Caleb Turner Portland State University...MET1 LOX/LCH4 Engine META4 LOX/LCH4 Engine • LOX/Methane...

Caleb TurnerPortland State University

} Lander Concept Mission Statement◦ Develop propulsion system for robotic lander to take payloads to lunar

surface.◦ Joint venture between multiple orgs with the Advanced Concepts Office

leading project.◦ LOX, LCH4 propulsion system with helium pressurization system.

} LOX/LCH4 Engines◦ Proposed back in the 1960’s as alternative to LOX/Hydrogen ◦ Necessary technology in the field of chemical propulsion for Mars

missions ◦ Scope of this mission is only to lunar surface, Although it will prove

capabilities of LOX/LCH4 technologies

MET1 LOX/LCH4 Engine META4 LOX/LCH4 Engine

• LOX/Methane• 1K lbf (sea level)• 3D printed

components• Throttle Down to 50%

• LOX/Methane• 4K lbf (sea level)• Offers up to 7 K lbf power

level• Targeted Throttle Down

to 30%

} ROCket Engine Transient Simulation} Industry Standard Tool within NASA liquid propulsion branch

and commercial space organizations} A nodal network fluid analysis tool tailored for liquid rocket

engines

Fraction of user input files. Any ROCETS model is on the order of 10^5 lines of code.

META4 Single Engine Variant MET1 Four Engine Variant

• 3 Distinct burns that needed to be modeled for mission assurance:

• 142 second lunar orbit injection, 100% power• 181 second breaking burn, 100% power• 37 second approach burn, 50% power

} Heat Exchanger, RCS thruster, and MET1 Nozzle Extension CAD models.

• Simple thermal Model was created• Prescribed Constant temp of 5000 °C

on internal thrust cone geometry• Cryogenic Helium temp, roughly

-269°C, applied as boundary condition for internal channels

• Post analysis: channel geometry will need to be re-worked to avoid “hot spots”

• Further work must be conducted to fully characterize the engine model.

• Full mass estimates and component sizing needs to be conducted as well as component analysis.

• The effort to mature LOX/LCH4 technologies is a necessary effort to expand our reach in the solar system.

The Author would like to thank the Oregon Space Grant for the ability to attend an opportunity such

as this.