Nozzle Contour Design for Space Propulsion Module

The Earth based Trojan asteroid, later named as 2010TK7, was discovered by the WISE (Wide field Infrared Survey Explorer) space telescope in the year 2010. This paper highlights the design of the propulsion system module which provides sufficient thrust for onward journey to the Trojan 2010TK7 after the injection of the spacecraft from the launch vehicle. The propulsion module after separated from the reentry module will hit the Trojan surface for creating a particle cloud and thereby assisting the sample collection. In this process, the propulsion module gets self-destroyed. The propulsion module and reentry module are kept inside the heat shield, and hence it is protected from all aerodynamic loads in atmospheric flight regime of the launch vehicle. The propulsion system design of the finalized configuration is followed by configuration design, engine design, and nozzle counter is developed by using method of characteristics (MOC) and analyzed using CFD++ software. Finally propellant quantity estimation will be performed in standard practice. The mission detailed in this work intends to perform a soft landing on the object, collecting some sample material and safely return it back to Earth for further scientific studies.