A CARBON DIOXIDE COLLECTION AND PRESSURE GENERATION BREADBOARD SYSTEM FOR MARS EXPLORATION

In the framework of development programs for future European Space Agency (ESA) missions aimed at Mars exploration, a breadboard propulsion system has been developed at Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA-INAC/SBT). The objective is to design a system that can produce a thrust sufficient to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transactions of the Cryogenic Engineering Conference 2009-07, Vol.1218, p.1181-1186
Main Authors: Gully, Ph, Ercolani, E, Guillemet, L, Sirbi, A, Linder, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospheres
Atmospherics
Carbon dioxide
Collection
Condensing
Cost engineering
Cryopumping
Design engineering
Devices
Discharge
European Space Agency
Exhaust
Flow rate
High density
Mars exploration
Missions
Nozzles
Planets
Propulsion systems
Shot
Storage tanks
Tanks
Thrust
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Summary:In the framework of development programs for future European Space Agency (ESA) missions aimed at Mars exploration, a breadboard propulsion system has been developed at Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA-INAC/SBT). The objective is to design a system that can produce a thrust sufficient to move the whole device on the planet surface. In order to reduce the cost and the mass launched, the system uses the particular properties of the planet atmosphere which contains 98% of carbon dioxide (CO2). First the CO2 atmospheric gas is collected in a very high density storage tank using a cryopumping process (condensation of gas at around 140 K). Then an applied heat load allows generation of a continuous high pressure and high flow rate CO2 discharge, which will be used to feed the future nozzles of the system. The present system is designed to study the cryopumping process in a 0.6 liter collection tank and the discharge through an exhaust line. The design principles are presented, and the breadboard is described. Some preliminary results are then presented and discussed. As an example, the presented design allows the collection of 220 g of solid CO2 during a one shot 3 hr cryopumping process. This amount has been increased to 440 g by performing several thermal cycles. The discharge is achieved with 10 g/s maximum flow rate at 5 MPa maximum.
ISSN:0094-243X