Exploration Coordination Group Assessment of Technology Gaps for LOx/Methane Propulsion Systems for the Global Exploration Roadmap

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This COPV was procured and tested as part of a family of Pressurization system integrated with vehicle test bed vessels in 2007 5 , including cycle and burst testing (>10,500psi). This tank was also used in 2010 to test tank chill strategies and heat transfer properties in a thermal vacuum chamber at JSC, including cold-sinking the COPV to an LN2 tank using graphite straps to maintain helium tank temperature 6 .…”

Section: Helium Storage Vesselmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cold Helium Pressurization for Liquid Oxygen / Liquid Methane Propulsion Systems: Fully-Integrated Initial Hot-Fire Test Results

Morehead

Atwell²,

Melcher³

et al. 2016

52nd AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A prototype cold helium active pressurization system was incorporated into an existing liquid oxygen (LOX) / liquid methane (LCH4) prototype planetary lander and hot-fire tested to collect vehicle-level performance data. Results from this hot-fire test series were used to validate integrated models of the vehicle helium and propulsion systems and demonstrate system effectiveness for a throttling lander. Pressurization systems vary greatly in complexity and efficiency between vehicles, so a pressurization performance metric was also developed as a means to compare different active pressurization schemes. This implementation of an active repress system is an initial sizing draft. Refined implementations will be tested in the future, improving the general knowledge base for a cryogenic lander-based cold helium system.

show abstract

“…Integrating the main engine and RCS, however, requires that cryogenic propellants be fed to the RCEs. The design and operation of a cryogenic RCS feed-system using a thermodynamic vent system (using an expansion orifice) for chilling-in the feed-lines is discussed in a few references 12,13 . The cryogenic feed-system hardware is simple and lightweight, but the configuration necessitates that the engine be capable of operation in gas-gas, liquid-liquid, and two phase regimes.…”

Section: Introduction and Background On O2/ch4 Propellant Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and Flight Operation of a 5 lbf to 20 lbf O2/CH4 Roll Control Engine for Project Morpheus

McManamen¹,

Hurlbert²,

Kroeger³

2014

50th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The development and flight operation of a 22 N to 89 N (5 lbf to 20 lbf) O2/CH4 rocket engine is discussed herein. The Roll Control Engine (RCE) was designed by NASA JSC for the Project Morpheus flying vertical test bed and is fully integrated with the Morpheus main engine. Morpheus is a NASA Advanced Exploration System (AES) Project lead out of JSC. Several iterations of the RCE design have resolved some technical problems which are described in the present work. Over 20 flight tests have demonstrated that the Roll Control System (RCS) engines are reliable, capable of operation over a wide range of pressures (2400 kPa to 1000 kPa or 350 psig to 150 psig) and propellant temperatures (gas to liquid), and meet the control requirements for the vehicle. Information regarding ground turnaround and flight operational experience in the earth atmospheric environment is presented. The purpose of this work is to disseminate the knowledge that Project Morpheus has gained through research and development of this engine.Nomenclature Soff = FDIR fail off strike Ft = thrust force Isp = specific impulse Pc = chamber pressure Pin = engine inlet pressure Ptank = propellant tank pressure Q = volumetric flow rate Tin = engine inlet fluid temperature Tnoz = nozzle outer skin temperature Tsat = saturation temperature Ttank = propellant tank fluid temperature Vb = RCS bleed valve open command Vm = RCE main valve open command Acronyms CFM = cryogenic fluid management CG = center of gravity CNTRL = Morpheus control software EMI = electromagnetic interference FDIR = fault detection, isolation, and reconfiguration FFC = fuel film cooling ISRU = in-situ resource utilization MIB = minimum impulse bit MR = mass mixture ratio PCAD = propulsion and cryogenics advanced development PROP = Morpheus propulsion software RCE = roll control engine RCS = roll control system 1 Morpheus RCS Lead, Propulsion Branch, EP4, and AIAA Member.

show abstract

Characterization of a Thermodynamic Vent System (TVS) for an On Orbit Cryogenic Reaction Control Engine (RCE) Feed System

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

International Space Exploration Coordination Group Assessment of Technology Gaps for LOx/Methane Propulsion Systems for the Global Exploration Roadmap

International Space Exploration Coordination Group Assessment of Technology Gaps for LOx/Methane Propulsion Systems for the Global Exploration Roadmap

Cold Helium Pressurization for Liquid Oxygen / Liquid Methane Propulsion Systems: Fully-Integrated Initial Hot-Fire Test Results

Development and Flight Operation of a 5 lbf to 20 lbf O2/CH4 Roll Control Engine for Project Morpheus

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About