Feasibility of Orion Crew Module Entry on Half of Available Propellant Due to Tank Isolation Fault

The fuel tank isolation as a result of leak or rupture can leave an Orion Crew Module with only half of the loaded propellant for ISS return atmospheric entry. To assess the feasibility of returning under this condition, an analysis of various entry control options with deliberate degradation of control performance was performed. The study determined that a ballistic entry without a raise burn, a steeper flight path trajectory, relaxed atmospheric pitch/yaw rate damping, and degraded touchdown control could achieve 2-σ requirements compliance with a 2-σ fuel usage that is less than half of the liftoff propellant loading. The results of this analysis indicate that an entry with only half the nominal propellant load is feasible following a tank isolation fault.