• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.135-144
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• 2012

The NARO is South Korea's first carrier launch vehicle, which made its flights from NARO Space Center on 25 August 2009 and 10 June 2010. LV PACS(Preparation Automated Control System) is a electrical ground support system to monitor and control the integrated launch vehicle during the launch preparation and operation in Launch Complex. As a subsystem of LV PACS, LV PACS-II was developed for launch preparation and operation of the NARO upper stage, and all the functions and requirements were verified successfully through NARO flight tests. In this paper the core technology and characteristics applied to LV PACS-II are described.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.1006-1010
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• 2017

This paper describes the design and test of the thermal control and fire safety system for thermal control and the fire/explosion prevention of inside the compartment during the preparation and operation of the space launch vehicle at the launch pad. The system considered here is for the test launch vehicle which is being developed as part of the development of the Korean Space launch vehicle-II. This system applies the high pressure system based on the heritage of Naro launch vehicle. The selection of thermal control and fire safety system from high pressure and low pressure system is done in consideration of the characteristics of the launch pad gas supply system and the characteristics of launch vehicle, and the system configuration is also changed accordingly. As a result, it has been confirmed that the developed system satisfies the initial design conditions through the test. Moreover the system will be applied to the development of the Korean launch vehicle in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.80-88
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• 2018

The function of a vehicle holding device (VHD) is to securely hold a launch vehicle on the launch pad and release the launch vehicle at maximum thrust after engine ignition to allow lift-off of the launch vehicle. During the release of the launch vehicle, to prevent the Ka doing a doing a doing mode, which is the vertical oscillation of the entire liquid propellant, the release of the launch vehicle should be gradual. In this study, for the gradual release of a launch vehicle, a hydraulic system comprising an accumulator and pyro valve to operate a hydraulic cylinder and control the speed of the cylinder with an orifice is introduced. Through a test, the influence of design variables on the cylinder speed is analyzed. Based on this, the design values of the hydraulic cylinder are determined. Through this study, the engineering basis for developing a VHD releasing a launch vehicle at maximum thrust is provided.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2019

Recently, in the space market, there has been a rapid reduction of the launch price. The major reason is that a few commercial companies, especially SpaceX, began to enter into the space market about ten years ago, which has changed the space market from monopolization to competition, and accelerated the adoption of commercial efficiency in the technology and management. Also, the successful landing and recovery of a first stage in 2016 by SpaceX proved to be a prelude to opening a new era of reusable launch vehicles, and SpaceX declared the groundbreaking launch price through using the reusable launch vehicle. This study calculates the total launch cost required to put a certain satellite into the LEO, compares the launch cost in three cases with different payload weights, and reviews the impacts of the payload on the cost effectiveness of a reusable vehicle. The total launch cost is divided into 6 subsections cost, namely development cost, production cost, refurbishment cost, operation cost, fixed-cost of factory and launch site, and insurance cost. The cost estimation relationships used in the calculation are taken from the commonly proven cost models such as TRANSCOST.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.14-20
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• 2017

In this paper, KSLV-I flight test data and critical design results of filling operation for liquid oxygen filling system are compared to validate the reliability of the critical design modeling. Applying the filling and operation conditions on the critical design modeling, comparison of major flow rates and pressure values between test data and calculation results are conducted.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.43-60
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• 2024

Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) is South Korea's first space exploration mission, developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. It aims to develop technologies for lunar exploration, explore lunar science, and test new technologies. KPLO was launched on August 5, 2022, by a Falcon-9 launch vehicle from cape canaveral space force station (CCSFS) in the United States and placed on a ballistic lunar transfer (BLT) trajectory. A total of four trajectory correction maneuvers were performed during the approximately 4.5-month trans-lunar cruise phase to reach the Moon. Starting with the first lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuver on December 16, the spacecraft performed a total of three maneuvers before arriving at the lunar mission orbit, at an altitude of 100 kilometers, on December 27, 2022. After entering lunar orbit, the commissioning phase validated the operation of the mission mode, in which the payload is oriented toward the center of the Moon. After completing about one month of commissioning, normal mission operations began, and each payload successfully performed its planned mission. All of the spacecraft operations that KPLO performs from launch to normal operations were designed through the system operations design process. This includes operations that are automatically initiated post-separation from the launch vehicle, as well as those in lunar transfer orbit and lunar mission orbit. Key operational procedures such as the spacecraft's initial checkout, trajectory correction maneuvers, LOI, and commissioning were developed during the early operation preparation phase. These procedures were executed effectively during both the early and normal operation phases. The successful execution of these operations confirms the robust verification of the system operation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.47 no.7
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• pp.525-534
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• 2019

Water rocket is a pressurized liquid propellant rocket that shares the same basic principles of space launch vehicles. Water rockets can be used as an engineering educational material for the liquid rocket principles and the launch vehicle systems, far beyond the scope of K-12 level science education. In this paper, the principles and theories of water rocket propulsion and flight dynamics was investigated at the level of undergraduate rocket engineering classes. Also, the system level design and operation of water rocket is summarized by including the components of launch vehicle, launch pad, payload and recovery as well as altitude measurement methods.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.795-796
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• 2011

During launch process, ground support facilities perform its duty in established processes by communications with launch vehicle. All ground support systems are operated independently or organically. This paper studied algorithm of propellant filling process and method for liquid oxygen filling system in launch operation in Naro space complex.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.140-152
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• 2003

Scenario is a guiding principle of launch operation and control for rocket and ground support system. Therefore, developing a scenario is the first step to prepare for rocket launch, which is a critical task for success of KSR-III flight test. The launch scenario for KSR-III flight test is a procedural sequence of command and control signals to be given to rocket and ground support systems. In this paper, the UML object modeling method is applied to development of a launch scenario. First, the subsystems of the launch system are modeled by objects, and then the interfaces between each two subsystems are modeled by association links. The finally obtained object diagram of KSR-III launch system is used to analyzing flow of data and commands and control signals, and interactions. The scenario includes the sequences of pre-launch/launch operations and emergency operations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.75-81
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• 2014

The flame deflector should be constructed to minimize the induced environmental effects on the launch vehicle and to minimize the exhaust impingement effects on the launch complex structures during the lift-off operation. Therefore, it should be designed to avoid recirculation and reverse flow of rocket exhaust plumes. The circumstance around launch complex and characteristics of launch vehicle should be taken into consideration for the flame deflector design. In this paper, we designed the flame deflector reflecting KSLV-II 1st engine characteristics and analyzed the effect of exhaust plumes related to change geometry by means of computational flow analysis.