Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Post Info TOPIC: South Korea's Methane Rocket Engine


Senior Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 411
Date:
South Korea's Methane Rocket Engine



South Korea's Methane Rocket Engine Upstages U.S. Developments


Aviation Week & Space Technology, 05/22/2006, page 55


William B. Scott, Colorado Springs


LOX/methane could be a powerful, ready-to-go alternative for rocket engines



A South Korean company has developed and ground-tested a regeneratively-cooled, liquid oxygen/methane rocket engine that produces 20,000-30,000 lb. of thrust, bringing quick-response space-launch vehicles closer to reality.


The culmination of a 10-year development program, this "Chase-10" engine was fired at full thrust for 10 sec. on Mar. 15 at a test facility in Seosan, approximately 90 mi. southwest of Seoul. Measured thrust was about 20,000 lb. force, using a non-optimized nozzle. This marked the first time C&Space, the developer, had run a fully integrated prototype--including turbopump, gas generator and regeneratively-cooled combustion chamber--at full power, program officials say.


Methane engines offer superior performance and much cleaner operation than today's kerosene powerplants, but liquid-methane rocket technology isn't as mature. "Basically, nobody's put the money into developing methane [engines]," says a senior launch-industry official. Kerosene powerplants "were already out there, and they worked."


http://www.aviationnow.com/media/images/awst_images/large/AW_05_22_2006_2108_L.jpg


The Chase-10, developed by C&Space, is a 22,000-lb.-thrust LOX/methane rocket engine with a regeneratively-cooled combustion chamber and nozzle.


"Across the board, liquid methane is better [than current rocket fuels]," says James Petty, president of JP Rocket Engine Co. "It offers a higher Isp [specific impulse] and burns more efficiently than kerosene, especially with regenerative cooling. [Methane is] much more stable than hydrogen, doesn't require heavily insulated tanks, and doesn't have the materials-compatibility issues that hydrogen does. The U.S. just hasn't spent enough money on advancing rocket-propulsion technology--and methane competes with the status quo."


Early this year, NASA dropped its initial requirement for a LOX/methane engine on the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) service module and lunar ascent module. A methane-fueled engine had been part of NASA's CEV baseline, because methane could be extracted on Mars as fuel for a human-return trip.


However, NASA showed its continuing interest in this technology by recently awarding a $10.4-million contract to Alliant Techsystems to develop a 7,500-lb.-thrust LOX/methane propulsion system. Contract options call for ATK also to design and build a heavier prototype with multiple-restart features.


NASA-Marshall and the Air Force Research Laboratory, XCOR Aerospace and Orbitec have all built and test-fired methane engines as well. These tend to be at the research and development stage, and typically are gas-pressure-fed systems. The C&Space engine appears to be far more mature than any of the U.S.-developed alternatives--the Chase-10 is already a full-up, production-ready engine, C&Space officials say, with a turbopump and regeneratively-cooled combustion chamber and nozzle.


Until recently, the C&Space engine's existence and maturity have been largely unknown. The South Korean government launched the program in 1996, when Hyundai sent engineers to Moscow under a long-term technology-transfer agreement. Russia and South Korea were partnered to develop a new high-performance rocket engine that could be manufactured and tested in the Republic of Korea. By late 2004, a prototype 22,000-lb.-thrust combustion chamber and turbopump system had been built and tested, but a new administration dropped the project. Instead, the Korean Aerospace Research Institute decided a kerosene engine would power its new KSR-3 sounding rocket.


Its principal researcher, Kyoung-ho Kim, formed C&Space under Vitzro, a Korean company specializing in electrical equipment. Backed by Vitzro funding, C&Space brought the Chase-10 engine to production-ready status and plans to build even larger versions.


The 22,000-lb.-thrust Chase-10 rocket engine--augmented by reusable hybrid solid-rocket boosters--is designed to launch up to 1,000-lb. satellites into low Earth orbit for $1,500-2,000/lb. Its robust combustion chamber is designed to handle 30,000 lb. thrust, says David Riseborough, a C&Space research engineer. The engine can be throttled from 60-100%, but cannot be restarted inflight. An inflight-restart capability, and a fully gimbaled nozzle system, are being incorporated to meet a specific vehicle's needs, Kim adds.


http://www.aviationnow.com/media/images/awst_images/large/AW_05_22_2006_2109_L.jpg


An integrated prototype of C&Space's methane-fueled rocket engine was tested at full thrust for 10 sec. on Mar. 15. It produced about 20,000 lb. of thrust.


