Cold Helium Pressurization for Liquid Oxygen / Liquid Methane Propulsion Systems: Fully-Integrated Initial Hot-Fire Test Results
Author(s) -
Robert L. Morehead,
Matthew J. Atwell,
John C. Melcher,
Eric A. Hurlbert
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
52nd aiaa/sae/asee joint propulsion conference
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
DOI - 10.2514/6.2016-4682
Subject(s) - cabin pressurization , liquid oxygen , methane , helium , oxygen , nuclear engineering , propulsion , materials science , aerospace engineering , liquid helium , environmental science , petroleum engineering , engineering , chemistry , physics , atomic physics , organic chemistry
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.
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