• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.269-272
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• 2009

Catalytic decomposition of nitrous oxide was investigated experimentally. Two noble metal catalyst (Pt, Ir) were chosen to decompose nitrous oxide. Each catalyst was tested with different chamber pressure and preheating temperature. Ir decomposed $N_2O$ at lower temperature ($230^{\circ}C$) and suitable for $N_2O$ decomposition. In addition, the minimum required preheating temperature decreased as the chamber pressure increased. However, deactivation of Ir catalyst was observed during the experiments.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.237-240
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• 2002

Micro catalytic reactors are alternative propulsion device that can be used on a nano satellite. When used with a monopropellant, $H_2O_2$, a micro catalytic reactor needs only one supply system as the monopropellant reacts spontaneously on contact with catalyst and releases heat without external ignition, while separate supply lines for fuel and oxidizer are needed for a bipropellant rocket engine. Additionally, $H_2O_2$ is in liquid phase at room temperature, eliminating the burden of storage for gaseous fuel and carburetion of liquid fuel. In order to design a micro catalytic reactor, an appropriate catalyst material must be selected. Considering the safety concern in handling the monopropellants and reaction performance of catalyst, we selected hydrogen peroxide at volume concentration of 70% and perovskite redox catalyst of lantanium cobaltate doped with strondium. Perovskite catalysts are known to have superior reactivity in reduction-oxidation chemical processes. In particular, lantanium cobaltate has better performance in chemical reactions involving oxygen atom exchange than other perovskite materials. In the present study, a process to prepare perovskite type catalyst, $La_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}CoO_3$, and measurement of its propellant decomposition performance in a test reactor are described.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.581-584
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• 2010

Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) started preliminary research about the propulsion system for lunar orbiter and moon lander this year in order to prepare korean moon exploration plan of 2020s. The final goal of this study is to develop a prototype propulsion system for lunar exploration and to perform ground landing test using this propulsion system. In this year, preliminary design of propulsion system and 200N class monopropellant thruster have been conducted. In this paper, the trade-off study result and the design concept of the propulsion system for Korean moon exploration will be introduced and preliminary design of propulsion system will be presented.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06e
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• pp.294-298
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• 2001

Satellite propulsion system is employed for orbit transfer, orbit correction, and attitude control. The monopropellant feeding system in the low-earth-orbit satellite blowdowns fuel to the thrust chamber. The thrust produced by the thruster depends on fuel amount flowed into the combustion chamber. If the thruster valve be given on-off signal from on-board commander in the satellite, valve will be opened or closed. When the thrusters fire fuel flows through opened thruster valve. Instantaneous stoppage of flow in according to valve actuation produces transient pressure due to pressure wave. This paper describes transient pressure predictions of the KOMPSAT2 propulsion system resulting from latching valve and thrust control valve operations. The time-dependent set of the fluid mass and momentum equations are calculated by Method of Characteristics (MOC).

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.45-46
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• 2006

Usual LEO satellite for earth observation use a blowdown hydrazine monopropellant propulsion system for attitude hold and orbit maintenance. For precision control, thruster valve has very short closing time, but this can cause water hammering and pressure surge. Since water hammering and pressure surge can cause damage of propulsion system and ununiform thrust, Thruster valve closing is one of the special concern during satellite propulsion system design. In this paper, an analysis for propellant feed system is conducted using the method of characteristics. The results represent water hammer effect is negligible even at the worst case and pressure surge can be decreased effectively with a trim orifice.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.272-274
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• 2008

A development of hydrazine decomposition catalyst for monopropellant thruster has been performed by Korea Aerospace Research Institute(KARI). The goal of this development is to product a catalyst showing the equivalent performance with space-proven catalysts. Catalyst production and physical/chemical analysis were conducted by Chonnam National University and the analysis result was compared with the result of other catalysts and our own specification. Using the developed prototype catalyst, short firing test was performed in a reactor to verify basic performance of catalyst. After the successful reactor test, hot firing tests were carried out in atmospheric and vacuum condition using 5N thruster to verify durability and safety of catalyst. In this paper, the catalyst development status will be presented.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.645-648
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• 2011

Hydrazine which has been used as monopropellant shows high performance, but because of its high toxicity research for new green propellant that could replace hydrazine is going on. Ionic liquid propellant that is one of the green propellant has lower toxicity, higher specific impulse, and higher density than hydrazine. To design the thruster which use Hydroxylamine Nitrate (HAN), one of ionic liquid propellant, as a propellant, a quantity of catalyst for full decomposition of a propellant is needed. In this study, reference point for HAN thruster design could be suggested through a design of a small scale thruster which used HAN propellant, and propellant decomposition capability evaluation with characteristic velocity efficiency.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.14-21
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• 2010

Ion thruster is a kind of electrostatic thruster that use electrostatic field in order to accelerate ionized propellant. Ion thruster have characteristics of small thrust but very high specific impulse among the electric thrusters. High specific impulse can reduce propellant consumption significantly. So, ion thruster have advantage for long time and long distance mission. Recently, plans for space exploration is increasing gradually not only at traditional forward countries for space like USA, Russia and Europe, but also other countries like Japan, China and India. Exploration for superior planets and asteroids the propellant ratio can go up to about 99% when chemical propulsion is used as a cruising thruster. Therefore, latest space exploration vehicles use the ion thruster as main thruster for del-V burn and use monopropellant thrusters for attitude control. In this paper, the development process of preliminary ECR ion thruster and the ECR discharge test results will be presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.341-347
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• 2011

This work studies the performance of an injector for a monopropellant thruster, comparing a conventional and new injector types. The conventional injector consists of 8 nozzles on a convex surface allowing the jet to be diverged. The new injector, we suggested, is an impinging type with nozzle holes on a concave surface. The fuel streams through the nozzle holes are collide at a point on an axial direction, which allow to atomize the liquid streams and to spray more uniformly along circular direction. The performance of the injectors is investigated by using computational fluid dynamics, particle image velocimetry and high speed camera visualization.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.746-752
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• 2017

High test hydrogen peroxide has been widely developed as green propellant for thrusters. Hydrogen peroxide is decomposed in the catalyst bed to produce the thrust. Catalyst bed design optimization is considered through existing model for catalyst beds. To verify the model, static firing tests were conducted under various conditions using a 100 N scale $H_2O_2$ monopropellant thruster. Temperature and pressure estimations from the model were well correlated to the experimental data. The model is used to obtain optimal design parameters by analyzing the catalyst capacity and pressure drop data for various simulated conditions. Catalyst beds can be optimized from the analysis of the catalyst capacity and pressure drop correlation through catalyst bed modeling.