JPH10287298A - Astronautical body - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To drivingly control the other propeller even if one fails to constitute a propulsive system by connecting a plurality of spacecraft loading propellers in such a manner as to be separable in the state where each propeller is independently drivable, and selectively drivingly controlling the propellers of the spacecraft to generate a thrust. SOLUTION: A second spacecraft 12 is connected to a first spacecraft 10 in such a manner as to be separable through a separating and connecting mechanism 13. The second spacecraft 12 is loaded with a propeller 14 such as two- liquid type apogee engine in substantially the reverse direction to the propeller 11 of the first spacecraft 10. Namely, the propeller 14 is mounted and arranged in the reverse direction to the propeller 11 of the first spacecraft 10 in such a manner as to be drivable in the state where the second spacecraft 12 is connected to the first spacecraft 10 through the separating and connecting mechanism 13. Thus, when the propeller 11 of the first spacecraft 10 fails, the propeller 14 of the other second spacecraft 12 is drivingly-controlled, whereby the first spacecraft 10 can be navigated to a desired orbit position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a spacecraft suitable for a spacecraft or the like performing various missions in space or a planet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, in the field of space exploration, as a spacecraft for exploring the moon or the like, a plurality of, for example, first and second spacecraft performing different missions are connected in a separable manner. In order to diversify the operation, it has been considered that the mission can be independently launched and a desired mission can be performed.

[0003] In such a spacecraft, for example, a first spacecraft constitutes a spacecraft that performs a desired mission in a lunar orbit, and another second spacecraft performs a desired mission on the moon. Make up a lunar lander. That is, when the first and second spacecraft reach the outer space, for example, the propulsion unit such as the two-liquid type apogee engine of the first spacecraft constituting the main system is driven and controlled, and the lunar orbit is orbited. The orbit is converted to Then, in a state where the orbit is changed to a lunar orbit, the second spacecraft is separated from the first spacecraft,
Drive and control your own propulsion unit to land on the moon and perform missions on the moon.

[0004] However, in the above spacecraft, the orbit is changed by the propulsion unit of the first spacecraft until it reaches the lunar orbit, and then the second spacecraft lands on the moon with its own propulsion unit. Due to the configuration, when the propulsion unit of the first spacecraft breaks down, there is a problem that the mission of the first spacecraft is of course difficult to perform, and the mission of the second spacecraft is also difficult to perform.

[0005]

As described above, the conventional spacecraft has a problem that if a propulsion unit for orbit conversion among a plurality of spacecrafts fails, it becomes difficult to perform all missions. Have. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a spacecraft with a simplified configuration, improved versatility, and capable of reliably performing a mission.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there are provided a plurality of spacecraft on which propulsors are mounted, and a separable connection in which the plurality of spacecrafts are separably connected such that each propulsion unit can be driven independently. Means and a propulsion system control means for selectively driving and controlling the propulsors of the plurality of spacecraft to generate thrust, thereby constituting a spacecraft.

According to the above configuration, since the propulsors of a plurality of spacecrafts constitute a redundant system with each other, when the propulsion of one spacecraft fails and normal operation becomes difficult,
The propulsion unit of another spacecraft is driven and controlled to travel to an orbit capable of performing a desired mission. Therefore, even if one of the propulsion units of a plurality of spacecrafts fails, it becomes possible to drive and control the other propulsion units to form a propulsion system, so that it is not difficult to perform all missions, It is possible to achieve the minimum mission.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a spacecraft according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The spacecraft 10 constitutes the main system of the lunar explorer, and is equipped with a propulsion device 11 such as a two-component apogee engine. The first spacecraft 10 is equipped with various mission devices for exploring the moon from a desired lunar orbit. The first spacecraft 10 is equipped with an attitude control system including a thruster (not shown) and the like, and attitude control is performed, for example, around three axes in space through the attitude control system.

Further, the first spacecraft 10 is provided with, for example, a second spacecraft 12 constituting a lunar landing machine by a separation coupling mechanism 13.
Are releasably connected via a. The second spacecraft 12
A propulsion device 14 such as a two-liquid apogee engine that forms a redundant propulsion system is mounted, for example, in a direction substantially opposite to the propulsion device 11 of the first spacecraft 10. That is, the propulsion unit 14 of the second spacecraft 12 can be driven in a state where the second spacecraft 12 is coupled to the first spacecraft 10 via the separation coupling mechanism 13, for example, the first spacecraft It is attached and arranged in the direction opposite to the propulsion unit 11 of the machine 10.

Assuming that the propellants 11 and 14 of the first and second spacecrafts 10 and 12 respectively have propellant amounts Ws and Wl, the total propellant amount Wt to be mounted is Wt = Wl + Ws. Become. The consumed propellant amounts Ws and Wl are, as operation modes, for example, considering the lunar exploration shown in FIG. 2, when the lunar orbit is (100 × 100 [km]), the consumption propellant of 800 [kg] as Ws is obtained. A drug is required, and a consumption propellant of 200 [kg] is required as a consumption propellant amount Wl from the lunar orbit to the lunar landing.

