Related Research Articles
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.
An expendable launch system is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are either destroyed during reentry or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of several rocket stages that are discarded sequentially as their fuel is exhausted and the vehicle gains altitude and speed. As of 2022, most satellites and human spacecraft are currently launched on ELVs. ELVs are simpler in design than reusable launch systems and therefore may have a lower production cost. Furthermore, an ELV can use its entire fuel supply to accelerate its payload, offering greater payloads. ELVs are proven technology in widespread use for many decades.
The expander cycle is a power cycle of a bipropellant rocket engine. In this cycle, the fuel is used to cool the engine's combustion chamber, picking up heat and changing phase. The now heated and gaseous fuel then powers the turbine that drives the engine's fuel and oxidizer pumps before being injected into the combustion chamber and burned.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orbit, and is involved in many more advanced missions such as asteroid exploration and possible human exploration of the Moon. Its motto is One JAXA and its corporate slogan is Explore to Realize.
H-IIA (H-2A) is an active expendable launch system operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. These liquid fuel rockets have been used to launch satellites into geostationary orbit; lunar orbiting spacecraft; Akatsuki, which studied the planet Venus; and the Emirates Mars Mission, which was launched to Mars in July 2020. Launches occur at the Tanegashima Space Center. The H-IIA first flew in 2001. As of February 2024, H-IIA rockets were launched 48 times, including 42 consecutive missions without a failure, dating back to 29 November 2003.
The gas-generator cycle, also called open cycle, is one of the most commonly used power cycles in bipropellant liquid rocket engines. Part of the unburned propellant is burned in a gas generator and the resulting hot gas is used to power the propellant pumps before being exhausted overboard, and lost. Because of this loss, this type of engine is termed open cycle.
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 National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL), was established in July 1955. Originally known as the National Aeronautical Laboratory, it assumed its present name with the addition of the Aerospace Division in 1963. Since its establishment, it has pursued research on aircraft, rockets, and other aeronautical transportation systems, as well as peripheral technology. NAL was involved in the development of the autonomous ALFLEX aircraft and the cancelled HOPE-X spaceplane.
H-IIB (H2B) was an expendable space launch system jointly developed by the Japanese government's space agency JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It was used to launch the H-II Transfer Vehicle cargo spacecraft for the International Space Station. The H-IIB was a liquid-fueled rocket, with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. H-IIB made its first flight in 2009, and had made a total of nine flights through 2020 with no failures.
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 propulsion system is controlled by power electronics.
The LE-7 and its succeeding upgrade model the LE-7A are staged combustion cycle LH2/LOX liquid rocket engines produced in Japan for the H-II series of launch vehicles. Design and production work was all done domestically in Japan, the first major (main/first-stage) liquid rocket engine with that claim, in a collaborative effort from the National Space Development Agency (NASDA), Aerospace Engineering Laboratory (NAL), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Ishikawajima-Harima. NASDA and NAL have since been integrated into JAXA. However, a large part of the work was contracted to Mitsubishi, with Ishikawajima-Harima providing turbomachinery, and the engine is often referred to as the Mitsubishi LE-7(A).
The LE-5 liquid rocket engine and its derivative models were developed in Japan to meet the need for an upper stage propulsion system for the H-I and H-II series of launch vehicles. It is a bipropellant design, using LH2 and LOX. Primary design and production work was carried out by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. In terms of liquid rockets, it is a fairly small engine, both in size and thrust output, being in the 89 kN (20,000 lbf) and the more recent models the 130 kN (30,000 lbf) thrust class. The motor is capable of multiple restarts, due to a spark ignition system as opposed to the single use pyrotechnic or hypergolic igniters commonly used on some contemporary engines. Though rated for up to 16 starts and 40+ minutes of firing time, on the H-II the engine is considered expendable, being used for one flight and jettisoned. It is sometimes started only once for a nine-minute burn, but in missions to GTO the engine is often fired a second time to inject the payload into the higher orbit after a temporary low Earth orbit has been established.
A number of different spacecraft have been used to carry cargo to and from space stations.
The Epsilon Launch Vehicle, or Epsilon rocket, is a Japanese solid-fuel rocket designed to launch scientific satellites. It is a follow-on project to the larger and more expensive M-V rocket which was retired in 2006. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) began developing the Epsilon in 2007. It is capable of placing a 590 kg payload into Sun-synchronous orbit.
The H3 Launch Vehicle is a Japanese expendable launch system. H3 launch vehicles are liquid-propellant rockets with strap-on solid rocket boosters and are launched from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and JAXA are responsible for the design, manufacture, and operation of the H3. The H3 is the world's first rocket to use an expander bleed cycle for the first stage engine.
Sites for launching large rockets are often equipped with a sound suppression system to absorb or deflect acoustic energy generated during a rocket launch. As engine exhaust gasses exceed the speed of sound, they collide with the ambient air and shockwaves are created, with noise levels approaching 200 db. This energy can be reflected by the launch platform and pad surfaces, and could potentially cause damage to the launch vehicle, payload, and crew. For instance, the maximum admissible overall sound power level (OASPL) for payload integrity is approximately 145 db. Sound is dissipated by huge volumes of water distributed across the launch pad and launch platform during liftoff.
The MARC-60, also known as MB-60, MB-XX, and RS-73, is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine designed as a collaborative effort by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and US' Aerojet Rocketdyne. The engine burns cryogenic liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen in an open expander cycle, driving the turbopumps with waste heat from the main combustion process.
RAISE-3 is a smallsat for technology demonstration developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). Part of the Japanese space agency JAXA's Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program, RAISE-3 carried multiple technologies that were selected for in-orbit demonstration. RAISE-3 was launched on 12 October 2022 by an Epsilon rocket as the main satellite of Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-3, but the launch resulted in a failure and the satellite was lost.
Advanced Land Observing Satellite 3 (ALOS-3), also called Daichi 3, was a 3-ton Japanese satellite launched on March 7 2023. It was to succeed the optical sensor PRISM carried on the ALOS satellite, which operated from 2006 to 2011. The ALOS-2 satellite and the future ALOS-4 satellite carry synthetic-aperture radar.
References
- 1 2 Atsumi, Masahiro; Yoshikawa, Kimito; Ogawara, Akira; Onga, Tadaoki (December 2011). "Development of the LE-X Engine" (PDF). MHI Technical Review. 48 (4): 36–43. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-24. Retrieved 2015-07-08.
- 1 2 Kumada, Nobuhiko; Ogawara, Akira; Manako, Hiroyasu; Onga, Tadaoki; Sunakawa, Hideo; Kurosu, Akihide; Iizuka, Nobuyuki; Noda, Keiichiro; Okita, Koichi (2010-07-26). "Highly Reliable Design Approaches for Next Booster Engine LE-X" (PDF). 46th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit. 46 (AIAA 2010-6853). doi:10.2514/6.2010-6853. ISBN 978-1-60086-958-7. S2CID 110462567. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-12. Retrieved 2015-07-08.
- ↑ Watanabe, Daiki; Imai, Kazuhiro; Ogawara, Akira; Yamanishi, Nobuhiro; Neghishi, Hideyo; Kawatsu, Kaname; Kurosu, Akihide; Noda, Keiichiro (2011-07-31). "Application of High Fidelity Simulation to LE-X Engine Development" (PDF). 47th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit. 47 (AIAA 2011-5930). doi:10.2514/6.2011-5930. ISBN 978-1-60086-949-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-10. Retrieved 2015-07-08.
- ↑ Daiki, Watanabe; Manako, Hiroyasu; Onga, Tadaoki; Tamura, Takashi; Ikeda, Kazufumi; Isono, Mitsunori (December 2016). "Combustion Stability Improvement of LE-9 Engine for Booster Stage of H3 Launch Vehicle" (PDF). MHI Technical Review. 53 (4): 28–35. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-03-03. Retrieved 2017-06-29.
- ↑ "2020年：H3ロケットの目指す姿" [2020: H3 projected debut date](PDF) (in Japanese). JAXA. 2015-07-08. Retrieved 2015-07-08.
- ↑ LE-9 燃焼試験 (in Japanese). JAXA. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
- ↑ "H3ロケットの試験機1号機の打上げについて" (in Japanese). JAXA. January 21, 2022. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
- ↑ "Japan's new H3 rocket fails to reach orbit, self-destruct command issued ;Spacedaily".
- ↑ 打ち上げ成功 前回の失敗乗り越える. NHK. 17 February 2024
