High Thrust to Weight Bipropellant Reentry Vehicle Thrust Vector Control Thru Micro-Miniaturization
Abstract
These briefing charts represent a speech given by the author at the AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference held in Huntsville, Alabama, on 20-23 2003. The speech covered the following topics: the high thrust-to-weight ratios achievable through micro-miniaturization; the two candidate microthrusters that were investigated in this study (the MIT MEMS gas turbine bipropellant engine and the AFRL micronozzle); issues that diminish performance at reduced rocket engine lengths; effects of air drag on launch vehicle performance; microthruster combustion residence time analysis; MIT combustion analysis results using ethanol and oxygen; AFRL bimolecular chemical kinetics combustion model; AFRL activation energy data match--activation energy versus combustion temperature for ethanol/oxygen; determining minimum chamber size with MIT data and PRST bimolecular chemical kinetics model; experimental measurement of characteristic velocity versus chamber pressure for MIT microrocket; MIT microrocket ignition results for methane and oxygen; minimum chamber length versus chamber pressure for complete combustion; specific impulse performance at reduced engine characteristic lengths; application of high-T/W ratio bipropellant TVC to reentry vehicles (RVs) through micro-miniaturization; simplified RCS total impulse analysis applied to a full-scale maneuvering RV and a small-scale nano RV; dead-band tolerance limit cycle analysis to determine RCS propellant consumption rate; RV dead-band motion; RV reaction control system forces and moments; dependence of the jet thrust amplification factor, K(sub f), on temperature and molecular weight; minimum obtainable microjet thrust versus chamber length; and RV RCS mission impulse requirements for dead-band targeting motion. The final charts provide conclusions, caveats for using MEMS combustion results, and ideas for future work.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 23, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA416471
Entities
People
- Bill Figueiredo
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory