Integrated Pressure-Fed Liquid Oxygen / Methane Propulsion Systems - Morpheus Experience, MARE, and Future Applications
| Autor: | Robert L. Morehead, Eric A. Hurlbert, Matt Atwell, John C. Melcher |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Propellant
020301 aerospace & aeronautics Engineering Spacecraft business.industry Payload 02 engineering and technology Mars Exploration Program Propulsion 01 natural sciences Methane 010305 fluids & plasmas chemistry.chemical_compound 0203 mechanical engineering chemistry 0103 physical sciences Aerospace engineering Liquid oxygen business Life support system |
| Zdroj: | 52nd AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference. |
| DOI: | 10.2514/6.2016-4681 |
| Popis: | An integrated liquid oxygen (LOx) and methane propulsion system where common propellants are fed to the reaction control system and main engines offers advantages in performance, simplicity, reliability, and reusability. LOx/Methane provides new capabilities to use propellants that are manufactured on the Mars surface for ascent return and to integrate with power and life support systems. The clean burning, non-toxic, high vapor pressure propellants provide significant advantages for reliable ignition in a space vacuum, and for reliable safing or purging of a space-based vehicle. The NASA Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Morpheus lander demonstrated many of these key attributes as it completed over 65 tests including 15 flights through 2014. Morpheus is a prototype of LOx/Methane propellant lander vehicle with a fully integrated propulsion system. The Morpheus lander flight demonstrations led to the proposal to use LOx/Methane for a Discovery class mission, named Moon Aging Regolith Experiment (MARE) to land an in-situ science payload for Southwest Research Institute on the Lunar surface. Lox/Methane is extensible to human spacecraft for many transportation elements of a Mars architecture. This paper discusses LOx/Methane propulsion systems in regards to trade studies, the Morpheus project experience, the MARE NAVIS (NASA Autonomous Vehicle for In-situ Science) lander, and future possible applications. The paper also discusses technology research and development needs for Lox/Methane propulsion systems. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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