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International Space Station Bipropellant Plume Contamination Model update for short thruster pulse widths

NASA NTRS · Conference Paper · 20220013001 · Published 2022-09-19 · Johnson Space Center · 5 authors

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Abstract and citation only, verbatim from NASA NTRS; full text lives there. All credit to the authors and Johnson Space Center.

Abstract

The International Space Station (ISS) Bipropellant Plume Contamination Model has been a vital tool for characterizing the thruster plume-induced contamination environment at the ISS but was not intended to be used for very short thruster pulse widths. This paper presents an updated model that ensures full start-up and shut-down phases are modeled for each thruster firing, when the majority of liquid phase contaminant mass is released. The updated ISS Bipropellant Plume Contamination Model prevents potential under-prediction of thruster plume-induced contamination due to visiting vehicle proximity operations and provides a way to take advantage of thruster start-up and shut-down performance data gathered during thruster test programs, if available.

Authors

  • Katie Fox Boeing (United States)
  • Courtney Steagall Jacobs (United States)
  • Taria Usher Boeing (United States)
  • Alexandra Deal Boeing (United States)
  • Erica Worthy Johnson Space Center

Keywords

  • thruster plumes
  • induced contamination
  • bipropellant
  • pulse widths
  • plume impingement
  • plume contamination
  • plume contamination model
  • ISS
  • space environments

Citation

Katie Fox, Courtney Steagall, Taria Usher , et al. (2022). International Space Station Bipropellant Plume Contamination Model update for short thruster pulse widths. Johnson Space Center. NASA NTRS ID 20220013001. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20220013001 ↗