• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.39-46
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• 2015

A numerical study has been conducted on CO after burning and NO generation of the rocket plume as the cooling water injected to the rocket plume. The present study shows that the cooling water has a role of increasing the degree of CO after burning and reducing NO generation. However the effect varies as the injection configuration of the cooling water. When the cooling water is injected at the side of the plume, NO generation is dramatically reduced while the degree of CO after burning is relatively low. When the cooling water is injected at the side and the center of the plume, CO after burning is highly increased and NO generation is also dramatically reduced.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2017

Vehicle Holding Device(VHD) has a role that holding the launch vehicle on its launch pad until the engine therust reaches a steady condition. The analytical study of shape parameters and dynamic characteristics of hydraulic cylinders is carried out. The contraction of cylinder is considered as the major factor of releasing mechanism. Through the analysis, the decreasing of cylinder slit size and increasing initial charging pressure increase the contraction force. Through the transient analysis, cylinder load, displacement and inner pressure distribution are confirmed. The cylinder contraction force is converged to the cylinder external force when the cylinder starts to move. Also, the pressure distribution in the hydraulic cylinder is constant.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.108-116
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• 2018

A firing test of the 75 tonf-class liquid rocket engine to be used as the first and second stage engines of the KSLV-II was carried out at the rocket engine test facility(RETF). Since this engine uses liquid oxygen as the oxidizer, which is a cryogenic fluid, it is essential that the chill down of the supply pipe line and engine proceed for the firing test; thus, the given inlet requirements must be met. Moreover, it is important to understand the chill down characteristics of the facility and the engine and the amount of liquid oxygen consumed in the chill down process for efficient test operation in the future. In this paper, chill down characteristics of the supply pipe and the engine were evaluated through the investigation of the chill down process of the 75 tonf-class liquid rocket engine at each stage before and after run tank pressurization. In addition, the amount of liquid oxygen consumed was also evaluated.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.487-495
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• 2022

This paper describes the design and development of a high-power transmit receive module(TRM) for mounting on X-band synthetic aperture radar(SAR) of the NEXTSat-2. The TRM generates a high-power pulse signal with a bandwidth of 100 MHz in the target frequency range of X-band and amplifies a low-noise on the received signal. Tx. path of the TRM has output signal level of more than 200 watts (53.01 dB), pulse droop of 0.35 dB, signal strength change of 0.04 dB during transmission signal output, and phase change of 1.7 ˚. Rx. path has noise figure of 3.99 dB and gain of 37.38 ~ 37.46 dB. It was confirmed the TRM satisfies all requirements. The TRM mounted on the NEXTSat-2 flight model(FM) which will be launched using the KSLV-II (Nuri).

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.193-200
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• 2024

This paper describes the design and development of a transmit receiver module(TRM) for mounting on X-band SAR of the NEXTSat-2. The TRM generates the chirp signal with required bandwidth through the DDS in X-band and performs frequency conversion, combination for the signal to transmit and be received and frequency synthesis. Tx path of the TRM produces signals of total 28 bandwidths up to 96.8 MHz and has output signal level of more than + 9.37 dBm. Rx path of the TRM has minimum noise figure of 15.7 dB. The measurement results show that required requirements are satisfied. The TRM is installed on the NEXTSat-2 flight model(FM), launched by KSLV-II(Nuri) on May 23, 2023 and currently operational.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.195-208
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• 2024

