Mission type | Technology demonstrator |
---|---|
Operator | NASA |
COSPAR ID | 2019-036D |
SATCAT no. | 44342 |
Website | www |
Mission duration | Planned: 14 months [1] Final: 1 year, 3 months, 19 days |
Spacecraft properties | |
Bus | BCP-100 |
Manufacturer | Ball Aerospace |
Dry mass | 158 kg (348 lb) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 25 June 2019, 06:30 UTC [2] |
Rocket | Falcon Heavy |
Launch site | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A |
Contractor | SpaceX |
End of mission | |
Disposal | Deorbited |
Decay date | 14 October 2020 [3] |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Perigee altitude | 710 km (440 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 724 km (450 mi) |
Inclination | 24.0° |
The Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) was a NASA technology demonstrator project that tested a less toxic and higher performance/efficiency chemical propellant for next-generation launch vehicles and CubeSat spacecraft. [4] [5] [6] When compared to the present high-thrust and high-performance industry standard for orbital maneuvering systems, which for decades, have exclusively been reliant upon toxic hydrazine based propellant formulations, the "greener" hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN) monopropellant offers many advantages for future satellites, including longer mission durations, additional maneuverability, increased payload space and simplified launch processing. [4] [5] [7] The GPIM was managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and was part of NASA's Technology Demonstration Mission Program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate.
The Green Propellant Infusion Mission launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on 25 June 2019, on a test mission called Space Test Program 2 (STP-2). [8] The cost of the program was projected to be US$45 million. [9]
The propellant for this mission is hydroxylammonium nitrate (NH3OHNO3) fuel/oxidizer blend, also known as AF-M315E. [6] [10] Preliminary data indicates that it offers nearly 50% higher performance for a given propellant tank volume compared to a conventional monopropellant hydrazine system. [4] [6] [10] The Green Propellant Infusion Mission sought to improve overall propellant efficiency while reducing the toxic handling concerns associated with the highly toxic propellant hydrazine. [5] [11] The new propellant is an energetic ionic liquid. Ionic liquids are salt compounds in a liquid form whose molecules have either a positive or negative charge, which bonds them together more tightly and makes the liquid more stable. [12]
This new propellant is also expected to be significantly less harmful to the environment. [6] It is called a "green" fuel because when combusted, AF-M315E transforms into nontoxic gasses. [12] The AF-M315E propellant, nozzles and valves are being developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Glenn Research Center, with additional mission support from the USAF Space and Missile Systems Center and NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The Air Force licensed AF-M315E production to Digital Solid State Propulsion (DSSP) to supply the propellant to government and commercial customers. [13]
Following the success of GPIM, the AF-M315E propellent was renamed ASCENT (Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic) in preparation for commercial use and production. [14]
The GPIM system flew aboard the small Ball Configurable Platform 100 (BCP-100) spacecraft bus. [6] [11] Aerojet Rocketdyne was responsible for the development of the propulsion system payload, and the technology demonstration mission employed an Aerojet-developed advanced monopropellant payload module as the sole means of on-board propulsion. [10]
The Defense Department's Space Experiments Review board selected three payloads to be hosted aboard GPIM:
Once proven in flight, the project presents AF-M315E/ASCENT propellant and compatible tanks, valves and thrusters to NASA and the commercial spaceflight industry as "a viable, effective solution for future green propellant-based mission applications". [7] [11] According to NASA, the new propellant will be an enabling technology for commercial spaceports operating across the United States "permitting safer, faster and much less costly launch vehicle and spacecraft fuel loading operations." [5] The combined benefits of low toxicity and easy open-container handling shorten ground processing time from weeks to days, simplifying the launching of satellites. [5] The new fuel is 50% denser than hydrazine, [16] meaning more of it can be stored in containers of the same volume. It also has a lower freezing point, requiring less spacecraft power to maintain its temperature. [7]
In addition to its use on lighter satellites and rockets, the fuel's exceptional volumetric storage properties is also being assessed for military uses such as missile launches. [6]
Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. In-space propulsion exclusively deals with propulsion systems used in the vacuum of space and should not be confused with space launch or atmospheric entry.
A monopropellant rocket is a rocket that uses a single chemical as its propellant.
A resistojet is a method of spacecraft propulsion that provides thrust by heating a, typically non-reactive, fluid. Heating is usually achieved by sending electricity through a resistor consisting of a hot incandescent filament, with the expanded gas expelled through a conventional nozzle.
An arcjet rocket or arcjet thruster is a form of electrically powered spacecraft propulsion, in which an electrical discharge (arc) is created in a flow of propellant. This imparts additional energy to the propellant, so that one can extract more work out of each kilogram of propellant, at the expense of increased power consumption and (usually) higher cost. Also, the thrust levels available from typically used arcjet engines are very low compared with chemical engines.
A robotic spacecraft is an uncrewed spacecraft, usually under telerobotic control. A robotic spacecraft designed to make scientific research measurements is often called a space probe. Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather than crewed operation, due to lower cost and lower risk factors. In addition, some planetary destinations such as Venus or the vicinity of Jupiter are too hostile for human survival, given current technology. Outer planets such as Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are too distant to reach with current crewed spacecraft technology, so telerobotic probes are the only way to explore them.
