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Lampoldshausen
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NASA's Galileo Propulsion Module
Satellite and spacecraft propulsion systems from Astrium Lampoldshausen
On 21st September 2003, after having travelled just over 4.6 billion
kilometers during its 14 year mission, the Galileo spacecraft was
steered toward Jupiter for a planned disintegration and burn-up
in the planet's dense atmosphere. The Galileo mission was hailed
as a tremendous success and yielded a catalogue of new discoveries
as well as new questions.
The Galileo spacecraft was commissioned by NASA and designed and
built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Germany provided the propulsion system as NASA's major international
partner in Galileo, which was launched aboard the Space Shuttle
'Atlantis' on 18-Oct-1989.
Propulsion System
The propulsion system, termed Retro-Propulsion Module (RPM),
was developed and produced at the Lampoldshausen propulsion centre,
Germany, under the program management and financial support of the
German Space Agency (DLR).
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Retro-Propulsion Module
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The bipropellant Retro-Propulsion Module
comprised:
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The twelve 10 N thrusters were configured as two clusters
of six thrusters, located at the end of fixed booms.
The thruster functions were:
Two thrusters of each cluster (redundant) for spin control.
One thruster of each cluster function as a couple for navigation
turns and SXA pointing.
One thruster of each cluster function as a couple for lateral
velocity manoeuvres and SXA back-up.
Two thrusters of each cluster (redundant) for turns and TCM's.
The Galileo mission was originally planned for completion
on December 1997. However, since Galileo's systems were essentially
fully functional, NASA extended the mission three times to
continue taking advantage of Galileo's unique capabilities
for accomplishing valuable science.
The propulsion system continued to function flawlessly for
almost a further six years from the original usable propellant
mass of 925 kg.
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400 N Retro-Propulsion Engine
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Galileo's 400 N bipropellant engine and associated
performance characteristics:
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Model Number:
Propellants:
Vacuum thrust:
Power:
Vacuum specific impulse:
Chamber pressure:
Overall length:
Nozzle Diameter:
Mass:
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S400 - 1
MON / MMH
400 N
595 kW
810 hp
303 sec
7 bar
531 mm
248 mm
2.8 kg
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10 N Thruster
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Galileo's 10 N bipropellant thruster and associated
performance characteristics:
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Model Number:
Propellants:
Vacuum thrust:
Power:
Vacuum specific impulse:
Chamber pressure:
Overall length:
Nozzle Diameter:
Mass:
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S10 - 1
MON / MMH
10 N
14 kW
19 hp
286 sec
7 bar
138 mm
37 mm
350g
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Our range of bipropellant
thrusters include thrust levels of 4 N, 10 N, 22 N and
400 N. Thrusters up to 22 N are designed for both long term
steady state and pulse mode operation.
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About the the Galileo mission:
More information about the Galileo mission and its discoveries
is available online at:
NASA:
Galileo Legacy Site
JPL:
Galileo's Legacy at Jupiter
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Contact for Further Information
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If
you require more detailed information on any of our products or services,
then please contact
us, indicating your particular areas of interest or intended application.
Your enquiry will receive our best attention.
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