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Hybrid Propulsion Technology Development in Japan for Economic Space Launch

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Chemical Rocket Propulsion

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Abstract

The demand for the economic and dedicated space launchers for vast amount of lightweight, so-called nano-/microsatellites, is now growing rapidly. There is a strong rationale for the usage of the hybrid propulsion for economic space launch as suggested by the assessment conducted here. A typical concept of development of such an economic three-stage launcher, in which clustering unit hybrid rocket engines are employed, is described with a development scenario. Thanks to the benefits of hybrid rocket propulsion, assuring and safe, economic launcher dedicated to lightweight satellites can be developed with a reasonable amount of quality assurance and quality control actions being taken in all aspects of development such as raw material, production, transportation, storage, and operation. By applying a multi-objective optimization technique for such a launch system, examples of possible launch systems are obtained for a typical mission scenario for the launch of lightweight satellites. Furthermore, some important technologies that contribute strongly to economic space launch by hybrid propulsion are described. They are the behavior of fuel regression rate, the swirling-oxidizer-flow-type hybrid rocket, the liquid oxygen vaporization, the multi-section swirl injection, the low-temperature melting point thermoplastic fuel, the thrust and O/F simultaneous control by altering-intensity swirl-oxidizer-flow-type (A-SOFT) hybrid, the numerical simulations of the internal ballistics, and so on.

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Acknowledgment

This research is supported by the Hybrid Rocket Research Working Group (HRrWG) of ISAS, JAXA.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sagamihara, 252-5210, Japan

    Toru Shimada, Keiichi Hori, Koki Kitagawa, Kohei Ozawa & Tomoaki Usuki

  2. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Graduate School of System Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hino, Japan

    Saburo Yuasa, Masahiro Kanazaki & Takashi Sakurai

  3. Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    Harunori Nagata

  4. Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Shigeru Aso

  5. School of Engineering, Tokai University, Hiratsuka, Japan

    Ichiro Nakagawa & Takakazu Morita

  6. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

    Keisuke Sawada

  7. Graduate School of Informatics and Engineering, The University of Electro-Communications, Chofu, Japan

    Kazuhisa Chiba

  8. Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology, Narashino, Japan

    Yutaka Wada

  9. Aerospace Plane Research Center, Muroran Institute of Technology, Muroran, Japan

    Daisuke Nakata

  10. Research and Development Directorate, Research Unit III, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sagamihara, 252-5210, Japan

    Mikiro Motoe

  11. Faculty of Engineering, Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Japan

    Yuki Funami

Authors
  1. Toru Shimada
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  2. Saburo Yuasa
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  3. Harunori Nagata
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  4. Shigeru Aso
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  5. Ichiro Nakagawa
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  6. Keisuke Sawada
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  7. Keiichi Hori
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  8. Masahiro Kanazaki
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  9. Kazuhisa Chiba
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  10. Takashi Sakurai
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  11. Takakazu Morita
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  12. Koki Kitagawa
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  13. Yutaka Wada
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  14. Daisuke Nakata
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  15. Mikiro Motoe
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  16. Yuki Funami
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  17. Kohei Ozawa
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  18. Tomoaki Usuki
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Toru Shimada .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Space Propulsion Laboratory (SPLab) Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Luigi T. De Luca

  2. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sagamihara, Japan

    Toru Shimada

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology, Moscow, Russia

    Valery P. Sinditskii

  4. The Inner Arch, Poissy, France

    Max Calabro

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Shimada, T. et al. (2017). Hybrid Propulsion Technology Development in Japan for Economic Space Launch. In: De Luca, L., Shimada, T., Sinditskii, V., Calabro, M. (eds) Chemical Rocket Propulsion. Springer Aerospace Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27748-6_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27748-6_22

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-27748-6

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