Vega Solid Rocket Motors Development and Qualification

Bianchi, Stefano; Serraglia, Ferruccio; Giliberti, Francesco; Betti, F.; Milana, Claudio

doi:10.2514/6.2010-7084

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Concerning the initial nozzle throat area, the initial burning surface value, and the burning rate of the SRMs, some iterations have been performed in order to obtain values similar to the the reference ones provided in the open literature (for VEGA solid stages SRMs, Zefiro 23 and Zefiro 9A, see Ref. 4 A resume of the characteristics of the selected baseline motor configurations for the propellant trade-off analysis (named II stage, III stage, and II stage OL) and their reference values (Zefiro SRMs) is provided in Tab. 1.…”

Section: Upper Stages Baseline Srms and Input Set-upmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2, Zefiro 40 (Z40), candidate for the evolution of the VEGA second stage Zefiro 23. The SRMs share the same finocyl configuration, the same propellant formulation HTPB 1912 (19 % aluminum -12 % HTPB), the same design characteristics and technologies, but have different sizes and performance [2][3][4] , due to their different mission profiles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Propellant Trade-off Analysis for Upper Stage Solid Rocket Motors Performance

Cavallini

Bianchi²,

Favini

et al. 2013

49th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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Aim of this paper is to perform a propellant trade-off analysis in order to determine the propellant formulation able to maximize solid rocket motor performance for upper stage solid rocket motors (SRMs). The study is performed with the use of a 0D quasi-steady model of SRM internal ballistics developed on this purpose, which assumes the chemicalequilibrium in the combustion chamber up to the nozzle throat, frozen flow conditions in the nozzle divergent, and takes into account the nozzle throat erosion using a validated semi-empirical correlation of the throat recession rate. Three different upper stage SRM configurations are selected for the propellant trade-off analysis. The SRM configurations are inspired in terms of design to the available data in the open literature of three Zefiro family SRMs: Zefiro 23 and Zefiro 9A, second and third stage of VEGA launcher, and Zefiro 40, candidate for the evolution of Zefiro 23. Results indicate that, with respect to the baseline propellant HTPB 1912 (19 % aluminum -12 % HTPB), a gain in the performance can be obtained for propellant formulation with a higher aluminum loading and roughly the same HTPB mass fraction. The optimum aluminum loading increases with respect to the baseline formulation for SRM configurations characterized by high nozzle throat erosion.

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Section: Upper Stages Baseline Srms and Input Set-upmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Propellant Trade-off Analysis for Upper Stage Solid Rocket Motors Performance

Cavallini

Bianchi²,

Favini

et al. 2013

49th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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“…Tailored for small payloads and low earth orbit missions, VEGA is a singlebody four-staged launcher with three solid propellant rockets (SRMs -solid rocket motors) and one liquid propulsion upper module. The three SRMs, the first stage P80 (Europropulsion), the second Zefiro 23 (Avio Group) and the third Zefiro 9 (Avio Group) share the same finocyl configuration, characteristics and innovative technologies, having different sizes and performance tailored to the target mission requirements and constraints 1,2 . In the frame of the VEGA launcher development activities, for the three solid stages, eight static firing tests (SFTs) have been performed of VEGA SRMs: two for P80 (P80 DM and P80 QM) at CSG in French Guyane; two for Z23 (Z23 DM and Z23 QM) and four for Z9 (Z9 DM, Z9 QM, Z9 QM2, Z9 VT and Z9 VT2) at Salto di Quirra, Sardinia, Italy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis and Performance Reconstruction of VEGA Solid Rocket Motors Qualification Flights

Cavallini¹,

Favini²,

Neri³

2014

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

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VEGA is the launch vehicle developed by the European Space Agency, qualified with its first two maiden flights on February, 13rd 2012 and on May, 7th 2013 and recently delivered to the commercial market with the third flight held on April, 30th 2014.\ud During the launcher development, a total of eight static firing tests have been performed for the three solid stages, which compose the launcher: the first stage P80, the second stage Zefiro 23 and the third stage Z9.\ud In this work, the analysis and performance reconstruction of the solid rocket motors of the VEGA launch vehicle for the two qualification flights is carried out with a post-firing reconstruction model, developed for the purpose.\ud The aim is to use the measures acquired during the flights and the experience gained from the static firing tests analysis, in order to evaluate the actual behavior of the VEGA solid stages, through the non-ideal parameters: combustion efficiency, thrust efficiency, hump, scale factor and nozzle throat erosion law, which define the actual performance parameters of the solid rocket motors.\ud The purpose of the work is to assess the SRMs performance parameters from the flight data, comparing the outcomes of the flight data analysis with the ones provided by the static firing test data analysis.\ud The final aim is to consolidate the methodology for the analysis and reconstruction of the solid stage flight data, in order to define/characterize the scattering of the motor performance, reducing the uncertainties for the prediction methodologies in the upcoming and following VEGA flights

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“…The ETP is realized by a low density EPDM (i.e. ethylene propylene diene monomer) rubber filled with aramid fibers and glass micro-spheres (Bianchi, 2005;Gori et al, 2008;Bianchi et al, 2010;Ravishankar, 2012). The technology for the application of the thermal insulation is an improved semi-automatic tape wrapping called PTS TM : the rubber tape, supported with an aramid roving, is wrapped onto the filament winding mandrel after positioning the insulated polar bosses and stress relief flaps.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lumped parameter modelling for the thermal analysis of the launch vehicle Vega C

Olivero

Ferrai

Pantaleone

et al. 2018

AEAT

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Purpose This activity dealt with the thermal analysis of the launch vehicle Vega C through a lumped parameter model. The Vega C is the upgrade of the actual launch vehicle Vega within the Vega Consolidation and Evolution Program, whose objective is to develop a consolidated – hence the C – version of the Vega by 2020. The main aim of the study was verifying the thickness of the external thermal protection of the launch vehicle, such that the structure and equipment temperatures were kept within their operating ranges. Design/methodology/approach The analysis has been performed by means of ESATAN–TMS during a time-frame that included the stand-by on ground phase and a flight phase up to the separation of the second stage from the third one. Two operating conditions have been considered, i.e. the worst hot and worst cold cases. The study has been divided as follows: geometry definition through spatial discretization; application of materials and optical properties; application of thermal loads; thermal analysis; and post-processing of the results in ThermNV. Findings It was concluded that the calculated temperatures were within the supposed project specifications, while their trends reflected the expected behavior. Originality/value During the flight phase, the mutual separation of the investigated stages has been explicitly modelled through a routine specifically developed for this purpose. Therefore, the submodels of each stage have been disabled at the correct instant according to the known time-sheet.

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Vega Solid Rocket Motors Development and Qualification

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

Propellant Trade-off Analysis for Upper Stage Solid Rocket Motors Performance

Propellant Trade-off Analysis for Upper Stage Solid Rocket Motors Performance

Analysis and Performance Reconstruction of VEGA Solid Rocket Motors Qualification Flights

Lumped parameter modelling for the thermal analysis of the launch vehicle Vega C

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