Viking Mars Lander History Hydrazine ...

Viking Mars Lander History Hydrazine Monopropellant History

Dr. Eckart W. Schmidt formerly with

Rocket Research Company, Redmond (now Aerojet Redmond Operations) 11 November 2012

Introductory Comments A few biographical notes about myself. The recent landing of Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity has renewed the interest in Mars missions. It always helps to view the most recent mission success in the light of previous missions we learned from ("standing on the shoulders of giants"). Rocket Research Company (now Aerojet Redmond) has provided thrusters for all U.S. deep space missions for the past 40 years.

Liquid Rocket Propellants used for Viking Missions

Monopropellants do not require an oxidizer. Monopropellant systems are simpler and more reliable since they need only one tank, one valve. The operator does not have to worry about maintaining the correct oxidizer:fuel mixture ratio.

Brief History of Failed Mars Missions Mars Observer, August 22, 1993 Most likely cause: NTO oxidizer diffusing through Teflon check valve seals into fuel lines during 11-month trans-Mars cruise. Mars 96 (Russia), November 16, 1996 Failure of the Proton rocket Block D-2 upper stage. Nozomi Orbiter (Japan) 1998-2003 No orbit insertion; fuel leakage and freezing problems. Mars Climate Orbiter, September 23, 1999. Obvious cause: JPL/Lockheed Martin failed to convert thrust units from lbf to Newton (GO METRIC, use SI units!!!)

Brief History of Failed Mars Missions (continued) Mars Polar Lander, December 3, 1999. Most likely cause: Accelerometer/computer mistook a transient signal (shock from deploying the legs) for ground contact and turned engines off prematurely, causing the spacecraft to crash to the ground. Mars Express Orbiter/Beagle 2 Lander (ESA) 2003 Orbiter works OK imaging Mars in detail, but lander lost on arrival. Phobos-Grunt 2012, November 9, 2011 Most likely cause: Use of non-space-qualified microprocessor integrated circuit chips in on-board control unit. Secondary problem: Antenna view was obstructed by tankage when stages failed to separate, thus antenna could not receive corrective signals radioed from Earth during rescue attempt.

Viking propellant selection

• Bipropellants vs. Monopropellants • Hydrazine monopropellant has clean exhaust gases. • Bipropellant engines available at the time could not be throttled over a 1:8 ratio range. Surveyor moon landing engine had a throttling ratio of only 1: 3.5 (30 - 104 lbf).

• Hydrazine monopropellant was selected for the mission. Problem:

• Only after hydrazine monopropellant was selected, did the investigators realize that with then available quality of hydrazine, the exhaust might contain up to 0.5% hydrogen cyanide, an extremely poisonous gas.

Viking catalyst development and propellant production My modest contributions to the Viking mission success:

Catalysts: Development of catalyst carrier (RA-1) rounding ("attrition") technique for LCH-101 catalyst would reduce abrasion of sharp-edged particles and extend useful lifetime of the rocket engine. Scale-up of production of LCH-101 catalyst.

Propellants: Evaluated several methods for making aniline-free hydrazine, although the method used at RRC was not the one later chosen by NASA and Martin Marietta.

Viking catalyst development The Viking lander Terminal Descent Engine was the largest hydrazine monopropellant rocket engine available at that time. It used a very large quantity of catalyst. The catalyst used up to that time was Shell 405 which was very expensive and sold for $4000/lb.

Shell 405 catalyst was only needed in the upper portion of the catalyst bed. There was a financial incentive to replace the more expensive Shell 405 in the lower bed with a Low-Cost Hydrazine decomposition catalyst (LCH-101). In addition to the cost savings, the less active catalyst in the lower bed avoided complete ammonia dissociation (i.e., lower specific impulse) at low bed loadings, thus allowing higher specific impulse and saving propellant.

Viking high-purity grade hydrazine development The anhydrous hydrazine production process used by chemical industry at that time used an auxiliary fluid, aniline C6H5NH2. Aniline boils at a much higher boiling point than hydrazine and accumulates in the residue.

