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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1975

Description of the Space Shuttle Reaction Control System

The Space Shuttle RCS (reaction control system) is required to provide propulsion thrust for precise attitude control and three-axis translation. This capability must be provided for external tank separation, on-orbit operation, deorbit, and reentry. In order to meet these requirements a bipropellant, pressure-fed system utilizing monomethylhydrazine as fuel, and nitrogen tetroxide as oxidizer has been selected. The RCS engines include 38 primary thrusters rated at 870 lbf thrust and 6 vernier thrusters rated at 25 lbf thrust. The system is divided into three removable modules (one forward and two aft) to achieve maintenance and turnaround requirements. In order to provide additional mission flexibility, the aft modules can be connected together or interconnected with the OMS (orbital maneuvering system).

Blevins, D. R.↗
NASA NTRS2013

30-kW SEP Spacecraft as Secondary Payloads for Low-Cost Deep Space Science Missions

The Solar Array System contracts awarded by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate are developing solar arrays in the 30 kW to 50 kW power range (beginning of life at 1 AU) that have significantly higher specific powers (W/kg) and much smaller stowed volumes than conventional rigid-panel arrays. The successful development of these solar array technologies has the potential to enable new types of solar electric propulsion (SEP) vehicles and missions. This paper describes a 30-kW electric propulsion vehicle built into an EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring. The system uses an ESPA ring as the primary structure and packages two 15-kW Megaflex solar array wings, two 14-kW Hall thrusters, a hydrazine Reaction Control Subsystem (RCS), 220 kg of xenon, 26 kg of hydrazine, and an avionics module that contains all of the rest of the spacecraft bus functions and the instrument suite. Direct-drive is used to maximize the propulsion subsystem efficiency and minimize the resulting waste heat and required radiator area. This is critical for packaging a high-power spacecraft into a very small volume. The fully-margined system dry mass would be approximately 1120 kg. This is not a small dry mass for a Discovery-class spacecraft, for example, the Dawn spacecraft dry mass was only about 750 kg. But the Dawn electric propulsion subsystem could process a maximum input power of 2.5 kW, and this spacecraft would process 28 kW, an increase of more than a factor of ten. With direct-drive the specific impulse would be limited to about 2,000 s assuming a nominal solar array output voltage of 300 V. The resulting spacecraft would have a beginning of life acceleration that is more than an order of magnitude greater than the Dawn spacecraft. Since the spacecraft would be built into an ESPA ring it could be launched as a secondary payload to a geosynchronous transfer orbit significantly reducing the launch costs for a planetary spacecraft. The SEP system would perform the escape from Earth and then the heliocentric transfer to the science target.

Dawn spacecraft↗
NASA NTRS2017

Characterization of a Pressure-Fed LOX/LCH4 Reaction Control System Under Simulated Altitude and Thermal Vacuum Conditions

A liquid oxygen, liquid methane (LOX/LCH4) reaction control system (RCS) was tested at NASA Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook Station in the Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility (B-2) under simulated altitude and thermal vacuum conditions. The RCS is a subsystem of the Integrated Cryogenic Propulsion Test Article (ICPTA) and was initially developed under Project Morpheus. Composed of two 28 lbf-thrust and two 7 lbf-thrust engines, the RCS is fed in parallel with the ICPTA main engine from four propellant tanks. 40 tests consisting of 1,010 individual thruster pulses were performed across 6 different test days. Major test objectives were focused on system dynamics, and included characterization of fluid transients, manifold priming, manifold thermal conditioning, thermodynamic vent system (TVS) performance, and main engine/RCS interaction. Peak surge pressures from valve opening and closing events were examined. It was determined that these events were impacted significantly by vapor cavity formation and collapse. In most cases the valve opening transient was more severe than the valve closing. Under thermal vacuum conditions it was shown that TVS operation is unnecessary to maintain liquid conditions at the thruster inlets. However, under higher heat leak environments the RCS can still be operated in a self-conditioning mode without overboard TVS venting, contingent upon the engines managing a range of potentially severe thermal transients. Lastly, during testing under cold thermal conditions the engines experienced significant ignition problems. Only after warming the thruster bodies with a gaseous nitrogen purge to an intermediate temperature was successful ignition demonstrated.

