Optimization of Liquid Rocket propulsion system for Reusable Orbital Transfer Vehicle

Abstract

The work is devoted to the investigation of possible ways to increase the efficiency of reusable orbital transfer vehicle (R-OTV) by using a multi-criteria optimization procedure of liquid rocket propulsion system (LRPS) design parameters. The “Federation” spacecraft is considered as an example payload of R-OTV for orbital transfer mathematical modeling, due to its known initial mass of 16,500 kg and other design parameters. Payload mass and specific cost of payload transfer are chosen as optimality criteria. Multiple tasks are solved during the work: mathematical model and corresponding software for determining the optimal design parameters of R-OTV LRPS by mass and cost criteria are developed, R-OTV and LRPS calculation and optimization are conducted, the technical appearance of LRPS is designed. Mathematical modeling is used to solve the presented problem. A developed mathematical model has a modular structure, in particular, it has modules for liquid rocket engine (LRE) mass calculating, OTV (Orbital Transfer Vehicle) mass calculating module, payload mass, design cost and manufacturing cost calculating modules for LRE and OTV and module for calculating the specific cost of payload transfer to target orbit. The intermediate result is used by LRPS project parameters design optimization module, then by technical appearance design module and LRPS units design module. Multiple calculations are conducted with a developed mathematical model. Verification of the model is carried out by developing the technical appearance of real OTVLRPS. Several variants of LRPS for spacecraft “Federation” type OTV are designed for low lunar orbit, OTV parameters are compared with optimized LRPS and with existing LRPS.