Performance analysis of a hybrid propellant MAV with ISRU

Space exploration has seen a significant increase in attention in recent years, both from private organizations and national governments. At the basis of this interest, as well as for economic and political reasons, there is certainly the will to improve life on Earth by making use of resources from space. A particular interest has been directed at the study of Mars as it is one of the planets closest to Earth. Numerous studies have been conducted and are planned to analyse its composition and the resources present on site. One of the main limitations of space exploration, however, is based on the difficulty of analyzing samples present on planets with the necessary equipment. The transport of the latter from Earth is too expensive economically and technologically complex, failing to guarantee their complete integrity during the journey. One of the solutions identified for this problem is to collect the resources present on the planet, and then bring them to Earth. In this way, the problem of the safe transport of this complex and delicate equipment can be solved. This master’s thesis aims to create a mathematical model that allows to analyse the performance of a rocket with hybrid propellants, such as a mixture of paraffin wax and magnesium powder as fuel and a liquid mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide as oxidizer. In particular, the configuration of this rocket was chosen to play the role of Mars Ascent Vehicle - MAV, its task will then be to transport samples recovered on Mars and transport them into orbit. Furthermore, the surface and atmosphere of Mars contain elements, such as magnesium and carbon dioxide, that can be exploited to produce propellant to feed the MAV. Therefore, this rocket may be expected to be equipped with instrumentation capable of exploiting the surrounding environment. An introduction will first be made on some key concepts, such as In Situ Resource Utilization and Mars Sample Return Mission. After that the configuration chosen for the rocket will be presented, in terms of propellants used and the chosen feeding system. The mathematical model will be described step by step until reaching the definition of the equation for estimating the mass of the MAV. Starting from the latter it will be possible to study the performance of the rocket, varying the parameters from time to time to observe its impact.