High Performance Green Propulsion (HPGP): A Flight-Proven Capability and Cost Game-Changer for Small and Secondary Satellites Aaron Dinardi

Transcription

1 High Performance Green Propulsion (HPGP): A Flight-Proven Capability and Cost Game-Changer for Small and Secondary Satellites Aaron Dinardi 26 th AIAA/USU Small Satellite Conference 14 August 2012

2 Outline 1. HPGP Overview 2. PRISMA Two-Year Update 3. Benefits to Small Satellite Missions

3 Why Green Propulsion? Higher performance than monopropellant Hydrazine Reduced tank volume or Extended mission IMPROVED PERFORMANCE - Storable liquid monopropellant - Higher Specific Impulse and Density Impulse + INCREASED SAFETY - Low Sensitivity - Low Toxicity - Non-Carcinogenic - Environmentally Benign = Much less toxic than Hydrazine Reduced fueling cost LOWER MISSION COSTS - Simplified handling and transportation - Reduced cost for fueling operations - Compatible with available COTS hardware

4 HPGP Characteristics (as compared to hydrazine) Comparison Parameter Hydrazine HPGP (LMP-103S) Specific Impulse Reference 6% higher than hydrazine Density Reference 24% higher than hydrazine Stability Unstable (reactivity) Stable > 20 yrs (STANAG 4582) Toxicity Highly Toxic Low Toxicity (due to methanol) Carcinogenic Yes No Corrosive Yes No Flammable Vapors Yes No Environmental Hazard Yes No Sensitive to Air & Humidity Yes No SCAPE Required for Handling Yes No Storable Yes Yes (> 6.5 yrs, end-to-end test is ongoing) Freezing Point 1 C -90 C (-7 C saturation) Boiling Point 114 C 120 C Qualified Operating Temp Range 10 C to 50 C 10 C to 50 C (allows use of COTS hydrazine components) Operating Temp Range Capability 10 C to 50 C -5 C to 60 C Typical Blow-Down Ratio 4:1 4:1 Exhaust Gases Ammonia, nitrogen, hydrogen H 2 0 (50%), N 2 (23%), H 2 (16%), CO (6%), CO 2 (5%) Radiation Tolerance Reference Insensitive up to 100 krad (Cobalt 60) Shipping Class 8 / UN2029 (Forbidden on commercial aircraft) UN / DOT 1.4S (Permitted on commercial passenger aircraft)

5 Air Transport of LMP-103S Transport Classified as UN / US DOT 1.4S Aug 2009: Stockholm Kiruna (via commercial passenger aircraft) May 2010: Örebro Orsk (via cargo aircraft with the PRISMA satellites) Aug 2011: Stockholm Zurich London (via commercial passenger aircraft) 4. 6 Jun 2012: Göteborg Stockholm New York (via commercial passenger aircraft)

6 HPGP has been flight-proven to outperform hydrazine on the PRISMA mission Mango 3-axis stabilized Attitude Independent Orbit Control 100 m/s Delta-V 145 kg launch mass 2.6 m wing-span 3 propulsion systems 4 RF systems Tango 3-axis stabilized Solar Magnetic control No orbit control 40 kg launch mass (Artists Impression Courtesy of DLR)

7 HPGP In-Space Comparison with Hydrazine as seen during 2 years on PRISMA Specific Impulse and Density Impulse Comparison Steady-State Firing: I sp for last 10 s of 60 s firings 6-12 % Higher Isp than hydrazine % Higher Density Impulse than hydrazine Single Pulse Firing: T on : 50 ms 60 s First half of the mission % Higher Isp than hydrazine % Higher Density Impulse than hydrazine Pulse Mode Firing: T on : 50 ms 30 s Duty Factor: % 0-12 % Higher Isp than hydrazine % Higher Density Impulse than hydrazine Mission Average improvement with HPGP compared to hydrazine: - Isp + 8% - Density Impulse + 32%

8 Benefits to Small Satellite Missions: 1) Increased Performance 2) Simplified Handling & Transportation 30% higher performance allows: Longer mission lifetime (with same tank), or Smaller tank (for same V) o Waterfall mass reductions o Better utilization of limited volume & mass Efficient orbit raising and/or de-orbit Reduced propellant toxicity allows: Handling in facilities not rated for hydrazine o Launch sites o Universities and SMEs Air transport (commercial/passenger aircraft) o Shipment to launch site with s/c & GSE Fueling without SCAPE suits Increased responsiveness o Shorter launch campaigns o Shipment of pre-fueled satellites 3) Reduced Mission Costs Significant life-cycle cost reductions, due to: All of the blue highlighted items on this slide 4) Fewer Secondary/Rideshare Restrictions Non-Hazardous fueling operations allow: Reduced physical risk to primary satellites Parallel processing at launch site o Reduced schedule risk to primary satellites More launch opportunities

9 Benefit #1: Increased Performance Myriade Longer Mission Lifetime Astrium Space Transportation analyzed replacing hydrazine with HPGP on their existing Myriade platform ( kg), and concluded that for the same tank size: Up to 28% higher total impulse is achievable, resulting in 24% more V (blow-down dependent) Smaller Tank NASA GSFC analyzed the mass savings which would have been achieved on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (1,882 kg) if it had implemented HPGP instead of hydrazine, and concluded that: A 39% smaller tank (volume) and 26% less propellant (mass) could have been used, resulting in waterfall mass savings of 18.7% of the entire spacecraft s mass LRO mass savings with HPGP Orbit Raising and/or De-orbit Small satellites are often injected into sub-optimal orbits (due to being launched as secondary payloads), resulting in: Reduced mission lifetime (if injected too low), or If injected too high, and orbit decay timeframe exceeding the 25 year post-mission requirement Including a small COTS-based HPGP system can provide an effective way for small satellites to raise and/or lower their perigee

