1. Space Express Sub-Orbital Mission
Technical Contact: Prof. James E. Lumpp, Jr.
ABSTRACT
SOFTWARE STRUCTURE
POST FLIGHT ANALYSIS
Kentucky Space, Space Express was a rapid turn around, sub-orbital access to space experiment launched in December The Space Express mission was designed to help test subsystems and processes being developed for future orbital KySat missions. A primary goal of the Kentucky Space Consortium is to facilitate inexpensive and rapid access to space for small payloads. The Space Express mission was launched from the White Sands Missile Range on a Lunar Rocket and Rover Shadow 1B launch system. The Space Express payload consisted of a telemetry package that gathered temperature, pressure, and mission time onboard the rocket. The telemetry gathered onboard the rocket was transmitted to three redundant ground stations using the VHF amateur ham radio band. While the launch system suffered a failure during the boost phase, the payload functioned as designed. This poster overviews the design and development of the Space Express mission.
On December 5, 2007 at 09:06:26 MST, Kentucky Space Express was launched from the Small Missile Launch Complex at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Below shows the Shadow 1B configuration and the launch. Three ground stations were set up across the missile range to receive data from the payload as it traveled in a sub-orbital trajectory to a planned altitude of approximately km.
At liftoff all systems performed nominally. Sensors in the payload detected ignition of the booster and started the mission timer, logged flight data and transmitted telemetry packets to the ground stations. At approximately T+1.2 seconds the vehicle suffered a distinct roll-yaw departure from stable flight. Below shows the corkscrew exhaust pattern. At T seconds the solid rocket booster should have expended 50-60% of its propellant and was approaching mach 3. The acceleration would have been over 100Gs and temperature of the nose is estimated to have been in excess of 1000 degrees F. At this time a cause of the malfunction has not been determined. On December 19th, 2007 Lunar Rocket and Rover and WSMR recovered the booster for further study. In addition, compression and strength tests where performed on darts configured as the one launched December 5th.
SPACE EXPRESS MISSION
The Space Express mission is a sub-orbital test of the KySat-1 design, development and processes. Whenever possible, the same technologies and processes that are being used in the KySat-1 orbital systems were also used for Space Express. The mission has provided the student team with valuable experience in space operations.
The mission was on a fairly tight schedule; from initial conception to final design and launch was less than six months. The design of the payload was finalized in three months, and all the hardware was manufactured in about two months. Final testing of the payload was done in late October so that the payload could be turned over to Lunar Rocket and Rover for integration into the dart rocket. Lunar Rocket and Rover performed this integration in late November for an early December launch. The rapid turn around time is typical for sub-orbital launches.
Since the Space Express mission was a sub-orbital non-recoverable mission the total mission lifetime was only roughly four minutes. The boost phase of the Super Loki rocket will last a total of roughly 2.1 seconds, reaching an altitude of 1.7 km above ground level. After the initial 2.1 second boost the dart rocket and booster motor will separate. The dart rocket will then continue on to a projected altitude of 127 km. Roughly two minutes to apogee and another two minutes from apogee until the dart destructs when impacting with the ground. However, roughly 1.75 seconds into the boost stage there was a failure in the booster dart combination. The payload reported telemetry 7.5 seconds into the launch, indicating this it had survived the initial launch and breakup of the launch vehicle.
PUBLICATIONS
T. Doering, S. Hishmeh, T. Dodson, A. White, P. Eluru, P. Padmanabhan, M. Gailey, K. Bux, M. Schulte, A. Crowe, W. Hutchison, C. Gleim, D. McClure, B. Malphrus, J. Kruth, J. Lumpp “The KySat Space Express Sub-Orbital Mission Summary” IEEEAC paper #1486. IEEE Aerospace Conference. Big Sky, Montanna. March 2008.