Space applications for contactless coilguns

Author

Lipinski, R.J. ; Beard, E. ; Boyes, J. ; Cnare, E.C. ; Cowan, M. ; Duggin, B.W. ; Kaye, R.J. ; Morgan, R.M. ; Outka, D. ; Potter, D. ; Widner, M.M. ; Wong, C.

Author_Institution

Sandia Nat. Lab., Albuquerque, NM, USA

Volume

29

Issue

1

fYear

1993

Firstpage

691

Lastpage

695

Abstract

Two space applications are considered for (electrically) contactless coilguns: launch of small satellites into low-Earth orbit, and launch of lunar liquid oxygen (LLOX) from the Moon to the stationary Lagrangian point L2. For the Earth-to-orbit application, the baseline conceptual design consists of a 960-m-long gun sited in a tunnel at 25 degrees inclination. The gun launches an 1820-kg package that includes a 100-kg satellite and a 650-kg boost rocket for orbital insertion. For the lunar application, the launcher is 200 m long. A 100-kg load of LLOX is packaged in a 10-kg fiber-wrapped tank, accelerated at 2 kgees in an aluminum bucket (armature), and launched at 2.33 km/s at 30-min intervals. The canisters arrive at L2 2.97 days later and are captured by robotic tugs that deliver them to a fuel depot. The total mass of LLOX delivered per year is 867 Mg (metric tons).<>

Keywords

aerospace propulsion; electromagnetic launchers; 1820 kg; 200 m; 960 m; Earth-to-orbit application; LEO satellites; boost rocket; contactless coilguns; lunar application; lunar liquid oxygen; small satellites; space applications; Acceleration; Aluminum; Coilguns; Contacts; Lagrangian functions; Low earth orbit satellites; Moon; Packaging; Rockets; Space stations;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.195659

Filename

195659