An advance in transfer line chilldown heat transfer of cryogenic propellants in microgravity using microfilm coating for enabling deep space exploration.

ABSTRACT: The extension of human space exploration from a low earth orbit to a high earth orbit, then to Moon, Mars, and possibly asteroids is NASA's biggest challenge for the new millennium. Integral to this mission is the effective, sufficient, and reliable supply of cryogenic propellant fluids. Therefore, highly energy-efficient thermal-fluid management breakthrough concepts to conserve and minimize the cryogen consumption have become the focus of research and development, especially for the deep space mission to mars. Here we introduce such a concept and demonstrate its feasibility in parabolic flights under a simulated space microgravity condition. We show that by coating the inner surface of a cryogenic propellant transfer pipe with low-thermal conductivity microfilms, the quenching efficiency

SUBMITTER: Chung JN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8187424 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature