Effect of Inert Propellant Injection on Mars Ascent Vehicle Performance

TITLE AND SUBTITLE:
Effect of Inert Propellant Injection on Mars Ascent Vehicle Performance

AUTHOR(S):
James E. Colvin and Geoffrey A. Landis

REPORT DATE:
September 1992

FUNDING NUMBERS:
WU-506-41-11

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
Sverdrup Technology, Inc.
Lewis Research Center Group
2001 Aerospace Parkway
Brook Park, Ohio 44142

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER:
E-7312

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Lewis Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio 44135-3191

REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED:
Final Contractor Report

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY REPORT NUMBER:
NASA CR-189238
AIAA-92-3447

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES:
Prepared for the 28th Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit cosponsored by the AIAA, SAE, ASME, and ASEE, Nashville, Tennessee, July 6Ê-Ê8, 1992. James E. Colvin, University of Arizona Space Engineering Research Center, Tucson, Arizona 85712. Geoffrey A. Landis, Sverdrup Technology, Inc., Lewis Research Center Group, 2001 Aerospace Parkway, Brook Park, Ohio 44142. Responsible person, Geoffrey A. Landis, (216) 433-2238.

ABSTRACT:
A Mars ascent vehicle is limited in performance by the propellant which can be brought from Earth. In some cases the vehicle performance can be improved by injecting inert gas into the engine, if the inert gas is available as an in-situ resource and does not have to be brought from Earth. Carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon are constituents of the Martian atmosphere which could be separated by compressing the atmosphere, without any chemical processing step. The effect of inert gas injection on rocket engine performance was analyzed with a numerical combustion code that calculated chemical equilibrium for engines of varying combustion chamber pressure, expansion ratio, oxidizer/fuel ratio, and inert injection fraction. Results of this analysis were applied to several candidate missions to determine how the required mass of return propellant needed in low Earth orbit could be decreased using inert propellant injection.

SUBJECT TERMS:
Rocket engines; Mars missions; Space exploration

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