Daniel Levack

• Manager at Aerojet Rocketdyne

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-4373.vid Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR) has long had a vision for providing propulsion that permits exploration and extensive travel capability across the Solar System. AR’s history and current efforts include providing propulsion and power for NASA’s far-reaching exploration goals and science missio...

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-4217.vid With the resurgence of using Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) for human Mars exploration missions, particularly opposition class missions, Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR) has begun to evaluate Mars Transfer Vehicles (MTVs) that use a hybrid NEP and chemical propulsion approach. These NEP/Che...

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-3611.vid Since 2016, AR has been working with NASA and members of industry as part of the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate. The initial goal of this project was to determine the feasibility and affordability of a low enriched uranium (LEU)-based nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) engine...

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-3610.vid The long term, sustained exploration of Mars will require the focused efforts of a collective of national space agencies, public and private industry, and academia. The goal of this exploration will not be to just plant a flag and leave a boot print, but to continue beyond the first m...

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-3269.vid NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration program aims to return humans to the moon over 50 years after the Apollo 17 crew lifted off from the surface. This time around, the goal is not only to return to the lunar surface, but to stay and explore, learning and preparing for later human explora...

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-3268.vid AR SpaceCrane Family of Lunar Lander Vehicles: A Common Architecture For Enhanced Mission Flexibility and Agility Peter D. Kinsman, Claude R. Joyner II, Timothy Kokan, Daniel J.H. Levack, Dennis E. Morris, Christopher Reynolds Aerojet Rocketdyne, Canoga Park, California 91309, USA, Ae...

Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) has been extensively researched as a potential main propulsion option for human Mars missions. NTP's combination of high thrust and high fuel efficiency makes it an ideal main propulsion candidate for these types of missions, providing architectural benefits including smaller transportation system masses, reduced tr...

A flight demonstrator (FD) High-assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) system that can advance the technology for a Mars crew transportation system extensively studied in late 2019 and early 2020. This demonstrator development activity would use a nuclear fuel material that is capable of high temperature (e.g., peak tem...

While the near-term focus of NASA’s human exploration program is on the return of humans to the Moon in the mid-2020s, the human exploration of Mars continues to be NASA’s horizon goal. A key element of human Mars exploration architectures is the in-space propulsion system required for transferring crew and cargo between Earth orbit and Mars orbit....

As part of a NASA funded effort, Aerojet Rocketdyne, along with other industry partners, has been examining the feasibility of a Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) system and its application to various human-class Mars missions. Recent analysis for NTP vehicle design focused on Mars opposition class missions in the mid- to...

Since 2016, Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR) has been working with NASA and other industry partners to improve the design and increase the feasibility of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) NTP engine systems that may provide programmatic and cost benefits over older Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) designs. From the project’s inception, mission analysis has primarily...

As part of NASA’s NextSTEP-2 Appendix E: Human Landing System Studies, Risk Reduction, Development, and Demonstration contract Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR) conducted a trade study for the Transfer Vehicle Element (TVE) and performed three Design Analysis Cycles (DACs) of the TVE design. This paper presents an overview of the trade study and the results...

On March 26, 2019, Vice President Mike Pence directed NASA to return humans to the surface of the moon by 2024. In response, NASA is working with industry to develop a Human Landing System (HLS) to transfer two crew from an orbiting platform in high Lunar Orbit down to the lunar surface and back. This paper presents architecture trade study results...

Aerojet Rocketdyne is working with NASA, the Department of Energy, and other industry to define a more affordable path to nuclear propulsion and power use for lunar, Mars and broader solar system exploration missions. Aerojet Rocketdyne's (AR) recent work builds on the legacy design, analysis, and testing knowledge gained from the Rover/NERVA (Nuc...

Since 2016, Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR) has been working with NASA and other industry partners to improve the design and increase the feasibility of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) NTP engine systems that have clear programmatic and cost benefits over older Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) designs. Part of this study effort is examining potential value-added d...

Lunar Surface Logistical Capability: A Study of Spacecraft Needed to Support Human Habitation, Scientific Research, and Commercial Operations on the Lunar Surface Abstract In 2018, NASA revealed plans for human space exploration moving forward into the 2020’s. The focus of these evolving plans, for the next decade, will be the launch, assembly and...

Studies of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) over the past several decades, and updated most recently with the examination of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU), have shown nuclear propulsion is an enabling technology to reach beyond this planet and establish permanent human outposts at Mars or rapidly travel to any other solar system body. The propulsion n...

If humans are to reach beyond this planet and establish permanent outposts at Mars or any other solar system body, advanced propulsion will be needed. Optimum advanced propulsion needs high thrust to operate within the deep gravity well of a planet and also needs to provide high propulsive efficiency for rapid travel and reduced total spacecraft ma...

The future of human exploration missions to Mars are dependent on solutions to the technology challenges being worked by NASA and industry. One of the key architecture technologies required to successfully send human to Mars involves selecting the propulsion system that can transport the crew from Earth orbit to Mars and back to Earth with the lowe...