As human exploration goals shift from missions in low Earth orbit (LEO) to long-duration interplanetary missions, radiation protection remains one of the key technological issues that must be resolved. The low Earth orbit space radiation dosimeter (LEO-DOS) instrument to measure radiation levels and create a global dose map in the LEO on board the the next generation small satellite-2 (NEXTSat-2) was launched successfully on May 25, 2023 using the Nuri KSLV-III in Korea. The NEXTSat-2 orbits the Earth every 100 minutes, in an orbit with an inclination of 97.8° and an altitude of about 550 km above sea level. The LEO-DOS is equipped with a particle dosimeter (PD) and a neutron spectrometer (NS), which enable the measurement of dosimetric quantities such as absorbed dose (D), dose equivalent (H) for charged particles and neutrons. To verify the observations of LEO-DOS, we conducted a radiation dose estimation study based on the initial results of LEO-DOS, measured from June 2023 to September 2023. The study considered four source categories: (i) galactic cosmic ray particles; (ii) the South Atlantic Anomaly region of the inner radiation belt (IRB); (iii) relativistic electrons and/or bremsstrahlung in the outer radiation belt (ORB); and (iv) solar energetic particle (SEP) events.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.118-143
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• 2023

Space is becoming more commercialized. Despite of its delayed start-up, space activities in Korea are attracting more nation-wide supports from both investors and government. May 25, 2023, KSLV II, also called Nuri, successfully transported, and inserted seven satellites to a sun-synchronous orbit of 550 km altitude. However, Starlink has over 4,000 satellites around this altitude for its commercial activities. Hence, it is necessary for us to constantly monitor the collision risks of these satellites against resident space objects including Starlink. Here we report a quantitative research output regarding the conjunctions, particularly between the Nuri satellites and Starlink. Our calculation shows that, on average, three times everyday, the Nuri satellites encounter Starlink within 1 km distance with the probability of collision higher than 1.0E-5. A comparative study with KOMPSAT-5, also called Arirang-5, shows that its distance of closest approach distribution significantly differs from those of Nuri satellites. We also report a quantitative analysis of collision-avoiding maneuver cost of Starlink satellites and a strategy for Korea, being a delayed starter, to speed up to position itself in the space leading countries. We used the AstroOne program for analyses and compared its output with that of Socrates Plus of Celestrak. The two line element data was used for computation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.898-903
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• 2011

Units assembled in the liquid-propellant propulsion system of launch vehicles should guarantee their on- and off-design performances under the various environments as well as at the various operation modes for the launch preparation and flight of launch vehicles. Units of liquid-propellant propulsion system can be installed in launch vehicle to insert satellite(s) into target orbit(s) only under the condition that all units must pass a series of tests to confirm whether those units perform normally as designed under the environment, which may be occurred in such stages of all development and operations as development, qualification, acceptance, assembly, pre-launch preparation, launch, and flight, and whether those units have been developed according to design requirements. Requirements for such tests have been already prepared in the advanced countries in launch vehicle systems based on experiences for decades. In Korea, where is now pursuing the development of KSLV-II, the research and development of launch vehicles using liquid-propellant propulsion system have been undergone during over 10 years. Hence test requirements for the development of units consisting of liquid-propellant propulsion system should be defined and Koreanized according to the domestic environment and circumstances and based on the experiences accumulated. In this paper requirements for the tests of units in liquid-propellant propulsion system, which can be feasible domestically, have been reviewed and defined.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 2023

A linerless composite propellant tank was designed and manufactured by using the carbon fiber-reinforced composite materials which have superior strength-to-weight ratio in order to reduce weight of the tank. In this research, we designed a sub-scale composite propellant tank with a diameter of 800 mm to withstand an MEOP of 1.7 MPa. We manufactured the boss of the tank by using the same composite materials to reduce the thermal expansion difference between the boss and the secondary-bonded composite layers of the barrel in the cryogenic environment. We used the collapsible mandrel to manufacture the tank without any liner. The mandrel was made from epoxy-based composite tooling prepregs to reduce weight of the mandrel. We manufactured the test tanks by laying up the carbon fiber fabric prepregs manually on the mandrel and then applying the autoclave cure process. We performed a proof test, a helium tightness test, a repeated pressurization test, and a burst test in room temperature. The test results demonstrate that the proposed design and manufacture process satisfies all strength requirements as well as an anti-leakage requirement.