• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.73-82
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• 2020

Additively manufactured, small rocket engines are perhaps the focal activities of space startups that are developing low-cost launch vehicles. Rocket engine companies such as SpaceX and Rocket Lab in the United States, Ariane Group in Europe, and IHI in Japan have already adopted the additive manufacturing process in building key components of their rocket engines. In this paper on technology trends, an existing valve housing of a rocket engine is chosen as a case study to examine the feasibility of using additively manufactured parts for rocket engines.

• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.309-314
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• 2020

Polymer composites were used to reduce the weight of the spacecraft's cryogenic propellant tank. Since these materials were directional, the permeability performance of the gas permeated or delivered in the stacking direction was an indicator directly related to performance such as tank stability and onboard fuel quantity estimation. In addition, the results of permeation measurements and optical analysis of the surface to verify the effect of the number of cycles exposed to the cryogenic-room temperature environment are included. As a result, the permeability was inversely proportional to the thickness and was proportional to the number of thermal shocks, and it was verified that the permeability performance was suitable for the cryogenic propellant tank material for the space launch vehicle.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.26-33
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• 2006

The use of high-density propellants can provide performance advantages in space launch vehicles by allowing an improved structural ratio due to smaller propellants tanks. The Jet A-1 fuel is currently used in Korean space launch vehicle development and it has lower density than other advanced hydrocarbon fuels such as RP-1 or RG-1. In this paper, the results of hydraulic and combustion tests conducted for the two newly developed densified hydrocarbon fuels are presented and they are compared with the results of Jet A-1. Conclusively, the two densified hydrocarbon fuels presented equivalent or even higher combustion performance compared to the Jet A-1 and the performance difference was found to be more obvious in the injector of external mixing.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.119-143
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• 2021

Selecting liquid methane as fuel is a prevailing trend for recent rocket engine developments around the world, triggered by its affordability, reusability, storability for deep space exploration, and prospect for in-situ resource utilization. Given years of time required for acquiring a new rocket engine, a national-level R&D program to develop a methane engine is highly desirable at the earliest opportunity in order to catch up with this worldwide trend towards reusing launch vehicles for competitiveness and mission flexibility. In light of the monumental cost associated with development, fabrication, and testing of a booster stage engine, it is strategically a prudent choice to start with a low-thrust engine and build up space application cases.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.581-587
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• 2011

Reliability estimation methods using attribute data are widely used in reliability evaluation of various systems such as nuclear energy plants, food and drug, and space launch vehicles. This paper shows sensitivity analysis and comparison results of reliability estimation methods including a parametric estimation method in open literature with respect to both sample size and sampling points of time. And ways to improve accuracy of each reliability estimation method were proposed from the sensitivity analysis results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.72-78
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• 2005

Considerable achievements on scramjet technology have been performed since the end of 1950's when the improvement of performance on ramjet engine was begun. From the viewpoint of rapid and economic efficiency, scramjet propulsion system is presently regarded as the most promising one considered to be applied to the atmospheric hypersonic airplanes and ballistic weapons and even the space launch vehicles. Histories and current trends on scramjet development of USA and Russia are investigated and suggested in this paper.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.79-85
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• 2005

Considerable achievements on scramjet technology have been performed since the end of 1950's when the improvement of performance on ramjet engine was begun. From the viewpoint of rapid and economic efficiency, scramjet propulsion system is presently regarded as the most promising one considered to be applied to the atmospheric hypersonic airplanes and ballistic weapons and even the space launch vehicles. Histories and current trends on scramjet development of france, Germany, Japan and Australia are investigated and suggested in this paper.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2021

The Ozone Dynamics Investigation Nano-Satellite (ODIN) is a CubeSat design proposed by Chungnam National University as contribution to the CubeSat Competition 2019 sponsored by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). The main objectives of ODIN are (1) to observe the polar ozone column density (latitude range of 60° to 80° in both hemispheres) and (2) to investigate the chemical dynamics between stratospheric ozone and ozone depleting substances (ODSs) through spectroscopy of the terrestrial atmosphere. For the operation of ODIN, a highly efficient power system designed for the specific orbit is required. We present the conceptual structural design of ODIN and an analysis of power generation in a sun synchronous orbit (SSO) using two different configurations of 3U solar panels (a deployed model and a non-deployed model). The deployed solar panel model generates 189.7 W through one day which consists of 14 orbit cycles, while the non-deployed solar panel model generates 152.6 W. Both models generate enough power for ODIN and the calculation suggests that the deployed solar panel model can generate slightly more power than the non-deployed solar panel model in a single orbit cycle. We eventually selected the non-deployed solar panel model for our design because of its robustness against vibration during the launch sequence and the capability of stable power generation through a whole day cycle.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.108-111
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• 2017

High performance upper stage engine is necessary for space launch vehicles of geostationary orbit, and staged combustion cycle engine is suitable due to high specific impulse. Technology demonstration model for 9 tonf class staged combustion cycle engine, which is consisted of turbopump, preburner, combustion chamber and supply system, was assembled, and hot-firing test was conducted for three seconds in Upper-stage Engine Test Facility of Naro Space Center. Ignition, combustion and shut down of engine system was performed normally, and its performance parameters were evaluated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.330-339
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• 2008

Ground-based interceptors(GBI) comprise a major element of the strategic defense against hostile targets like Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles(ICBM) and reentry vehicles(RV) dispersed from them. An optimum design of the subsystems is required to increase the performance and reliability of these GBI. Propulsion subsystem design and optimization is the motivation for this effort. This paper describes an effort in which an entire GBI missile system, including a multi-stage solid rocket booster, is considered simultaneously in a Genetic Algorithm(GA) performance optimization process. Single goal, constrained optimization is performed. For specified payload and miss distance, time of flight, the most important component in the optimization process is the booster, for its takeoff weight, time of flight, or a combination of the two. The GBI is assumed to be a multistage missile that uses target location data provided by two ground based RF radar sensors and two low earth orbit(LEO) IR sensors. 3Dimensional model is developed for a multistage target with a boost phase acceleration profile that depends on total mass, propellant mass and the specific impulse in the gravity field. The monostatic radar cross section (RCS) data of a three stage ICBM is used. For preliminary design, GBI is assumed to have a fixed initial position from the target launch point and zero launch delay. GBI carries the Kill Vehicle(KV) to an optimal position in space to allow it to complete the intercept. The objective is to design and optimize the propulsion system for the GBI that will fulfill mission requirements and objectives. The KV weight and volume requirements are specified in the problem definition before the optimization is computed. We have considered only continuous design variables, while considering discrete variables as input. Though the number of stages should also be one of the design variables, however, in this paper it is fixed as three. The elite solution from GA is passed on to(Sequential Quadratic Programming) SQP as near optimal guess. The SQP then performs local convergence to identify the minimum mass of the GBI. The performance of the three staged GBI is validated using a ballistic missile intercept scenario modeled in Matlab/SIMULINK.