Design, development, and test of Shuttle/Centaur G-prime cryogenic tankage thermal protection systemsThe thermal protection systems (TPS) for the Shuttle/Centaur were designed to provide fail-safe thermal protection during prelaunch, launch ascent, and on-orbit operations as well as during potential abort, where the Shuttle and Centaur would return to earth. The TPS selected used a helium-purged polyimide foam beneath three radiation shields for the liquid-hydrogen (LH2) tank and radiation shields only for the liquid-oxygen (LO2) tank. A double-walled vacuum bulkhead separated the two tanks. The LH2 tank had one 1.9 cm-thick layer of foam on the forward bulkhead and two layers on the larger-area sidewall. Full scale tests of the flight vehicle in a simulated Shuttle cargo bay gave total prelaunch heating rates of 29.5 and 12.9 kW for the LH2 and LO2 tanks, respectively. Calorimeter tests on a representative sample of the LH2 tank sidewall TPS indicated that the measured unit heating one would rapidly decrease from the prelaunch rate of about 300 W/sq m to a desired rate less than 4 W/sq m once on-orbit.
Document ID
19880065955
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Macneil, Peter N. (General Dynamics Corp. San Diego, CA, United States)
England, James E. (General Dynamics Corp. Space Systems Div., San Diego, CA, United States)
Knoll, Richard H. (NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)