NASA tests new spacecraft propellant gauge on lunar lander

It is simple to measure gasoline in tanks on Earth, the place gravity pulls the liquid to the underside. However in space, the sport modifications. Quantifying gasoline that is floating round inside a spacecraft’s tank is not so easy.

“Due to the very small quantity of gravity, fluid would not settle to the underside of propellant tanks however quite clings to the partitions and may very well be wherever inside,” stated Lauren Ameen, deputy supervisor for the Cryogenic Fluid Administration Portfolio Challenge Workplace at NASA’s Glenn Analysis Heart in Cleveland. “That makes it actually difficult to grasp how a lot propellant you could have inside your tank, which is absolutely necessary to maximise your mission period and plan how a lot you’ll want to launch with.”

A space-age gasoline gauge expertise meant to unravel this downside will likely be demonstrated on an upcoming journey to the moon. Developed at NASA Glenn underneath the company’s Expertise Demonstration Missions program, the Radio Frequency Mass Gauge (RFMG) payload is ready to launch as part of the Intuitive Machines IM-1 supply to the lunar surface by means of the Business Lunar Payload Companies (CLPS) initiative. With CLPS, NASA is working with American firms to ship scientific, exploration, and expertise payloads to the moon’s floor and orbit.

RFMG expertise makes use of radio waves and antennae in a tank to measure how a lot propellant is accessible. Whereas smaller-scale experiments have been performed on the Worldwide Area Station and through parabolic flights, this would be the first long-duration RFMG testing on a standalone spacecraft, the Nova-C lunar lander. The info engineers obtain all through its journey may validate simulations finished on the bottom and mark the following step in creating this expertise.

“It is undoubtedly a vital level,” Ameen stated. “That is the primary time we’re getting any such information for RFMG.”

RFMG may very well be essential throughout future long-duration missions that may depend on spacecraft fueled by cryogenic propellants, like liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, or liquid methane. These propellants are extremely environment friendly however are tough to retailer as they will evaporate rapidly, even at low temperatures. With the ability to precisely measure spacecraft gasoline ranges will assist scientists maximize assets as NASA strikes towards its aim of returning people to the moon by means of Artemis.