B - Operations – Transporting – 64 – G
Patent
B - Operations, Transporting
64
G
244/1.2
B64G 1/10 (2006.01) B64G 1/24 (2006.01) B64G 1/26 (2006.01) B64G 1/40 (2006.01) B64G 1/42 (2006.01)
Patent
CA 1331596
SPACECRAFT WITH INCREASED STATIONKEEPING FUEL LOAD ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A spacecraft includes bipropellant and monopropellant engines or thrusters. The oxidizer-fuel mixture ratio of the bipropellant engine is not known exactly. The spacecraft is loaded with only sufficient oxidizer to achieve the velocity for transfer from an intermediate orbit to geosynchronous orbit if the mixture ratio is nominal. Therefore, more fuel can be loaded. If the bipropellant engine burn is nominal, there is no excess oxidizer when on-orbit and more fuel is available for stationkeeping. If the burn is oxidizer-rich, there is a velocity shortfall, which is made up by firing monopropellant engines. If the burn is oxidizer-lean, the geosynchronous orbit is achieved with a load of excess oxidizer, which must be moved during each stationkeeping maneuver. A net gain of stationkeeping time results in any of the three mixture ratio cases by comparison with loading of sufficient oxidizer for a full bipropellant burn under worst-case mixture conditions.
614076
Davies Keith
Hubert Susan Marona
Craig Wilson And Company
Lockheed Martin Corporation
LandOfFree
Spacecraft with increased stationkeeping fuel load does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Spacecraft with increased stationkeeping fuel load, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Spacecraft with increased stationkeeping fuel load will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFCA-PAI-O-1308706