During hydrazine dehydration, typically up to 0.5% aniline were inadvertently carried over as an undesirable contaminant into the finished product. That did not matter as long as the product was intended to be used as a bipropellant fuel in the Titan (both stages) and Delta second stage launch vehicles, where it was mixed with another organic fuel (UDMH) anyway. All the organics would have been burned to CO and CO2, even if the propellant contained more than 0.5% aniline.

Viking high-purity grade hydrazine development (continued) Nominally, hydrazine decomposes to ammonia and nitrogen (a very clean exhaust): 3 N2H4  4 NH3 + N2 For hydrazine as a monopropellant, most of the contaminant organic carbon ends up as toxic HCN (hydrogen cyanide) in the exhaust of the rocket engine: C6H5NH2 + 4NH3 ---> 5HCN + CH4 + 5H2 There was concern that HCN might poison the eventual life forms on Mars that the Viking mission was supposed to look for.

To avoid this problem, Martin Marietta in Denver developed a freeze-thaw purification process that was still used for several decades even after the Viking mission was completed.

Viking terminal descent engine nozzle evolution to minimize landing site alteration by plume impingement

Photo: Rocket Research Company

Viking terminal descent engine 80-600 lbf, 1976


Viking terminal descent engine cutaway

Viking terminal descent engine 80-600 lbf, 1976


Viking terminal descent engine final assembly at Rocket Research Company


Viking terminal descent engines fly only First Class!!

VIKING LANDER ENGINE ON MARS 1976

Image Credit: NASA PDS

Viking deorbit REM


Comparison: Viking / Mars Science Laboratory Terminal Descent Engines

Photo: Aerojet Redmond Operations - AIAA Paper 2007-5481

Mars Science Laboratory 2011 Terminal Descent Engine


Mars Science Laboratory Terminal Descent Engine Firing


Viking Flight Capsule 3 Restoration at University of Washington

Viking VC3 needed a professional cleaning job

Viking VC3 before and after cleaning

Before

After

Viking in transit to UW, 2002

Viking arrives at UW AERL, 2002

Viking arrived at UW AERL, 2002

Unpacking the meteorology boom, 2002

Attaching the lander's legs, 2002

Crushable aluminum honeycomb structure revealed in one of the lander's legs

Ready to create a replica of the meteorology sensor, 2002

Three Viking terminal descent engine replicas donated by Rocket Research to UW, 2002

Viking terminal descent engine replica, 2002

Photo: Rocket Research Company, Now Aerojet Redmond Operations

Viking lander prior to propellant tank installation

Photo: James G. Tillman

Viking lander propellant tank installation

Photo: Eckart W. Schmidt, 2003

Propellant tank: Courtesy of Pressure Systems Inc.

Viking lander propellant tank installation

Photo: Eckart W. Schmidt; 2003

Viking lander propellant tank mounting bracket

http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2000-001630.HTML

Viking lander propellant tank mounting bracket

Photo: Eckart W. Schmidt

Propellant tank: Courtesy of Pressure Systems Inc.

Viking Lander donated to Museum of Flight in Seattle






Viking Lander 3 in Museum of Flight in Seattle

Viking Landers (not flight qualified) displayed at other museums in the United States: Virginia Air & Space Center, Hampton, VA

Viking Landers (not flight qualified) displayed at other museums in the United States: Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, Washington, D.C.

November 1969: Surveyor 3 lander visited by Apollo 12 astronauts

Photo: NASA

30 Years from now: Will Viking landers be visited by astronauts?

1. History of Hydrazine 2. Other Contributions to Rocket Science

Raketentreibstoffe ( = Rocket Propellants, in German) 1st Edition 1968

*** Significantly expanded 2nd edition and English translation in work (as of 2012) http://www.springer.com/springerwiennewyork/engineering/book/978-3-211-80856-6

Hydrazine Book, 1st Edition 1984

Draft of cover illustration for Schmidt, 2nd Edition, 2001

Image Credit: NASA PDS

Hydrazine Book, 2nd Edition 2001

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471415537.html

The proud author, 2001

Assisted George Sutton in revising and updating rocket propellant sections in 8th Edition of Rocket Propulsion Elements (2010)