The motor has a 50-cycle design life, with turbine bearings replaced after three cycles. Initial cost will be about "$2-3 million--about 50-75% [that] of a kerosene motor," says David J. Fawcett, president of AirBoss Aerospace Inc., a U.S. company marketing the methane engine with C&Space.


For space tourism applications, AirBoss also is designing a delta-wing launch vehicle that uses the Chase-10 engine. C&Space will fabricate the single-pilot aircraft, enabling suborbital tourism flight profiles to about 100 km. (328,000 ft.) altitude.


A satellite-launch version of the same reusable manned vehicle would add two strap-on solid-rocket boosters, each with about 50,000 lb. thrust.


While NASA and space tourism companies may embrace methane rocket engines for their high-performance, clean-burning and reusability features, the U.S. Air Force wants quick-turnarounds, or "operationally responsive launch." C&Space and AirBoss predict the Chase family of LOX/methane engines would enable mission-to-mission turnarounds of about 6 hr., with actual times dependent on what else a flight vehicle might require.


"If you had an unfueled, staged vehicle on the pad, it could be ready to launch in about 1.5 hr.," Fawcett says. "From the call that says, 'I need something in orbit,' to being on-station, I envision [a methane-powered system] doing it in about 4 hr." Actual "scramble" and turnaround times depend heavily on the site's complete launch and payload-handling infrastructure, as well as processing procedures, he notes.


Because C&Space and AirBoss have just started marketing efforts, no U.S. rocket "airframer" has selected the Chase-10 methane engine yet. A flight-certified, reusable LOX/methane Chase-10 engine can be delivered to a customer about nine months after receipt of an order, Kim says. Any customization that necessitates additional testing would stretch delivery time to about 12 months.



__________________


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 21
Date:

Dear Jaro.


Regarding methane rocket and rocket fuel you had reported about South Korea´s program.Have you info about specific "I" about it?Liquid methane needs very low temperatures like LOX or nitrogene.Would it not be better to choose liquid gas like propane or butane for use in boosters or for the descent and rising stage of lunar ferry?


Best Regards: Martin



__________________
Martin Schwingenheuer


Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 606
Date:

Methane is probably a little more compatible to the space environment than propane or butane because of the inherent 'coldness' of the vacuum of space. Although technically methane is a cryogenic chemical, the temperature at which it boils (bp 111.5K) is higher than either hydrogen (bp 20.28K) or oxygen (bp 90.20 K) (source wikipedia.org) making liquid methane more suitable for long term storage than either. Propane freezes at 85.5 K, meaning that under certain circumstances a pressurized tank of liquid propane would have to be 'heated' to prevent it from freezing solid! Butane melts at 134.9 K further requiring insulation and frequent heating to keep it in a liquid state.

Also, one of the main points about using methane instead of the others is that it is fairly easily syntehsized which makes it a better candidate for Insitu Resource Utilization. If and when we reach Mars, methane can be synthesized from hygrogen derived from water, and carbon which is extracted from Mars' CO2 atmosphere. The ability to easily manufacture rocket propellant and fuel for surface vehicles on Mars, as well as the favorable surface temperatures and humanity's extensive experience with liquid and gaseous methane in the natural gas industry means that methane is a prime candidate for chemical energy storage on Mars. This alone was the original reason for the interest in developing methane as a propellant for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) for the new Project Orion lunar vehicle architecture.


Ty Moore

-- Edited by GoogleNaut at 16:54, 2006-08-03

__________________


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 21
Date:

Shure,when you thinking at planning Mars exploration you´re right.But a launch vehicle from Earth could benefit of using liquit gas,due the higher density caused by more carbon atoms and therefore it would be better works in Earth´s atmosphere.I´m thinking only the first stage(booster)should use this fuel with LOX of course.the upper stage(s)could use hydrogen/LOX or for better storage abillity liquid metane like you told about the reason.Bruce Berhorst told about the new tungsten-ceram technology by NTR.Maybe metane could be used instead hydrogen for smaller dimension of planned Moon- or Mars ship.The classic propellant,which can be stored is the poisened hydrazine with the second part(sorry I can´t remember the name).Pratt & Whitney´s Triton is a intresting part at my opinnion,because it is a kind of "changeling",it reduces weight and costs and is flexible in use.My question is now if it could be feeded with methane/LOX first(rising though Earth atmosphere,boosted by two propane or butane/LOX booster),later Tritron crossed over to hydrogen/LOX and finnally to hydrogen nuclear or metane nuclear.-Is this possible or planned,what are you thinking about this?


