A.9.2.5 LITVC Cost
1
In our design, Liquid Injection Thrust Vector Control (LITVC) is used to control attitude
during flight. The costing for the LITVC is broken up into several different sections due
to the nature of the LITVC system. The main components of the LITVC that have cost
associated are the hardware, tanks, and propellant.
The first part of the LITVC is the actual hardware of the LITVC system. This includes
the valves, injectors, and tubing for the propellant. The only cost seen in the section is
the valve cost. Several valves were looked at, and a price of $100 per valve was chosen
due to the type of propellant used, H2O2, and the solenoid type of actuation needed.
There are four valves per stage, and only stages one and two have LITVC.
For the other
pieces of the LITVC hardware, it is assumed to be a part of the engine cost. While
manufacturing the engine, the injectors will be built into the engine and is put into the
“black box” of the engine cost. Our design was only a top level design, and due to the
relatively low complexity of the LITVC system, the component cost can be assumed into
the main engine cost.
The other part of the LITVC that are assigned a cost include the propellant and the tank.
The propellant price is included in the main propellant cost and is not separated out as a
separate cost. The cost for the second stage tank is already included in the tank section
and is not explicitly priced in the LITVC cost.
Author: Stephan Shurn