Future human exploration missions to Mars are being studied by NASA and industry. Several approaches to the Mars mission are being examined that use various types of propulsion for the different phases of the mission. The choice and implementation of propulsion system options can significantly impact mission performance in terms of trip time, space...

Future human exploration missions to Mars are being studied by NASA and industry. Several approaches to the Mars mission are being examined that use various launch vehicle configu-rations and different types of propulsion for the various phases of the mission.. Understand-ing the key impacts of key systems being considered for both cargo transfer a...

The Peacekeeper Stage IV propulsion and structure hardware will enable low-risk, cost effective in-space stages to provide the basic spacecraft bus propulsion and structure capability to support rapid hardware development schedules for commercial and civil in-space applications. The Peacekeeper was a four-stage vehicle consisting of three solid roc...

Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR) has developed and is evolving a family of liquid rocket engines covering the thrust range of 5,000 lbf to 200,000 lbf sea level thrust. The family was designed to operate on LOX/RP and has been tested using LOX/Ethanol and NTO/MMH and is extensible to LOX/CH4. The emphasis is on drastic cost reductions by leveraging Aerojet...

Recent exploration architectures are considering capability based approaches that use various propulsion technologies that need flight qualification. When human exploration missions come to fruition, rapidity of mission flight time and minimization of the number of flight elements will be important to reduce risk and cost. Nuclear thermal propulsio...

All programs have requirements. For these requirements to be met, there must be a means of measurement. A Technical Performance Measure (TPM) is defined to produce a measured quantity that can be compared to the requirement. In practice, the TPM is often expressed as a maximum or minimum and a goal. Example TPMs for a rocket program are: vacuum or...

Summary/Conclusions During architecture studies and conceptual design studies, details of any new items to be traded arerarely known: Part counts, features of individual parts, the manufacturing processes to be used, and eventhe weight are not easily obtainable. WBS details are not available without large expenditures of effort.What is available ar...

In defining a space vehicle architecture, the propulsion system and related subsystem choices will have a major influence on achieving the goals and objectives desired. There are many alternatives and the choices made must produce a system that meets the performance requirements, but at the same time also provide the greatest opportunity of reachin...

Much debate and national soul searching has taken place over the value of the Space Shuttle which first flew in 1981 and which is currently scheduled to be retired in 2010. Originally developed post-Saturn Apollo to emphasize affordability and safety, the reusable Space Shuttle instead came to be perceived as economically unsustainable and lacking...

The Functional Breakdown Structure (FBS) is a structured, modular breakdown of every function that must be addressed to perform a generic mission. It is also usable for any subset of the mission. Unlike a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), the FBS is a functionoriented tree, not a product-oriented tree. The FBS details not products, but operations or...

Influence diagrams are relatively simple, but powerful, tools for assessing the impact of choices or resource allocations on goals or requirements. They are very general and can be used on a wide range of problems. They can be used for any problem that has defined goals, a set of factors that influence the goals or the other factors, and a set of i...

In response to a NASA request, the National Space Propulsion Synergy Team (SPST) team agreed to provide technical and programmatic support to NASA in formulating a Spaceliner 100 Technology Program. The SPST offered a broad cross-section of expertise and experience. Its membership consists of senior level, volunteer representatives from across gove...

The reduction of Earth-to-orbit launch costs in conjunction with an increase in launcher reliability and operational efficiency are the key demands on future space transportation systems. Results of various system analyses indicate that these demands can be met with future single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicles using advanced technologies for both s...

High delta-V earth-to-orbit missions have put a premium on high performance booster rocket engines. While significant improvements to specific impulse are unlikely, high thrust-to-weight design provides a promising avenue for improving mission and vehicle capabilities and margins. Several approaches can contribute to achieving such engine designs,...

Recent evaluations of main engine options for the single-stage-to-orbit/reusable launch vehicle mission have considered the use of a tripropellant engine to take advantage of its improved fuel density. A wide range of options has been addressed, including configuration, technology level, and design practices. A study was conducted to evaluate engin...

A study was conducted under MSFC contract NAS8-39210 to compare tripropellant and bipropellant engine configurations for the SSTO mission. The objective was to produce an 'apples-to-apples' comparison to isolate the effects of design implementation, designing company, year of design, or technologies included from the basic tripropellant/bipropellan...

The recent NASA Access to Space study examined future Earth to orbit (ETO) transportation needs and fleets out to 2030. The baseline in the option 3 assessment was a single stage to orbit (SSTO) vehicle. A study was conducted to assess the use of new advanced low cost O2/H2 engines for this SSTO application. The study defined baseline configuration...

The objectives were to assess what design changes would be required to remit late production of the J-2S engine for use as a large high energy upper stage engine. The study assessed design changes required to perform per the J-2S model specification, manufacturing changes required due to obsolescence or improvements in state-of-the-practice, availa...

The Advanced Transportation System Studies alternate propulsion subsystem concepts propulsion database interim report is presented. The objective of the database development task is to produce a propulsion database which is easy to use and modify while also being comprehensive in the level of detail available. The database is to be available on the...