Publication Date:
2019-06-27
Description:
On November 14, 1971, Mariner 9 was decelerated into orbit about Mars by a 1334-newton (300-lbf) liquid bipropellant propulsion system. The development and in-flight performance are described and summarized of this pressure-fed, nitrogen tetroxide/monomethyl hydrazine bipropellant system. The design of all Mariner propulsion subsystems has been predicated upon the premise that simplicity of approach, coupled with thorough qualification and margin-limits testing, is the key to cost-effective reliability. The qualification test program and analytical modeling of the Mariner 9 subsystem are discussed. Since the propulsion subsystem is modular in nature, it was completely checked, serviced, and tested independent of the spacecraft. Proper prediction of in-flight performance required the development of three significant modeling tools to predict and account for nitrogen saturation of the propellant during the six-month coast period and to predict and statistically analyze in-flight data. The flight performance of the subsystem was excellent, as were the performance prediction correlations. These correlations are presented.
Keywords:
PROPULSION SYSTEMS
Type:
NASA-CR-129097
,
JPL-TM-33-574
Format:
application/pdf
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