Research & Development of Propulsion System

Study has been made in a wide range of propulsion systems, solid and liquid rockets and ramjet. Characteristics of solid propellants, including ingredients, mechanical properties, burn rate, generated energy, and burning processes, are examined to design and develop high performance, high reliability rocket motors. With various types of analyzers and optical observation apparatus, characteristics of explosives and organic/inorganic materials are also explored. The overall performance of a rocket motor is evaluated at our in-house test site for up to 20t thrust level and at customer's test site for the full-size motor with more than 20t of thrust.

Research & Development of LNG Propulsion System

The fuel in this propulsion system is LNG (Liquefi ed Natural Gas), which features excellent on-orbit storability. This fuel has a density higher than the liquid hydrogen fuel, which allows the tank to be smaller, and thus this propulsion system is strongly expected to be suitable for the future inter-orbit transporter and the lunar/planetary explorers. We are running the research and development of this propulsion system and in July 2009 we successfully completed a 600-second fi ring test of the full size prototype engine (LE-8 engine).

Research & Development of New Materials

The Carbon/Carbon (C/C) composite, composed of carbon fiber and carbon matrix , has the following advantages:

• (1) good heat resistance (sublimed at 3000 deg. C or higher)
• (2) high specific strength and stiffness
• (3) high fracture toughness
• (4) small thermal expansion coefficient
• (5) high thermal conductivity
• (6) desirable friction characteristics

It is used for the solid rocket nozzle throat, heat resistant material for re-usable spacecraft, high-temperature furnace material, and brake material. IHI Aerospace has used the C/C composite as nozzle throat material for the SRB-A rocket. Application of the C/C composite to all stages of the M-V rocket has been started with M-V-5.

Guidance & Control Systems for Future Logistics Systems

In order to implement future transportation systems such as winged flight vehicles, and recoverable and reusable flight vehicles, we are running a study of flight experiment vehicles; study of guidance and control theories such as robust control; study of simulation technologies such as real time simulation with avionics and control equipment; and guidance flight experiments and a demonstration study of recovery guidance system with paragliders, etc.

Electric Actuator System

Our electric actuator system can greatly reduce the weight and cost compared to a hydraulic one, thus, it is used for the movable nozzle system, one of the rocket's Thrust Vector Control (TVC) systems. Development of the high output actuator with the high-voltage, large capacity power source has enabled applying the electric actuator system to large-scale rocket systems such as SRB-A and M-V. The application of the electric actuator system satisfying high reliability requirements will be expanded in future rocket systems.

Robot

IHI Aerospace is researching and developing special robots that gather information and work at disaster sites or dangerous areas. MINERVA, Micro Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for Asteroid, mounted on the HAYABUSA, an asteroid probe, has achieved the engineering mission. We focus on research and development of technologies for movability, surrounding recognition for autonomous movement and action control.