Author Topic: SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Launch Cutting-Edge NASA Space Tech  (Read 833 times)

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Online Elderberry

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SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Launch Cutting-Edge NASA Space Tech
« on: April 14, 2019, 06:20:04 pm »
Space.com By Elizabeth Howell 4/13/2019

NASA is planning to launch several experiments into space simultaneously, all of which aim to improve the design and performance of future spacecraft. The missions will blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of the U.S. Air Force's Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission. The current targeted launch date is sometime in June, according to Spaceflight Now; in the same statement, NASA said the Air Force and SpaceX will prepare for the launch in the next few months.

The Falcon Heavy will also loft NASA's Green Propellant Infusion Mission, which will test an alternative to the traditional chemical propulsion used in rockets. It will test a new fuel/oxidizer blend called hydroxyl ammonium nitrate, which, according to NASA, is safer to handle and better for the environment than hydrazine, a popular but toxic rocket engine fuel.

Rounding out NASA's planned cargo for the mission is the Deep Space Atomic Clock, which is a highly accurate timepiece that is expected to improve navigation, and the Space Environment Testbeds device, which examines how solar radiation near the Earth affects hardware on the spacecraft.

The nonprofit Planetary Society has also arranged to fly a payload on the STP-2 Falcon Heavy launch. That device, called LightSail, will test whether a cubesat can navigate into Earth orbit using a 344-square foot (32-square meter) solar-powered sail.

More: https://www.space.com/next-falcon-heavy-rocket-carries-nasa-payloads.html

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Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Launch Cutting-Edge NASA Space Tech
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2019, 07:13:27 pm »
According to Wiki, hydroxyl ammonium nitrate is 50% better performance than Hydrazine.  If it performs better I like it, despite the "green" designation.

I assume, if this is to be used for Falcon Heavy it's going to be liquid?
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Online Elderberry

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Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Launch Cutting-Edge NASA Space Tech
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2019, 07:31:04 pm »
No. The payload vehicle, the GPIM, is the user of the hydroxyl ammonium nitrate.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2019, 08:00:29 pm by Elderberry »

Online Elderberry

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Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Launch Cutting-Edge NASA Space Tech
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2019, 07:51:05 pm »

Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM)

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/green/index.html


Quote
Through the Green Propellant Infusion Mission, NASA is developing a green alternative to conventional chemical propulsion systems for next-generation launch vehicles and spacecraft. Led for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., the project seeks to improve overall propellant efficiency while reducing the handling concerns associated with the highly toxic fuel hydrazine. The space technology infusion mission also strives to optimize performance in new hardware, system and power solutions while ensuring the best value for investment and the safest space missions possible. The Green Propellant Infusion Mission is scheduled to launch in 2019.


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Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Launch Cutting-Edge NASA Space Tech
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2019, 07:58:20 pm »
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/greenpropellantinfusionmissionproject_2018.pdf

Quote
The GPIM project will demonstrate the practical capabilities of a Hydroxyl Ammonium Nitrate fuel/ oxidizer blend, known as “AF-M315E.”

 This in-novative, low-toxicity propellant, developed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., is a high-performance, green alternative to hydrazine.

AF-M315E also is expected to improve overall vehicle per-formance. It boasts a higher density than hydrazine, meaning more of it can be stored in containers of the same volume. In addition, it delivers a higher specific impulse, or thrust delivered per given quantity of fuel, and has a lower freezing point, requir-ing less spacecraft power to maintain a higher temperature range required for storing hydrazine. The GPIM payload will fly to space aboard a Ball compact small satellite or “smallsat.” During the test flight, researchers will conduct orbital maneuvers to demonstrate the performance of the propellant during attitude control shifts, changes in orbital inclination and orbit lowering. Once proven in flight, AF-M315E -- and compatible tanks, valves and thrusters -- will become a viable, effective solution for future green propellant-based mission applications for NASA and the commercial spaceflight industry.

