• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.60-71
• /
• 2022

The reusable, low-cost launch vehicle development trend in the recent launch vehicle market is being subdivided into several ways, and the throttleable engine is one of them. Plus, several nations have selected methane as a next-generation propellant due to its cleanness. In this research, a throttleable pintle injector using gas methane and liquid oxygen as propellants was developed, followed by its spray and combustion characteristics analysis, including high pressure cold and hot tests. The designed throttleable pintle injector has a double sleeve structure, and its tightness and functionality are confirmed through repetitive atmospheric, high-pressure cold tests, and hot tests. Though some design errors were discovered and a low throttling level was unable to be achieved in the combustion test.

• Journal of Satellite, Information and Communications
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.8-13
• /
• 2010

Satellite structure should be designed to accommodate and support safely the payload and equipments necessary for its own missions and to secure satellite and payloads from severe launch environments. The launch environments imposed on satellites are quasi-static accelerations, aerodynamic loads, acoustic loads and shock loads. Especially when optical payload is accommodated, satellite structure usually adopts the optical bench consisting of composite material not only to support and secure but also to guarantee good pointing stability against extreme thermal environments. This paper deals with optical bench and support structure which shall be designed to minimize the loads transferred to optical payloads from satellite.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.15-22
• /
• 2004

Acoustic load generated by rocket propulsion system is one of major dynamic loads during lift-off phase so that it causes the structural failure and electronic malfunction of payloads. Acoustic loads can be greatly reduced by an appropriate acoustical design of nose faring structures. This paper deals with the acoustical design of the nose fairing structure for launch vehicle. It is well known that a honeycomb sandwich structure is a poor sound insulator because of its high specific stiffness. In this paper, the sound transmission characteristics of four kinds of honeycomb structures for noise fairing were investigated by means of numerical and experimental ways. In order to estimate transmission loss, infinite plate theory by Moore and Lyon and statistical energy analysis (SEA) method were used. The predicted results showed a good agreement with measured ones. These enabled us to determine a proper core material for nose fairing, which shows good sound insulation performance per weight.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.211-234
• /
• 2009

North Korea conducted the launcher test, which, as North Korea claimed, belonged to the sovereign rights for the purpose of peaceful utilization and exploration of the outer space. The launching was allegedly done for the sole purpose of putting the satellite into earth orbit, while international community stressed the fact that the orbiting of satellite was not confirmed and that the technology used was not distinct from the purpose of building intercontinental ballistic missile. UN Security Council adopted the resolutions which took the effect that the launching was deemed as the missile launching, not the mere launcher test. North Korea declared the moratorium of suspending its test activity. Controversial issues have been raised regarding whether the launcher itself has the legal status of enjoying the freedom of space flight based upon the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. The resolutions, however, has put forward a binding instrument forbidding the launching. UN Security Council resolutions, however, should be read not as defining the missile test illegal, in that the language of resolutions, such as 'demand', should be considered as not formulating a sort of obligatory act or inact. On the other hand, the resolutions should be read as having binding force with respect to any activity relating to the weapons of mass destruction. The resolution 1718 is written in more specific language such as 'decides that the DPRK shall suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile programme and in this context re-establish its pre-existing commitments to a moratorium on missile launching'. Therefore, the lauching activity of the North Korea is banned by the UN Security Council resolution. It should be noted that the resolution does not include any specific provisions defining the space of activity of the North Korea as illegal. But, the legal effect of the moratorium is not denied as to its launching itself, which is corresponding to the missile test clearisibanned in accordance with the resolutions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.62-80
• /
• 2021

The requirements for the next-generation propulsion system and for a good propellant have been summarized. The characteristics and effectiveness of kerosene, hydrogen, and methane, which are the fuels that are mainly attracting attention in Korea and abroad, were compared with each other. As a result of the comparison, methane was evaluated to be more advantageous than other fuels in reliability, cost, reusability, maintenance, eco-friendliness, safety, lifespan, technical difficulties, engine cycle selection, application of common bulkhead, and non-disassembly/reassembly delivery. And in terms of performance, the specific impulse of methane is higher than that of kerosene, so the efficiency of the launch vehicle can be increased. Methane's properties incluidng eco-friendliness, low-temperature combustion, long life, and maintenability make it beneficial for reuse and for the development of multi-purpose engines.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.53-64
• /
• 2021

