A RESILIENCE-ORIENTED FRAMEWORK TO ASSESS THE PERFORMANCE AND REUSABILITY OF AEROSPIKE ROCKET ENGINE THERMAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

This study introduces a framework to evaluate the Aerospike rocket engine thermal system resilience, which can be used as a reference to improve resilience for space travel. Recent advancements in the reusability of rocket propulsion systems have introduced the challenge of enhancing reliability, robustness, and resilience, particularly for missions to colonize celestial bodies such as the Moon and Mars where maintenance is scarce. To address this, the study proposes applying resilience assessment metrics to the Aerospike rocket engine, a key technology for next-generation reusable and interplanetary vehicles. The entire thermal and propulsion management system was modeled in SIMULINK to replicate actual flight data under both normal and abnormal conditions. A typical rocket ascent mission is simulated to provide dynamic results for each component of the thermal management system. Within this simulation, various types of damage are introduced and their cascading effects on subsystems and components are evaluated. Recovery strategies are implemented to enable the system to recover from damage and ensure mission completion. Additionally, this study presented a resilience model to assess the system's resilience concerning mission completion, specifically reaching the desired delta-v, and how well the implemented recovery strategies in the current design architecture can ensure better response to damage in terms of acceleration performance. Furthermore, thermal loads induced by damages and abnormal operating conditions are incorporated into a Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) model for GRCop-42, assessing cumulative damage to the cooling jackets across multiple missions. The proposed resilience index is then used as a reference to evaluate the resilience of the current system architecture to specific types of damage when assessing multiple engine reuses.