The SHOOT orbital operations

Abstract

The Superfluid Helium On Orbit Transfer (SHOOT) flight demonstration programme will provide the technology necessary to resupply liquid helium in space. If used in a tanker the components in SHOOT will be full scale except for tank size. The SHOOT attached shuttle payload orbital operations are divided roughly into two categories: an experiment and a demonstration. The experiment involves qualitative and quantitative measurements of the behaviour of various liquid management devices such as liquid acquisition devices, phase separators and liquid/vapour discriminators. Total system performance will also be measured in terms of transfer rates, losses, and residual quantities of helium. Parameters such as low level acceleration, temperature and pumping speed will be varied to obtain data needed to verify concepts and theoretical predictions. The demonstration involves combining data from early in the flight with an on board expert system to perform a transfer autonomously from the shuttle, thus simulating an actual superfluid resupply mission. The paper describes the SHOOT on orbit operations, the reasons for the methods used to obtain the experimental data, and the expected results.