Hot-fire test demonstrations were successfully conducted using a cold helium pressurization system fully integrated into a liquid oxygen (LOX) / liquid methane (LCH4) propulsion system (Figure 1). Cold helium pressurant storage at near liquid nitrogen (LN2) temperatures (-275 F and colder) and used as a heated tank pressurant provides a substantial density advantage compared to ambient temperature storage. The increased storage density reduces helium pressurant tank size and mass, creating payload increases of ~35% for small lunar-lander sized applications. This degree of mass reduction also enables pressure-fed propulsion systems for human-rated Mars ascent vehicle designs. Hot-fire test results from the highly-instrumented test bed will be used to demonstrate system performance and validate integrated models of the helium and propulsion systems. A pressurization performance metric will also be developed as a means to compare different active pressurization schemes.


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    Title :

    Cold Helium Pressurization for Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Methane Propulsion Systems: Fully-Integrated Hot-Fire Test Results


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference ; 2016 ; Salt Lake City, UT, United States


    Publication date :

    2016-07-25


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English





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