Kindley Regards: Martin Schwingenheuer  


     



__________________
Martin Schwingenheuer


Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 606
Date:

Oh, O.K. Using Propane or Butane for the booster fuel---hmmm. Interesting idea. No one has ever built a a large rocket engine burning propane or butane. Propane has a pretty high vapor pressure--I don't see much advantage there. Your tanks will be heavier than kerosene pressurized with helium. Butane is more expensive than kerosene--so I don't see an advantage there either. The bulk energy density available in kerosene is hard to beat.

I once looked at aluminum dust suspended in a kerosene based 'gel' for even higher energy density, but moving this viscous material through turbopumps and injecting it into a combustion chamber is likely to have some pretty difficult challenges, regenerative cooling issues aside. There is some interesting work going on in metalloid gel formulations, but there is a long way to go before it comes to fruition as a viable technology.

Also, using something like parafin wax impregnated with carbon and aluminum dust and using a solid fuel, liquid oxidizer hybrid cycle is interesting. Especially if high test hydrogen peroxide is used as the oxidizer--this should be a very high density, moderately high density, and relatively nontoxic propellant combo. This requires a lot of technology to develop and may not be feasible at all.

Still, for a booster it's really tough to beat liquid oxygen and kerosene in a high pressure staged combustion rocket engine such as the RD-180 or RD-170/171 family of engines.

__________________


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 21
Date:

Dear members.


What I nvever had understand Saturn5 building stop.It was very reliable like 747 developed in the same time-aera.It is still flying till now.I think an enhenced version of Saturn5 like 747-400 could do moon visits much closer than planned Ares project developed from Shuttle derrivates.A Saturn5X could lounch CEV and moon ferry as a unit.I´m shure it would be possible to find resources to increase F1 and J1 specific impulse due 30 years of development and resarch.Also Saturn5 structure could be benefit of modern composite materials and procedures.Mentioned should be the microtechnique and electronic as well.All together would be a growing up of payload in significante number,I´m thinking.For extreme heavy loads,like a mars ship,two or four solid rocket boosters from space shuttle are possible.Better would be four 1.stage booster derrivates in fuel X-feed combination.Such a rocket could bring 500 or more tons in LEO eg.a complete equipped NTR driven spaceship.


Regards: Martin    


 


 



__________________
Martin Schwingenheuer


Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 606
Date:

There has been a lot of discussion about resurrecting the Saturn 5, unfortunately most of the suppliers are no longer able to fabricate the parts: much of the old tooling has been scrapped long ago. It would actually be cheaper to build a new ship from scratch.

Although the Ares 5 configuration uses much of the same tooling used for the Shuttle External Tank, but the Ares 5 tank will probably be 33 ft (10m) in diameter and not the 27.5 ft of the Shuttle ET (8.4m.) Also there is the use of RS-68 rocket engine instead of the SSME. Slapping on a couple of Shuttle SRB's in the 4-Segment configuration, or stretching the tank for a 5-Segment Configuration has not been decided yet. I believe that this is probably just about the quickest path currently available to us.

Over at NasaSpaceFlight.com they are discussing the nitty gritty details of the CEV/CLV configurations. NSF is a website run by Chris Bergin of the UK. Excellent site for space shuttle and Apollo related discussions! There are quite a few people there who are currently IN the profession and who are currently working ON the projects being discussed, which makes this one website pretty exciting.

Looking back, it would have been better to keep the Saturn boosters and done generational upgrades. We may have had a really good 1 million pound lift Nova class booster by now. Imagine a rocket big enough to orbit the whole ISS in one shot!





__________________


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 21
Date:

You´re right,too long ago Saturn5.In opposition to jumbo-jet it is still in production,most of Saturn5 engeneers are dead or very old.Obvioursly the paht is laid to Ares5,a worthy following up programm,I suppose.Finally we are sitting at TV and watching again for the 2nd first steps on moon.


Best regards: Martin 



__________________
Martin Schwingenheuer


Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 606
Date:

Hopefully they will do this right, if the politicians let them. If we are going back to the moon, then let's stay long enough to really learn about it and test hardware for upcoming Mars missions. Let's send enough missions to really accomplish something other than just collecting some rocks, taking some pictures, and leaving some footprints and a couple of flags on the descent stages. Let's go there to learn how to live there, how use the place, and how to make it a jumping off point for the next generation. That would be a goal worthy of tax payer dollars!

__________________
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.

Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse
Powered by ActiveBoard