Pulsed thrust propellant reorientation - Concept and modeling

Abstract

The use of pulsed thrust to optimize the propellant reorientation process is proposed. The ECLIPSE code is used to study the performance of pulsed reorientation in small-scale and full-scale propellant tanks. A dimensional analysis of the process is performed and the resulting dimensionless groups are used to present and correlate the computational predictions of reorientation performance. Based on the results obtained from this study, it is concluded that pulsed thrust reorientation seems to be a feasible technique for optimizing the propellant reorientation process across a wide range of spacecraft, for a variety of missions, for the entire duration of a mission, and with a minimum of hardware design and qualification.