caleb turner portland state university...met1 lox/lch4 engine meta4 lox/lch4 engine • lox/methane...
TRANSCRIPT
Caleb TurnerPortland State University
} Lander Concept Mission Statement◦ Develop propulsion system for robotic lander to take payloads to lunar
surface.◦ Joint venture between multiple orgs with the Advanced Concepts Office
leading project.◦ LOX, LCH4 propulsion system with helium pressurization system.
} LOX/LCH4 Engines◦ Proposed back in the 1960’s as alternative to LOX/Hydrogen ◦ Necessary technology in the field of chemical propulsion for Mars
missions ◦ Scope of this mission is only to lunar surface, Although it will prove
capabilities of LOX/LCH4 technologies
MET1 LOX/LCH4 Engine META4 LOX/LCH4 Engine
• LOX/Methane• 1K lbf (sea level)• 3D printed
components• Throttle Down to 50%
• LOX/Methane• 4K lbf (sea level)• Offers up to 7 K lbf power
level• Targeted Throttle Down
to 30%
} ROCket Engine Transient Simulation} Industry Standard Tool within NASA liquid propulsion branch
and commercial space organizations} A nodal network fluid analysis tool tailored for liquid rocket
engines
Fraction of user input files. Any ROCETS model is on the order of 10^5 lines of code.
META4 Single Engine Variant MET1 Four Engine Variant
• 3 Distinct burns that needed to be modeled for mission assurance:
• 142 second lunar orbit injection, 100% power• 181 second breaking burn, 100% power• 37 second approach burn, 50% power
} Heat Exchanger, RCS thruster, and MET1 Nozzle Extension CAD models.
• Simple thermal Model was created• Prescribed Constant temp of 5000 °C
on internal thrust cone geometry• Cryogenic Helium temp, roughly
-269°C, applied as boundary condition for internal channels
• Post analysis: channel geometry will need to be re-worked to avoid “hot spots”
• Further work must be conducted to fully characterize the engine model.
• Full mass estimates and component sizing needs to be conducted as well as component analysis.
• The effort to mature LOX/LCH4 technologies is a necessary effort to expand our reach in the solar system.
The Author would like to thank the Oregon Space Grant for the ability to attend an opportunity such
as this.