Atwell, Matthew J.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Space Shuttle reaction control system thruster metal nitrate removal and characterization

The Space Shuttle hypergolic primary reaction control system (PRCS) thrusters continue to fail-leak or fail-off at a rate of approximately 1.5 per flight, attributed primarily to metal nitrate formation in the nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) pilot operated valves (POV's). The failures have continued despite ground support equipment (GSE) and subsystem operational improvements. As a result, the Johnson Space Center (JSC) White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) performed a study to characterize the contamination in the N204 valves. This study prompted the development and implementation of a highly successful flushing technique using deionized (DI) water and gaseous nitrogen (GN2) to remove the contamination while minimizing Teflon seat damage. Following flushing a comprehensive acceptance test is performed before the thruster is deemed recovered. Between the time WSTF was certified to process flight thrusters (March 1992) and September 1993, a 68 percent thruster recovery rate was achieved. The contamination flushed from these thrusters was analyzed and has provided insight into the corrosion process, which is reported in this publication. Additionally, the long-term performance of 24 flushed thrusters installed in the WSTF Fleet Leader Shuttle reaction control subsystem (RCS) test articles is being assessed. WSTF continues to flush flight and test article thrusters and compile data to investigate metal nitrate formation characteristics in leaking and nonleaking valves.

Saulsberry, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Reducing Pointing Errors During Cassini Reaction Control System Orbit Trim Maneuvers

The effect of altering a gain parameter in the Cassini reaction control system (RCS) delta-V controller on the maneuver execution errors during orbit trim maneuvers (OTMs) is explored. Cassini consists of two reaction control thruster branches (A & B) each with eight thrusters. Currently, the B-branch is operational while the A-branch serves as a back-up. The four Z-thrusters control the X and Y-axes, while the four Y-thrusters control the Z-axis. During an OTM, the Z-thrusters fire to maintain the X and Y-axes pointing within an attitude control dead-zone (-10 to 10 milliradians). The errors do not remain at zero due to pointing error sources such as spacecraft center of mass offset from the geometric center of the Z-facing thrusters, and variability in the thruster forces due to the thruster hardware differences. The delta-V reaction control system (RCS) controller ensures that the attitude error remains within this dead-zone. Gain parameters within the RCS delta-V controller affect the maneuver execution errors. Different parameter values are used to explore effect on these errors. It is found that pointing error decreases and magnitude error increases rapidly for gain parameters 10 times greater than the current parameter values used in the flight software.

European Space Agency (ESA)↗
NASA NTRS2012

Thermodynamic Vent System for an On-Orbit Cryogenic Reaction Control Engine

A report discusses a cryogenic reaction control system (RCS) that integrates a Joule-Thompson (JT) device (expansion valve) and thermodynamic vent system (TVS) with a cryogenic distribution system to allow fine control of the propellant quality (subcooled liquid) during operation of the device. It enables zero-venting when coupled with an RCS engine. The proper attachment locations and sizing of the orifice are required with the propellant distribution line to facilitate line conditioning. During operations, system instrumentation was strategically installed along the distribution/TVS line assembly, and temperature control bands were identified. A sub-scale run tank, full-scale distribution line, open-loop TVS, and a combination of procured and custom-fabricated cryogenic components were used in the cryogenic RCS build-up. Simulated on-orbit activation and thruster firing profiles were performed to quantify system heat gain and evaluate the TVS s capability to maintain the required propellant conditions at the inlet to the engine valves. Test data determined that a small control valve, such as a piezoelectric, is optimal to provide continuously the required thermal control. The data obtained from testing has also assisted with the development of fluid and thermal models of an RCS to refine integrated cryogenic propulsion system designs. This system allows a liquid oxygenbased main propulsion and reaction control system for a spacecraft, which improves performance, safety, and cost over conventional hypergolic systems due to higher performance, use of nontoxic propellants, potential for integration with life support and power subsystems, and compatibility with in-situ produced propellants.

Hurlbert, Eric A.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Dawn Spacecraft Reaction Control System Flight Experience

The NASA Dawn spacecraft mission is studying conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch by investigating two protoplanets remaining intact since their formations, Ceres and Vesta. Launch was in 2007. Ion propulsion is used to fly to and enter orbit around Vesta, depart Vesta and fly to Ceres, and enter orbit around Ceres. A conventional blowdown hydrazine reaction control system (RCS) is used to provide external torques for attitude control. Reaction wheel assemblies were intended to provide attitude control in most cases. However, the spacecraft experienced one, then two apparent failures of reaction wheels. Also, similar thrusters experienced degradation in a long life application on another spacecraft. Those factors led to RCS being operated in ways completely different than anticipated prior to launch. Numerous mitigations and developments needed to be implemented. The Vesta mission was fully successful. Even with the compromises necessary due to those anomalies, the Ceres mission is also projected to be feasible.

