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Flight Servicing of Robotic Refueling Mission 3The Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3) payload launched aboard a SpaceX rocket en route to the International Space Station on December 5th, 2018. The Goddard Space Flight Center designed payload carried approximately 50 liters of liquid methane onboard, with a mission to demonstrate long term storage and transfer of the cryogenic fluid in microgravity. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) was tasked to design, fabricate, test, and operate a system equipped to fill an RRM3 dewar with liquid methane prior to launch. Though KSC has a rich history of fueling rockets and payloads, no such operations had previously been accomplished using liquid methane. As such, all of the hardware and processes had to be developed from scratch. The completed ground system design, along with the verification and validation testing will be outlined in this paper. Several challenges that were met and overcome during procurement of the high purity methane are described. In addition, budget restrictions prohibited fueling operations from occurring in traditional processing facilities. The unique and creative solutions which were required to maintain payload cleanliness during cryogenic servicing are also detailed.
Document ID
20190027566
Acquisition Source
Kennedy Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Krenn, A. (NASA Kennedy Space Center Cocoa Beach, FL, United States)
Stewart, M. (Jacobs Engineering Group Cape Canaveral, FL, United States)
Mitchell, D. (NASA Kennedy Space Center Cocoa Beach, FL, United States)
Dixon, K. (NASA Kennedy Space Center Cocoa Beach, FL, United States)
Mierzwa, M. (Bionetics Corp. Cocoa Beach, FL, United States)
Breon, S. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
July 21, 2019
Publication Date
July 17, 2019
Subject Category
Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
Report/Patent Number
KSC-E-DAA-TN70282
Meeting Information
Meeting: Space Cryogenics Workshop
Location: Southbury, CT
Country: United States
Start Date: July 17, 2019
End Date: July 19, 2019
Sponsors: Cryogenic Society of America, Inc.
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNK13MA14C
CONTRACT_GRANT: 80KSC017C0012
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Technical Review
NASA Technical Management
Keywords
Thermal Conductivity
Cryogenics
Air Leak

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