Propellants helium saturated efforts and its effects for HTV(H-II transfer vehicle) propulsion system ground firing tests

It is well known that helium saturated propellants significantly effects the dynamics of propulsion system, thruster cross coupling, water hammer and thruster performance. Especially for the propulsion systems, which have multiple high thrust engines, such as HTV(H-II transfer vehicle), the effect is more important. Therefore full-saturated propellants should be used at ground tests of HTV propulsion system and evaluate its effects. HTV is an advanced space vehicle being developed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) to enhance cargo delivery capabilities of the fleet of vehicles visiting the International Space Station(ISS). This paper presents an overview of the successful effort of the testing with saturated propellants(MMH/MON3) for HTV propulsion system during the ground firing tests.