Chapter 8
Propulsion Technology of Lunar Lander
8.1 Introduction
The propulsion subsystem of the lunar lander was one of key subsystems, which
undertook attitude and orbit control tasks such as attitude control, stabilization,
adjustment, orbit maneuver, orbit insertion and de-orbit, hover and translation and
etc.
There are different types of propulsion subsystem such as solid, liquid, cold gas,
gas generator, electric propulsion, nuclear propulsion and etc. Since the middle
of twentieth century when mankind conducted lunar exploration, the propulsion
subsystem of hypergolic and storable bi-propellant was the most popular one in
various the lunar landers, which had advantages such as high specific impulse, high
reliability, long life-time, multiple/pulse ignition, wide range of variable thrust and
etc. [1].
Due to constraints of the lunar lander mass, configuration, landing condition and
etc., usually the propulsion subsystem should have advantages such as large total
impulse, small residual propellant, high specific impulse, large throttleable thrust,
small structural mass, low redundancy, harsh load bearing, high reliability and etc.
Compared to that of satellite and near-earth orbit spacecraft, the requirements for the
lunar lander propulsion subsystem were stringent and special including adaptability
with large variation of operation regime, continuous and rapid thrust modulation
of orbit control engine, high accuracy thrust and mixture ratio control, equilibrium
vent of parallel tank, propellant management in large flux and complicated overload
conditions, light weight under high load bearing condition, long term autonomous
fault management on orbit without ground support and etc.
In this chapter, based on basic information of typical propulsion subsystem of
the lunar landers outside China, it is described including general design features,
constraint, design, test and verification methods with development of propulsion
subsystem of the Chang’E-3 lunar lander.
© National Defense Industry Press and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
D.-Y. Yu et al., Technology of Lunar Soft Lander, Space Technology Library 38,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6580-9_8
267
Propulsion Technology of Lunar Lander
8.1 Introduction
The propulsion subsystem of the lunar lander was one of key subsystems, which
undertook attitude and orbit control tasks such as attitude control, stabilization,
adjustment, orbit maneuver, orbit insertion and de-orbit, hover and translation and
etc.
There are different types of propulsion subsystem such as solid, liquid, cold gas,
gas generator, electric propulsion, nuclear propulsion and etc. Since the middle
of twentieth century when mankind conducted lunar exploration, the propulsion
subsystem of hypergolic and storable bi-propellant was the most popular one in
various the lunar landers, which had advantages such as high specific impulse, high
reliability, long life-time, multiple/pulse ignition, wide range of variable thrust and
etc. [1].
Due to constraints of the lunar lander mass, configuration, landing condition and
etc., usually the propulsion subsystem should have advantages such as large total
impulse, small residual propellant, high specific impulse, large throttleable thrust,
small structural mass, low redundancy, harsh load bearing, high reliability and etc.
Compared to that of satellite and near-earth orbit spacecraft, the requirements for the
lunar lander propulsion subsystem were stringent and special including adaptability
with large variation of operation regime, continuous and rapid thrust modulation
of orbit control engine, high accuracy thrust and mixture ratio control, equilibrium
vent of parallel tank, propellant management in large flux and complicated overload
conditions, light weight under high load bearing condition, long term autonomous
fault management on orbit without ground support and etc.
In this chapter, based on basic information of typical propulsion subsystem of
the lunar landers outside China, it is described including general design features,
constraint, design, test and verification methods with development of propulsion
subsystem of the Chang’E-3 lunar lander.
© National Defense Industry Press and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
D.-Y. Yu et al., Technology of Lunar Soft Lander, Space Technology Library 38,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6580-9_8
267