Hydrazine timeline 1887 Discovery of hydrazine hydrate and salts by Th. Curtius in Germany

1894 Lobry deBruyn in Belgium is the first to produce anhydrous hydrazine 1907 Discovery of a more economical production process by F. Raschig in Germany 1943 German chemical industry gears up hydrazine hydrate production to support the war effort with a rocket-powered airplane 1945 At the end of WW-II, all hydrazine hydrate in Germany was confiscated and shipped to the U.S.A. 1946 Both U. S. Army Ordnance Department and Air Materiel Command possessed hydrazine hydrate that had been impounded in occupied Germany.

Hydrazine timeline (continued) 1947 Mathieson started dehydrating hydrazine hydrate using a caustic dehydration method aimed at 10,000 lb of anhydrous N2H4.

Several batches were lost due to fires and only 3200 lb N2H4 were obtained from four batches. 1948-1950 development of a continuous dehydration process. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics ordered the dehydration of 2000 gallons of HH100 to make 3500 lb of N2H4. Niagara falls plant ended production when Lake Charles plant began operating in July 1953. 1952 Lake Charles hydrazine hydrate plant was based on a licensed process from Bayer in Germany. 1962 Explosion in the dehydration unit shut down production for one year while plant is repaired.

Hydrazine timeline (concluded) 1956-1962 Olin produced UDMH temporarily.

1964 Olin added MMH production capability. 1978 Olin resumed and expanded UDMH production capability.

1998 Olin Corporation spun off performance chemicals and biocides as Arch Chemicals, Inc. 2011 Arch Chemicals, Inc. was acquired by Lonza Group Ltd. (a Swiss pharmaceutical company).

Hydrazine applications timeline • 1930 • 1933 • • • • •

1943 1950 1952 1953 1960

• 1962 • 1964 • 1967 • 1976

Reducing agent in chemistry Rocket propellant: von Braun: Das Mars Projekt (proposed) First flight of Me-163B rocket plane Polymer foam blowing agents Isoniazid as anti-tuberculosis drug Boiler feedwater treatment First satellite using hydrazine monopropellant (Able-2) First flight of Titan-2 ICBM using Aerozine-50 First (unmanned) flight of Gemini-1 bipropellant First manned landing on the moon (Apollo-11) Two Viking space probes land on Mars

Hydrazine applications timeline • 1930 • 1933 • • • • •

1943 1950 1952 1953 1960

• 1962 • 1964 • 1967 • 1976

Reducing agent in chemistry Rocket propellant: von Braun: Das Mars Projekt (proposed) First flight of Me-163B rocket plane Polymer foam blowing agents Isoniazid as anti-tuberculosis drug Boiler feedwater treatment First satellite using hydrazine monopropellant (Able-2) First flight of Titan-2 ICBM using Aerozine-50 First (unmanned) flight of Gemini-1 bipropellant First manned landing on the moon (Apollo-11) Two Viking spaceprobes land on Mars

Me-163B at Flight Heritage Museum at Paine Field, Everett

History of Purified Hydrazine Use

• 1968

NASA defined Viking mission to Mars and specified low-organics hydrazine to avoid landing site contamination with HCN.

• 1971

Martin-Marietta developed freeze-thaw process for purification.

• 1975 • 1975

Two Viking spacecraft fueled and launched.

RRC "discovered" lack of pulse shape distortion when Viking grade hydrazine was accidentally substituted for regular grade hydrazine in a small thruster limit duty cycle test for Voyager. This was a serendipitous discovery that greatly expanded the lifetime of both Voyager spacecraft.

History of Purified Hydrazine Use (continued)

• 1977

JPL verifies the effect of aniline and selects high purity grade for MJS/VOYAGER. • 1980 MIL-P-26536 Amendment 2 specifies a "High Purity Grade". • 1983 First flight use of ACT thrusters using highpurity grade hydrazine. • 1986 Olin starts development of an ultrapure grade of hydrazine. • 1988 Olin acquires purification business from Martin Marietta. • 2004 Ultrapure hydrazine is now the only grade still available in the U. S.

That's all, folks!