The Status of the Research and Development of LNG Rocket Engines in Japan

As part of the Global Exploration Roadmap (GER), the International Space ExplorationCoordination Group (ISECG) formed two technology gap assessment teams to evaluate topic discipline areas that had not been worked at an international level to date. The participating agencies were ASI, CNES, DLR, ESA, JAXA, and NASA. Accordingly, the ISECG Technology Working Group (TWG) recommended two discipline areas based on Critical Technology Needs reflected within the GER Technology Development Map (GTDM): Dust Mitigation and LOX/Methane Propulsion. LOx/Methane propulsion systems are enabling for future human missions Mars by significantly reducing the landed mass of the Mars ascent stage through the use of in-situ propellant production, for improving common fluids for life support, power and propulsion thus allowing for diverse redundancy, for eliminating the corrosive and toxic propellants thereby improving surface operations and reusability, and for increasing the performance of propulsion systems. The goals and objectives of the international team are to determine the gaps in technology that must be closed for LOx/Methane to be used in human exploration missions in cis-lunar, lunar, and Mars mission applications. An emphasis is placed on near term lunar lander applications with extensibility to Mars. Each agency provided a status of the substantial amount of Lox/Methane propulsion system development to date and their inputs on the gaps in the technology that are remaining. The gaps, which are now opportunities for collaboration, are then discussed.

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“…For example, JAXA is planning single and multi-element firing test, heat transfer measurement test for tube flow, etc. 27 .…”

Section: E Jaxa (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency)mentioning

confidence: 99%

International Space Exploration Coordination Group Assessment of Technology Gaps for LOx/Methane Propulsion Systems for the Global Exploration Roadmap

et al. 2016

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“…Hence, there is growing interest in these propellants. Examples of LOX/CH 4 engines currently in development are the Japanese LE-8, 7 the Chinese TQ-11 and TQ-12, the European Prometheus 8 and M-10, as well as the Raptor and BE-4 in the US.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flame dynamics of an injection element operated with LOX/H₂, LOX/CNG and LOX/LNG in a sub- and supercritical rocket combustor with large optical access

Martin

Armbruster

Stützer

et al. 2023

International Journal of Spray and Combustion Dynamics

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Hot fire tests were performed using a single-injector research combustor featuring a large optical access window ([Formula: see text] mm) for flame visualisation. Three test campaigns were conducted with the propellant combination of liquid oxygen and hydrogen, liquid oxygen and compressed-natural-gas, as well as liquid oxygen and liquefied-natural-gas at conditions relevant for main- and upper-stage rocket engines. The large optical access enabled synchronised flame imaging using ultraviolet and blue radiation wavelengths covering a large portion of the combustion chamber for various sets of sub- and supercritical operating conditions. Combined with temperature, pressure and unsteady pressure measurements, this data provides a high-quality basis for the validation of numerical modelling. Flame width, length and opening angle as features describing the flame topology were extracted from the imaging. The suitability of flame imaging using ultraviolet and blue radiation wavelengths as qualitative markers of heat release was evaluated. Two-dimensional distributions of the Rayleigh Index were calculated for intervals with and without high-amplitude, self-excited oscillations of the longitudinal acoustic resonance modes. The calculated Rayleigh Index values properly reflect the thermoacoustic state of the chamber, indicating that both types of imaging may be used for qualitative study of thermoacoustic coupling of high-pressure cryogenic flames.

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“…The reasons for this are a number of distinct advantages over more traditional rocket engine propellant combinations (e.g. LOx/LH2 or N2O4/ hydrazine) like non-toxicity, better storability and handling (compared to LH2), availability, acceptable specific impulse and similar thermodynamic characteristics with LOX simplifying the turbomachinery design of high thrust rocket engines (Bellomi et al 2016;Asakawa et al 2017;Hulbert E. A. et al 2016;Blasi, R. and Häberle, J. 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laminar Burning Speeds and Flammability Limits of CH4/O2 Mixtures With Varying N2 Dilution at Sub-Atmospheric Conditions

Bee

Börner

2021

Combustion Science and Technology

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This paper presents experimentally determined laminar burning speeds ( ) of premixed methane/oxygen/nitrogen mixtures at sub-atmospheric conditions obtained by using the constant-pressure spherical flame method. The goal of the conducted experiments was to investigate the effects of nitrogen dilution and pressure reduction on the laminar flame speed and flammability limits of methane/oxygen mixtures. Nitrogen content was varied between 3.1 and 79.3 volume percent. at a target pressure of 0.5 bar was investigated. Actual pressure levels ranged between 0.506 and 0.568 bar. Experiments at 1 bar were conducted as a benchmark case of the setup compared to results from literature.The laminar flame speed is found to increase with decreasing nitrogen content and decreasing pressure. The obtained results show good agreement with simulated data using the several chemical reaction mechanisms within 4.8% for near stochiometric mixtures. The upper flammability limit (UFL) is shown to be pressure-sensitive while the lower flammability limit (LFL) remains stationary for both pressure levels compared to reference data at 1 bar. Furthermore, the LFL is shown to stay at 6% vol methane content, independent of nitrogen dilution ratio.

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The Status of the Research and Development of LNG Rocket Engines in Japan

Cited by 15 publications

References 4 publications

International Space Exploration Coordination Group Assessment of Technology Gaps for LOx/Methane Propulsion Systems for the Global Exploration Roadmap

International Space Exploration Coordination Group Assessment of Technology Gaps for LOx/Methane Propulsion Systems for the Global Exploration Roadmap

Flame dynamics of an injection element operated with LOX/H₂, LOX/CNG and LOX/LNG in a sub- and supercritical rocket combustor with large optical access

Laminar Burning Speeds and Flammability Limits of CH4/O2 Mixtures With Varying N2 Dilution at Sub-Atmospheric Conditions

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The Status of the Research and Development of LNG Rocket Engines in Japan

Cited by 15 publications

References 4 publications

International Space Exploration Coordination Group Assessment of Technology Gaps for LOx/Methane Propulsion Systems for the Global Exploration Roadmap

International Space Exploration Coordination Group Assessment of Technology Gaps for LOx/Methane Propulsion Systems for the Global Exploration Roadmap

Flame dynamics of an injection element operated with LOX/H2, LOX/CNG and LOX/LNG in a sub- and supercritical rocket combustor with large optical access

Laminar Burning Speeds and Flammability Limits of CH4/O2 Mixtures With Varying N2 Dilution at Sub-Atmospheric Conditions

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Product

Resources

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Flame dynamics of an injection element operated with LOX/H₂, LOX/CNG and LOX/LNG in a sub- and supercritical rocket combustor with large optical access