Space Shuttle Main Engine nozzle mounted optic for throat plane spectroscopy
Abstract
A program intended to develop a flight-capable nozzle mounted optic for monitoring emissions from metals entrained in the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) flowfield is described. The optic will collect light emitted from metal atoms within the high-temperature, high-pressure SSME chamber and transfer the optical signal to a high-resolution spectrometer via a fiber-optic cable. The nozzle mounted optic makes it possible to conduct earth-to-orbit monitoring of flowfield emissions without requiring modifications to the SSME.
- Publication:
-
AIAA, SAE, ASME, and ASEE, 27th Joint Propulsion Conference
- Pub Date:
- June 1991
- Bibcode:
- 1991jpsc.confY....B
- Keywords:
-
- Engine Monitoring Instruments;
- Exhaust Nozzles;
- Fiber Optics;
- Flow Distribution;
- Space Shuttle Main Engine;
- Component Reliability;
- Optical Emission Spectroscopy;
- Plumes;
- Ray Tracing;
- Rocket Exhaust;
- Spacecraft Instrumentation