Mizukami, Masashi↗
NASA NTRS2012

Entry Atmospheric Flight Control Authority Impacts on GN and C and Trajectory Performance for Orion Exploration Flight Test 1

One of the key design objectives of NASA's Orion Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1) is to execute a guided entry trajectory demonstrating GN&C capability. The focus of this paper is the ight control authority of the vehicle throughout the atmospheric entry ight to the target landing site and its impacts on GN&C, parachute deployment, and integrated performance. The vehicle's attitude control authority is obtained from thrusting 12 Re- action Control System (RCS) engines, with four engines to control yaw, four engines to control pitch, and four engines to control roll. The static and dynamic stability derivatives of the vehicle are determined to assess the inherent aerodynamic stability. The aerodynamic moments at various locations in the entry trajectory are calculated and compared to the available torque provided by the RCS system. Interaction between the vehicle's RCS engine plumes and the aerodynamic conditions are considered to assess thruster effectiveness. This document presents an assessment of Orion's ight control authority and its effectiveness in controlling the vehicle during critical events in the atmospheric entry trajectory.

McNamara, Luke W.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Autonomous Constrained Control for Arbitrary Thruster Configurations of Gimbaling Thrusters in SE(3)

In order to develop robust autonomy in spacecraft, it is desirable to develop methods for guiding and controlling arbitrarily-configured spacecraft with any combination of thrusters of various types, i.e. either static reaction control system thrusters and gimbaling thrusters. Scenarios in which autonomous selection of thrusters may be needed include the case of a stuck or inhibited thruster that restricts the motion of the vehicle, vehicles with changing mass properties such as logistics modules or tugs, or vehicles that have imposed constraints on thrusters during docking in order to avoid plume impingement on a space station or adjacent spacecraft. To that end, a spacecraft must be able to rapidly and autonomously reconfigure thruster firing histories and update guidance protocols in accordance with newly imposed constraints. In this paper, a methodology is presented that enables a spacecraft to autonomously select thrusters of any configuration and type in order to optimally match a desired 6-degree-of-freedom navigation and control within the special Euclidean SE(3) framework. The residual motion imposed by off-nominal thruster configurations or thrusters that are not fully controllable is identified by the spacecraft and solved for over time, both for static reaction control systems and for the case of gimbaling thrusters.

GN&C↗
NASA NTRS1975

Monopropellant engine investigation for space shuttle reaction control system, volume 1

The results are presented of an investigation to determine the capability of a monopropellant hydrazine thruster to meet the requirements specified for the space shuttle reaction control system (RCS). Of those requirements, the major concern was whether the 100,000 seconds life could be achieved at thrust levels within the specified range. Although burn times in excess of 200,000 seconds have been demonstrated at low thrust levels, the corresponding total impulse values have been substantially lower than that required for the space shuttle RCS. Two other areas of concern, involving the catalyst, were: (1) the effects of the relatively high vehicle vibration levels on catalyst attrition and (2) the effect of exposure of the catalyst to air during atmospheric reentry of the vehicle.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2018

Skimming through Saturn's Atmosphere: The Climax of the Cassini Grand Finale Mission

On September 15, 2017, the long-lived Cassini Mission to Saturn came to a triumphant end as the Cassini orbiter plunged deep into Saturn’s atmosphere, all the while transmitting engineering and science data back to Earth before Saturn’s atmosphere destroyed the orbiter. Even before the final plunge, the Cassini spacecraft became the first spacecraft to successfully skim Saturn’s atmosphere and collect atmospheric data during its final five complete orbits around Saturn (Rev-288 through Rev-292). During those five final orbits, the spacecraft was flying in Reaction Control Subsystem (RCS) control in order to maintain greater control authority. Therefore, by analyzing the thruster on-time flight data telemetered back to Earth after each orbit, atmospheric density estimates can be extracted. This paper proposes a method of using Cassini Attitude Control Flight Data to reconstruct Saturn atmospheric density profiles for each of the five final orbits around Saturn.

Andrade, Luis G.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Accelerations experienced during low-G flight of Black Brant VC (NAS 21.015) on 4 October 1974

This investigation was to determine whether a Black Brant VC (BBVC) sounding rocket equipped with the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) rate control system (RCS) would produce g-levels which are satisfactory for space processing. Accelerations measured by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) low-g accelerometer system (LGAS) were compared with accelerations calculated from measured payload RCS gyro data during a low-g flight of BBVC NAS 21.015 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., on October 4, 1974. Accelerations of up to 0.0002 g existed at the LGAS accelerometers from 70 through 420 sec (5.8 min), with the exception of a spike at 101 sec of 0.0004 g which occurred when the RCS was activated the second time. Accelerations of 0.0001 g existed from 140 through 400 sec (4.3 min). Accelerations of 0.0002 g along the roll axis up to 150 sec and of 0.0015 g in the lateral plane at about 135 sec are being investigated by GSFC. They may be associated with leaking thruster valves or a leak in one of the heat pipe experiments. The vehicle rate buildup each time after the RCS nulls out are also being investigated by GSFC. This rate caused most of the 0.0001 g acceleration experienced after 150 sec into the flight. Aerodynamic drag produced no significant accelerations after about 80 sec. The principal conclusion was that the BBVC with the GSFC RCS produces g-levels satisfactory for space processing.