SpaceX has lowered rocket launch cost innovatively and put first stage reuse to the practical use with Falcon 9. Now the company is developing Starship system that is fully reusable with the heaviest payload in the world. So the system can lower the cost much more and fulfull more diverse mission. For the system the company have developed Raptor engine which is a full-flow staged combustion cycle one with methane fuel. And for the full reusability the company is manufacturing and testing the system prototypes with the barely used technologies such as stainless steel tank, belly flop and retropropulsion during descent. In this study the specification, missions and design features of the system are investigated. Also the development processes of Raptor engine and initial 13 Starship prototypes, which have been manufactured very rapidly, are presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2014

A set of preliminary design parameters for the bipropellant rocket engine using liquid methane-fuel as green propellant were derived through a theoretical performance analysis. Chemical equilibrium analysis utilizing CEA was conducted for the prediction of combustion performance: combustion characteristics according to the O/F ratio and chamber pressure variation were investigated. For a determination of chamber-characteristic length, the vaporization time of fuel-droplet with various performance parameters was calculated by applying Spalding's 1-D droplet vaporization model. Finally, the preliminary design specification of methane-bipropellant rocket engine, which is to be performance-tested under the ground firing condition, was proposed.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.31-39
• /
• 2014

In KSLV-I launch mission, real-time data from the tracking stations are acquired, processed and distributed by the Mission Control System to the user group who needed to monitor processed data for safety and flight monitoring purposes. The processed trajectory data by the mission control system is sent to each tracking system for target designation in case of tracking failure. Also, the processed data are used for decision making for flight termination when anomalies occur during flight of the launch vehicle. In this paper, we propose the processing mechanism of slaving data which plays a key role of launch vehicle tracking mission. The best position data is selected by predefined logic and current status after every available position data are acquired and pre-processed. And, the slaving data is distributed to each tracking stations through time delay is compensated by extrapolation. For the accurate processing, operation timing of every procesing modules are triggered by time-tick signal(25ms period) which is driven from UTC(Universial Time Coordinates) time. To evaluate the proposed method, we compared slaving data to the position data which received by tracking radar. The experiments show the average difference value is below 0.01 degree.

• Journal of Satellite, Information and Communications
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.8-13
• /
• 2013

It is necessary to develop the next generation FTS which is suitable for our environment and effectively operates many launch vehicles. Standard tone, Secure tone, MHA, EFTS and DSSS are studied for the next generation FTS. FTS requires a high quality of performance and reliability because of their specific mission. And few FTSs are needed but the price is very expensive. Therefore we must investigate a part of the FTS whether the part can be reused for a part of the next FTS. In this paper, we use CCDF of the transmitted signal from FTS as the method to study a possibility of reusing HPA used in the present system. The simulation results show that PEP of Standard tone is 0.21dB and Secure tone and MHA has the same PEP. CPFSK's PEP is 1.81dB and PEP of DSSS using BPSK modulation is 2.6dB.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
• /
• 1997.04a
• /
• pp.3-10
• /
• 1997

본 연구에서는 추력 500 Kgf의 액체 추진기관을 설계, 제작 및 연소시험을 수행하여 연소 특성을 살펴보았다. 추진제로는 우주발사체 Booster용으로 폭넓게 사용되는 탄화수소계 연료인 kerosene과 산화제로 취급이 용이하고 저장 특성을 지닌 98 % White Fuming Nitric Acid(WFNA)를 사용하였고, 엔진 점화를 위해 WFNA와 접촉 발화성 (Hypergolic)을 갖는 Furfuryl Alcohol/Aniline 혼합액을 사용하였다. 로켓엔진은 20 Kgf/$cm^2$의 연소실 압력으로 500 Kgf의 평균 추력을 내도록 설계되었고, 연소실벽을 고온 연소가스로 부터 보호하기 위해 Film Cooling 방식을 적용하였다.