Abstract
When the first American astronauts were sent into space, their Mercury capsules had very limited capabilities for performing maneuvers. A rudimentary manual reaction control system could be used for minor attitude adjustments and adopting the proper orientation to return home by firing solid-fuel retro rockets.
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Notes
- 1.
Below a certain propellant quantity, there is enough residual helium pressure in the propellant tank to effectively use all the propellant in that tank. This quantity is referred to as ‘‘max blowdown”. For the OMS it is about 39 per cent propellant quantity remaining, while it is 24 per cent for the aft RCS and 22 per cent for the forward RCS.
- 2.
The oxidizer was chosen because it has a higher vapor pressure than the fuel.
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Sivolella, D. (2014). Maneuvering in space: the orbital maneuvering system and reaction control system. In: To Orbit and Back Again. Springer Praxis Books. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0983-0_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0983-0_6
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-0982-3
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