EXPERIMENTAL CONFIRMATION OF THE ACQUISITION PROPELLANT DEVICE (MESH SEPARATOR) OPERABILITY IN THE SPACECRAFT SEPARATION

Abstract

One of the problems of providing a group launch of spacecraft is to ensure the re-launch of the propulsion engine for the transition to another orbit, after the separation of the first vehicle. When the spacecraft is separated, a stage is acted upon by the acceleration directed toward the bottom of the tank and leading to the outflow of the fuel component from the mesh separator. This leads to the mesh separator denudation and the gas penetration under it, which can lead to a breakdown of the engine launch. In view of the hydrodynamic processes complexity taking place in the tanks, experimental confirmation of the mesh separators chosen during the design is required.The methods for determining the model conditions (the choice of the scale of the experimental design, the type of the model fluid, the magnitude of the accelerations, etc.) are presented, a description of the stand designed specifically for the test data and the results of the experimental confirmation of the capillary sampling device performance in the separation of the spacecraft are given. The results of the performed work confirm the correctness of the decisions made in the development of capillary sampling devices.