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Re: SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Launch Cutting-Edge NASA Space Tech
« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2019, 08:14:24 pm »
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20140012587.pdf
Quote


 Payoff to NASA, Commercial and DoD Missions

NASA science missions place a special premium on performance, cost, robustness, and thermal requirements, all of which are enhanced by the use of GPIM’s AF-M315E propulsion technology. AF-M315E offers higher performance than hydrazine, yields 12% higher Isp (257 vs. 235 sec), and is 45% more dense (1.47 vs. 1.00 g/cc), affecting both reduced propellant and tank mass. A recent study showed significant benefits could be realized by using a high-performance, long-life hydrazine replacement for all of the three principal mission recommendations of the New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey (WFIRST, LISA, and IXO).7 The study found that an AF-M315E system would reduce the propellant mass of WFIRST by >160 kg, about 10%, with a corresponding reduction in system dry mass (due to reduced tankage) of >30%. Other case studies in the report illustrate similar percent-wise benefits for missions in lower energy HEO and LEO orbits. Aerojet Rocketdyne estimates that an AF-M315E-based descent stage on the Mars Science Laboratory would have enabled 58 kg increased landed mass for the 930-kg rover compared to the hydrazine system that was flown. In addition to reduced test and loading costs owed to its low toxicity, AF-M315E simplifies the safe design and development of propulsion systems compared to hydrazine. Since leakage of AF-M315E is rated as a critical rather than catastrophic failure, only single-fault-tolerance is required for safety in handling flight systems. This alone accounts for significant savings, as redundant components are eliminated, yielding simpler architectures. Further, simpler and much less expensive design and verification criteria govern flight-qualification of fracture-critical hardware (e.g., propellant tanks) for non-hazardous propellants such as AF-M315E compared to hydrazine. The aggregate potential impact of these and increased performance-related cost savings is highly mission-dependent, but has been evaluated to tens of millions of dollars for large space missions such as JUNO, MSL, and Europa; and to several million for more modest missions such as GRAIL and MRO8.

With its lower minimum temperature threshold, AF-M315E yields an additional advantage of mitigating operational concerns related to long-duration system thermal management. Whereas hydrazine space tanks and lines must be heated at all times to prevent freezing, AF-M315E cannot freeze (it has a glass transition). During long coast periods an AF-M315E propulsion system may be allowed to fall to very low temperatures and later reheated for operation without risk of line rupture by phase-change-induced expansion. This can be particularly beneficial to planetary spacecraft and planetary ascent vehicles, which can call for years of propellant storage in cold environments. For >1 AU interplanetary exploration missions, solar power is naturally more limited than for Earth-orbiting satellites; Equivalent solar power generation designs in Mars (e.g., MRO), Vesta (e.g., Dawn), and Jupiter (e.g., JUNO) orbits produce roughly 43%, 16%, and 3.7% of the electrical power they yield in Earth orbit, respectively. Tests also have demonstrated AF-M315E to has a significantly reduced sensitivity to adiabatic compression than hydrazine.

AF-M315E also offers comparable performance (densityIsp) to traditional storable bipropellants for low ΔV missions while employing roughly half the number of components, thereby retaining the well-established increased reliability and reduced cost of traditional monopropellants. Many design issues and failure modes associated with long-duration interplanetary missions (e.g. control of mixture ratio, of propellant vapor diffusion and reaction, oxidizer flow decay) do not apply to an equally capable AF-M315E system.
The cost savings of green propellants associated with simplified range operations are quantifiable. The average contractual cost to load a NASA mission with conventional propellants is $135,0008. The cost for loading with AF-M315E will be a small fraction of this, and the associated schedule significantly expedited. Per current conventions, propellant loading operations require one shift for setup in SCAPE, a second shift waiting for propellant test confirmations, a third shift or more for actual loading, and a final additional shift to break down the setup, during which all remaining launch processing staff must wait at costs exceeding $100k/day for a typical Class B NASA mission. Thus elimination of the interruption of launch processing associated toxic propellant loading can save more than $100k per launch and two shifts of schedule. Naturally, it follows that simplified range operations would equally benefit commercial users through lower launch costs. An early Aerojet Rocketdyne study evaluating replacement of hydrazine with a HAN-based advanced monopropellant for Centaur RCS on an Atlas launch vehicle concluded ground support costs of fueling could be reduced by two-thirds.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2019, 08:19:15 pm by Elderberry »