Spacecraft Passivation - an overview of Requirements, Principles, and Practices as Applied to Spacecraft Pressure Vessels
Abstract
Explosions, collisions, and other catastrophic breakups of launch vehicle orbital stages and satellites continue to be major contributors to the generation of orbital debris. Both launch vehicles and payload satellites typically have several types of stored energy sources on board, any of which might result in energetic breakups and the creation of debris after their mission has ended. These energy sources include propulsion systems, pressure vessels, reaction wheels, control moment gyros, heat pipes, and power systems. NASA, ESA, JAXA and other space-faring organizations have requirements in place to limit the growth of the orbital debris population by passivating space vehicles that remain in orbit after their missions have ended. In this paper, we review current spacecraft passivation philosophies and principles, as well as how those principles have been applied in practice. In particular, we focus on how NASA programs have addressed spacecraft passivation. We begin by considering and reviewing general passivation requirements, with specific emphasis on pressure vessel passivation. We then discuss passivation approaches used in several recent NASA missions as well as some practical considerations in spacecraft passivation, and conclude by providing some summary guidelines regarding what may be considered acceptable (reduced) pressure level targets (depending on the tank commodity and the type of propulsion system) that could allow the pressure vessel to be considered in a passivated state.
Recommended Citation
S. Hull and W. P. Schonberg, "Spacecraft Passivation - an overview of Requirements, Principles, and Practices as Applied to Spacecraft Pressure Vessels," Journal of Space Safety Engineering, Elsevier, Jan 2022.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsse.2022.08.004
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
Orbital Debris; Pressure Vessels; Spacecraft Passivation; Stored Energy
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
2468-8967
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2022 Elsevier, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2022
Comments
This work was supported by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center.