10 Benefit #2: Simplified Handling & Transportation Loading PRISMA with LMP-103S Loading PRISMA with Hydrazine For the PRIMSA launch campaign: The LMP-103S propellant was transported as air cargo, together with the satellites and associated GSE o Hydrazine was shipped separately, by rail/boat/truck HPGP fueling operations required only 3 working days (leak checks, fueling & pressurization, decontamination) All HPGP handling (loading & decontamination) was declared non-hazardous operations by Range Safety o o HPGP loading did not require SCAPE operations Only limited decontamination of the HPGP loading cart was required at the launch site: Hydrazine HPGP 470 kg toxic waste 3 kg non-toxic waste 29 kg propellant waste 1 kg propellant waste The costs for propellant, transportation and fueling of hydrazine were 3 times higher than those for HPGP

11 Benefit #3: Reduced Life-Cycle Costs A Non-Space Case Study 42% - 88% higher up-front costs than heritage technology options are offset by significant savings in other areas Source: Demonstration Assessment of Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Parking Lot Lighting, Prepared for the US Dept. of Energy by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, May 2011

12 HPGP vs. Hydrazine Cost Comparison Consideration Factors: (*Note: Positive values indicate HPGP cost savings over a hydrazine-based system) Conclusions: 1) Significant savings are achievable, even before all cost areas are accounted for. 2) Analyses must be performed on a mission-by-mission basis in order to determine if the transportation & launch processing cost savings are able to offset the higher material costs.

13 Example HPGP Cost Savings (vs. a comparable hydrazine system) Mission #1: Missions #3&4: 1a 1b 1c 3a 4a Mission #2: Missions #3&4: 2a 2b 2c 3b 4b Analysis includes: flight hardware, propellant (excluding transport) and satellite fueling (excluding waste disposal) Greater savings are able to be achieved from smaller tanks, propellant transportation and waste disposal

14 Conclusions HPGP eliminates or reduces the concerns which often preclude the inclusion of a liquid propulsion system on small satellite missions; thus enabling small satellites to achieve increased scientific utility The combined benefits of higher performance & simplified transportation/handling provided by HPGP allow satellite mass reductions and significantly reduced mission life-cycle costs (as compared with hydrazine-based systems of similar performance) When taken together, the many flight-proven benefits make HPGP a game changer for both increasing the capabilities and reducing the costs of small satellite missions Benefits to Small Satellites: Increased Performance Reduced Mission Costs Simplified Handling & Transportation Fewer Rideshare Restrictions

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16 Ammonium DiNitrimide (ADN) in liquid monopropellants ADN Energetic Material Highly Soluble Oxidizer Solvent Water Fuel Alcohols, acetone, ammonia LMP-103S monopropellant: ADN % Methanol % Ammonia 3-6 % Water balance (by weight) The family of ADN propellants was invented in 1997 by the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) and the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI). HPGP High Performance Green Propellant

17 ECAPS High Performance Green Propulsion 1 N 5 N 22 N 50 N 220 N Thrust 0.5 N 1 N 5 N 22 N 50 N 220 N Propellant LMP-103S LMP-103S LMP-103S LMP-103S LMP-103S LMP-103 Isp (Ns/kg) 2210* (~ 225 sec) Density Impulse (Ns/L) 2310* (~ 235 sec) 2450* (~ 250 sec) 2500* (~ 255 sec) 2515** (~ 255 sec) 2800** (~ sec) Status TRL 5 TRL 9 flight proven TRL 5 TRL 5 TRL 3 TRL 4/5 * Delivered steady-state vacuum specific impulse at MEOP and ε = 150:1 ** Predicted steady-state vacuum specific impulse at MEOP and ε = 150:1

18 Objective and Background: The PRISMA Mission Demonstration of technologies related to Formation Flying (FF) and Rendezvous in space Main satellite Mango and Target satellite Tango Demonstration of High Performance Green Propulsion (HPGP) system HPGP Flight Objectives: Demonstration of non-hazardous fueling operations and reduced fueling lead time of a high performance monopropellant First in-space demonstration of a high performance storable green monopropellant Deliver ΔV to the PRISMA mission Redundant propulsion system to hydrazine Perform Back-to-Back performance comparison with hydrazine Status: Launched clamped together on 15 Jun 2010 Tango separated from Mango on 11 Aug 2010 Nominal mission completed by mid-aug 2011 Mission extended into 2012 (still operational)

19 PRISMA (Mango) Propulsion Systems Hydrazine propulsion system: Six 1N thrusters Autonomous formation flying Autonomous rendezvous Homing Proximity operations HPGP propulsion system: Two 1N thrusters Specific HPGP experiments Formation flying maneuvers Co-operations with hydrazine Pressurant Service Valve GHe LMP-103S Propellant Service Valve Latch Valve Orifice Filter Pressure Transducer TS TS Thrusters *Hydrazine based Commercial Off The Shelf components

20 Additional Consideration: Hidden Hydrazine Costs Hydrazine Disposal Cost Analysis Note: The cumulative disposal charge translates to ~$29/pound of hydrazine. However, when categories 5 & 6 are combined, the cost can grow to more than 3x that