A hypergolic propellant combination used in a rocket engine is one whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other.
The Centaur is a family of rocket propelled upper stages currently produced by U.S. launch service provider United Launch Alliance, with one main active version and one version under development. The 3.05 m (10.0 ft) diameter Common Centaur/Centaur III (as referenced in the infobox) flies as the upper stage of the Atlas V launch vehicle, and the 5.4 m (18 ft) diameter Centaur V is being developed as the upper stage of ULA's new Vulcan rocket. Centaur was the first rocket stage to use liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellants, a high-energy combination that is ideal for upper stages but has significant handling difficulties.
Monopropellants are propellants consisting of chemicals that release energy through exothermic chemical decomposition. The molecular bond energy of the monopropellant is released usually through use of a catalyst. This can be contrasted with bipropellants that release energy through the chemical reaction between an oxidizer and a fuel. While stable under defined storage conditions, monopropellants decompose very rapidly under certain other conditions to produce a large volume of its own energetic (hot) gases for the performance of mechanical work. Although solid deflagrants such as nitrocellulose, the most commonly used propellant in firearms, could be thought of as monopropellants, the term is usually reserved for liquids in engineering literature.
A propellant is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or other motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, the engine that expels the propellant is called a reaction engine. Although technically a propellant is the reaction mass used to create thrust, the term "propellant" is often used to describe a substance which is contains both the reaction mass and the fuel that holds the energy used to accelerate the reaction mass. For example, the term "propellant" is often used in chemical rocket design to describe a combined fuel/propellant, although the propellants should not be confused with the fuel that is used by an engine to produce the energy that expels the propellant. Even though the byproducts of substances used as fuel are also often used as a reaction mass to create the thrust, such as with a chemical rocket engine, propellant and fuel are two distinct concepts.
A solar thermal rocket is a theoretical spacecraft propulsion system that would make use of solar power to directly heat reaction mass, and therefore would not require an electrical generator, like most other forms of solar-powered propulsion do. The rocket would only have to carry the means of capturing solar energy, such as concentrators and mirrors. The heated propellant would be fed through a conventional rocket nozzle to produce thrust. Its engine thrust would be directly related to the surface area of the solar collector and to the local intensity of the solar radiation.
Aerozine 50 is a 50:50 mix by weight of hydrazine and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), originally developed in the late 1950s by Aerojet General Corporation as a storable, high-energy, hypergolic fuel for the Titan II ICBM rocket engines. Aerozine continues in wide use as a rocket fuel, typically with dinitrogen tetroxide as the oxidizer, with which it is hypergolic. Aerozine 50 is more stable than hydrazine alone, and has a higher density and boiling point than UDMH alone.
The highest specific impulse chemical rockets use liquid propellants. They can consist of a single chemical or a mix of two chemicals, called bipropellants. Bipropellants can further be divided into two categories; hypergolic propellants, which ignite when the fuel and oxidizer make contact, and non-hypergolic propellants which require an ignition source.
Aerojet was an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California, with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange and Gainesville in Virginia, and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet was owned by GenCorp. In 2013, Aerojet was merged by GenCorp with the former Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to form Aerojet Rocketdyne.
Hydroxylammonium nitrate or hydroxylamine nitrate (HAN) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula [NH3OH][NO3]. It is a salt derived from hydroxylamine and nitric acid. In its pure form, it is a colourless hygroscopic solid. It has potential to be used as a rocket propellant either as a solution in monopropellants or bipropellants. Hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN) based propellants are a viable and effective solution for future green propellant based missions, as it offers 50% higher performance for a given propellant tank compared to commercially used hydrazine.
The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), originally designated the Interim Upper Stage, was a two-stage, solid-fueled space launch system developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force beginning in 1976 for raising payloads from low Earth orbit to higher orbits or interplanetary trajectories following launch aboard a Titan 34D or Titan IV rocket as its upper stage, or from the payload bay of the Space Shuttle as a space tug.
Spacecraft electric propulsion is a type of spacecraft propulsion technique that uses electrostatic or electromagnetic fields to accelerate mass to high speed and thus generate thrust to modify the velocity of a spacecraft in orbit.
The Space Test Program (STP) is the primary provider of spaceflight for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) space science and technology community. STP is managed by a group within the Advanced Systems and Development Directorate, a directorate of the Space and Missile Systems Center of the United States Space Force. But STP is a DoD-wide organization. STP provides spaceflight via the International Space Station (ISS), piggybacks, secondary payloads and dedicated launch services.
An orbital propellant depot is a cache of propellant that is placed in orbit around Earth or another body to allow spacecraft or the transfer stage of the spacecraft to be fueled in space. It is one of the types of space resource depots that have been proposed for enabling infrastructure-based space exploration. Many different depot concepts exist depending on the type of fuel to be supplied, location, or type of depot which may also include a propellant tanker that delivers a single load to a spacecraft at a specified orbital location and then departs. In-space fuel depots are not necessarily located near or at a space station.
Nitrous oxide fuel blend propellants are a class of liquid rocket propellants that were intended in the early 2010s to be able to replace hydrazine as the standard storable rocket propellent in some applications.
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