Kissel, R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Aeroassisted orbital transfer vehicle control technology

The focus of this control has been to develop the control technology required to identify the sophistication required for the Aeroassisted Orbital Transfer Vehicle (AOTV) control system. An angle of attack, bank angle command control technique has been developed which uses either on-off thruster or proportional thruster. An angle of attack adaptive controller was included to minimize the reactor control system (RCS) usage due to payload center of gravity uncertainties. The guidance and control techniques were verified using a detail six degrees-of-freedom simulation. Mission sensitivity was developed for uncertainties in the entry state, mass properties, atmosphere, aerodynamic, and sensor.

Langehough, M. A.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA): Analysis of the reaction control system, volume 1

The results of the Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA) of the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Critical Items List (CIL) are presented. The IOA approach features a top-down analysis of the hardware to determine failure modes, criticality, and potential critical items. To preserve independence, this analysis was accomplished without reliance upon the results contained within the NASA FMEA/CIL documentation. This report documents the independent analysis results for the Reaction Control System (RCS). The purpose of the RCS is to provide thrust in and about the X, Y, Z axes for External Tank (ET) separation; orbit insertion maneuvers; orbit translation maneuvers; on-orbit attitude control; rendezvous; proximity operations (payload deploy and capture); deorbit maneuvers; and abort attitude control. The RCS is situated in three independent modules, one forward in the orbiter nose and one in each OMS/RCS pod. Each RCS module consists of the following subsystems: Helium Pressurization Subsystem; Propellant Storage and Distribution Subsystem; Thruster Subsystem; and Electrical Power Distribution and Control Subsystem. Of the failure modes analyzed, 307 could potentially result in a loss of life and/or loss of vehicle.

Burkemper, V. J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA): Analysis of the reaction control system, volume 2

The results of the Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA) of the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Critical Items List (CIL) are presented. The IOA approach features a top-down analysis of the hardware to determine failure modes, criticality, and potential critical items. To preserve independence, this analysis was accomplished without reliance upon the results contained within the NASA FMEA/CIL documentation. This report documents the independent analysis results for the Reaction Control System (RCS). The RCS is situated in three independent modules, one forward in the orbiter nose and one in each OMS/RCS pod. Each RCS module consists of the following subsystems: Helium Pressurization Subsystem; Propellant Storage and Distribution Subsystem; Thruster Subsystem; and Electrical Power Distribution and Control Subsystem. Volume 2 continues the presentation of IOA analysis worksheets.

Burkemper, V. J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA): Analysis of the reaction control system, volume 3

The results of the Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA) of the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Critical Items List (CIL) are presented. The IOA approach features a top-down analysis of the hardware to determine failure modes, criticality, and potential critical items. To preserve independence, this analysis was accomplished without reliance upon the results contained within the NASA FMEA/CIL documentation. This report documents the independent analysis results for the Reaction Control System (RCS). The RCS is situated in three independent modules, one forward in the orbiter nose and one in each OMS/RCS pod. Each RCS module consists of the following subsystems: Helium Pressurization Subsystem; Propellant Storage and Distribution Subsystem; Thruster Subsystem; and Electrical Power Distribution and Control Subsystem. Volume 3 continues the presentation of IOA analysis worksheets and the potential critical items list.

Burkemper, V. J.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Artemis I Orion ESM Propulsion System Engine Performance

NASA's Orion spacecraft transports humans and cargo into cislunar space for the Artemis program. The European Service Module (ESM), supplied by ESA and its European industry partners, provides Orion with power and in-space propulsion. The Orion-ESM propulsion system is a bipropellant hypergolic propulsion system using monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) and nitrogen tetroxide (MON-3). Primary translational propulsion is provided by the Orbital Maneuvering System Engine(OMS-E), with backup translational propulsion provided by eight Auxiliary thrusters (AUX). Attitude control and small translational maneuvers are provided by twenty four Reaction Control System (RCS) engines. The 2022 Artemis I mission was the first integrated flight test of the Orion-ESM spacecraft and its propulsion system. The OMS-E used on Artemis I was a refurbished Space Shuttle OMS-E that previously flew on nineteen missions ranging f rom STS-41G in 1984 to STS-112 in 2002. The Auxiliary engines are modified Aerojet Rocketdyne R4D-11 engines produced specifically for the Orion program. The RCS engines are Ariane Group engines originally used for the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) program. This paper will discuss the unique operational requirements for each engine on Orion and the development and qualification effort sat both the engine and system-level that were completed to enable a successful Artemis I mission. Next the paper will evaluate the in-f light performance of the engines during the Artemis I mission showing nominal performance as expected. Additionally, comparisons to models will be presented showing very good correlation. Finally, the paper will address the plan for the engines on future Orion missions and the evolution of the system operation.

liquid propulsion systems↗