Here, suppose that the propulsion unit 1 of the first spacecraft 10 is
No. 1 is equipped with propellant consumption Ws (800 [kg])
Of the propellant consumed Wl (200
[Kg]), the propulsion unit 1 of the first spacecraft 10
In the case where the device 1 fails and does not operate normally, for example, a hyperelliptic orbit (34300 ×
100 [km]).

Therefore, the propulsion unit 11 of the first spacecraft 10 is loaded with 500 kg required as a propellant consumption Wl to be injected into the lunar orbit shown in FIG. Then, 500 [kg] is mounted on the propulsion device 14 of the second spacecraft 12 as the consumed propellant amount WS. As a result, the first and second spacecrafts 10 and 12 are driven by the propulsion system 11 while the propulsion unit 11 of the first spacecraft 10 is driven to change the orbit from the Earth orbit to the lunar orbit. Spacecraft 1
The propulsion unit 11 is switched to the propulsion unit 14 of the second spacecraft 12 to complete the orbit conversion.

In the above configuration, the propulsion unit 11 of the first spacecraft 10 is driven into the lunar orbit while being launched into the outer space and put into the orbit around the earth as shown in FIG. , A desired lunar orbit (for example, a hyperelliptical orbit (34300 × 100 [k
m]), the orbit is converted to a lunar orbit (1400 × 100 [km]) shown in FIG. At the time of this orbit change, for example, the driving direction of the propulsion unit 11 of the first spacecraft 10 and the propulsion unit 14 of the second spacecraft 12 are controlled to convert the navigation direction first.

Next, the propulsion unit 14 of the second spacecraft 12 is driven to convert the orbit into a lunar orbit, and reaches a desired lunar orbit, for example, a lunar orbit shown in FIG. 3B. In this state, the separating and coupling mechanism 13 is driven, and the first spacecraft 10 and the second spacecraft 12 are released and separated.

Here, the first spacecraft 10 performs a desired mission by controlling the operation of mission equipment while traveling in a lunar orbit. On the other hand, the second spacecraft 12 drives the propulsion device 14 to independently travel, lands on the moon, and controls the operation of mission equipment to perform a desired mission.

The first and second spacecrafts 10, 12 are:
In the coupled state until the separation, the attitude is controlled, for example, via the attitude control system of the first spacecraft 10. In the separated state, the attitude control is performed by the original attitude control system.

As described above, the spacecraft has the propulsors 11 and 14 mounted on the first and second spacecrafts 10 and 12, respectively, and connects the first and second spacecrafts 10 and 12 with each other. The propulsors 11 and 14 are detachably connected in a state where they can be driven independently, are launched into outer space, and are orbited using the propulsors 11 and 14 of both the first and second spacecrafts 10 and 12. It is configured so that conversion can be realized.

According to this, since the orbit conversion propulsion system adopts a double structure having a redundant propulsion system, for example, the propulsion unit 11 of the first spacecraft 10 fails and normal operation is difficult. Even in the case where the first spacecraft 12 is driven, the propulsion unit 14 of the other second spacecraft 12 can be driven and controlled to navigate the first spacecraft 10 to a desired orbital position. It is realized that the spacecraft 10 sails to a lunar orbit where the mission can be performed. Therefore, even if the propulsion unit 11 of the first spacecraft 10 fails, the redundant propulsion system can be configured, so that it is not difficult to perform all missions, and the minimum mission can be achieved. Therefore, it is possible to ensure mission achievement.

In the above embodiment, the first and second spacecrafts 10 and 1 constituting the lunar orbiting satellite and the lunar lander are described.
Although the description has been made of the case of using two of the two spacecraft, the present invention is not limited to this number of spacecraft, and it is also possible to use two or more spacecraft.

The operation mode is not limited to lunar exploration, but can be applied to other planetary explorations and the like. The usage status in this operation mode is determined by appropriately setting the amount of propellant consumed to be mounted on the propulsion units 11 and 14.
Various redundant propulsion systems can be configured.

In the above embodiment, the first and second
Of the spacecrafts 10 and 12 are mounted in substantially opposite directions and connected to each other to form a redundant propulsion system.
The arrangement is not limited to this, and various arrangements are possible. Therefore, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0022]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a spacecraft with a simplified configuration, improved versatility, and capable of reliably performing a mission. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a spacecraft according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view shown for explaining the trajectory conversion operation of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between the consumed propellant amount and the Apollon altitude (Hap) in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 First spacecraft. 11, 14 ... thrusters. 12 Second spacecraft. 13 ... Separation connection mechanism.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of spacecraft having a propulsion device mounted thereon, separation coupling means for separating the plurality of spacecrafts so that each propulsion device can be driven independently, and the plurality of spacecrafts. A spacecraft including propulsion system control means for selectively driving and controlling the propulsion device according to claim 1 to generate thrust. 2. The spacecraft according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of spacecrafts are independently navigable by each propulsion device. 3. The spacecraft according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of spacecrafts are equipped with independent mission devices. 4. The propulsion device of the plurality of spacecrafts generates a thrust by burning a consumed propellant, and the consumed propellant amount differs for each of the plurality of spacecrafts. A spacecraft according to any one of the above.