Development of a Cold Gas Propulsion System for the ... - SSL - MIT

List of Figures
Figure 1-1. Ultra-precision landing [3]. ....................................................................................................... 20
Figure 2-1. Prototype vehicles competing in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. ............... 23
Figure 2-2. Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) in flight, 1964 [8]. ....................................................... 24
Figure 2-3. Diagram of ACAT lander prototype [10]. .................................................................................. 25
Figure 2-4. NASA robotic lunar lander testbeds using cold gas propulsion. ............................................... 26
Figure 2-5. USC LEAPFROG lunar lander testbed [16]. ............................................................................... 27
Figure 2-6. Comparison of ballistic and hover hop trajectories [18]. ......................................................... 30
Figure 2-7. Weight/mass of propulsion systems vs. total impulse delivered [24]. ..................................... 32
Figure 3-1. Scaling of TALARIS terrestrial hop compared to GLXP lunar hop [38]. ..................................... 41
Figure 3-2. TALARIS cold gas thruster geometry. ....................................................................................... 44
Figure 3-3. CGSE system schematic [38]. .................................................................................................... 46
Figure 4-1. Enthalpy relations for helium and nitrogen. ............................................................................. 54
Figure 4-2. CGSE MATLAB model flowchart. ............................................................................................... 60
Figure 4-3. CGSE thrust profile from an example run of the MATLAB model. ........................................... 62
Figure 4-4. Results of the example run of the CGSE MATLAB model. ........................................................ 64
Figure 4-5. Omega SV128 solenoid valve. ................................................................................................... 68
Figure 4-6. Tescom 44-1363-2122-408 regulator. ...................................................................................... 69
Figure 4-7. Drawing of CGSE nozzle [55]. .................................................................................................... 72
Figure 5-1. Measurements made in single-stream thruster characterization tests [38]. ........................... 74
Figure 5-2. Thruster and instrumentation for single-stream characterization tests. ................................. 75
Figure 5-3. First configuration for single-stream characterization tests. ................................................... 76
Figure 5-4. Second configuration for single-stream characterization tests. ............................................... 77
Figure 5-5. CGSE high side as constructed for single-stream characterization tests. ................................. 79
Figure 5-6. Third configuration for single-stream characterization tests [38]. ........................................... 79
Figure 5-7. Plots of single-stream thruster output vs. pressure [38]. ......................................................... 80
Figure 5-8. Impulse vs. pulse width for single-stream thruster producing 40 N maximum thrust [38]. .... 82
Figure 6-1. First-generation TALARIS vehicle (T-1), which did not include the CGSE. ................................ 83
Figure 6-2. TALARIS CGSE assembled in flight configuration on second-generation (T-2) structure [38]. . 85
Figure 6-3. Underside of the CGSE assembly [38]. ..................................................................................... 85
Figure 6-4. Original CGSE control circuit for a single thruster solenoid valve. ........................................... 88
Figure 6-5. Original CGSE control circuit for thruster solenoid valve with hardline dump. ....................... 89
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