Novel Low Cost Booster Propulsion Development and Demonstration

The proposed contract effort is for the design, development and proof-of-concept demontration testing of a low cost, pressure-fed liquid rocket booster propulsion system concept. The contract focus will be on four key component technologies in the booster system; (1)composite propellant tanks, (2)pump-fed propellant heat exchanger, (3)self-cooled engine with altitude-compensating nozzle, and (4)annular liquid-liquid engine injector. All four components will be designed and built in subscale in Phase, and will be sized for later incorporation into sub-orbital flight test vehicle. The Phase 1 contract culminates with cold flow testing of the propellant feed subsystem, which is the most novel aspect of the booster. The proposed low-cost booster design also has a low impact on natural resources, and can utilize inexpensive, renewable biofuels. The raw materials used in the contruction of the booster do not include any expensive, exotic, or stategically sensitive substances. The prospect of reusability of most of the booster mass further reduces raw material and energy consumption per launch.

A low cost rocket booster could benefit all segments of the space launch industry, including manned spacecraft, scientific payloads, commercial satellites, military payloads, and sounding rockets. The proposed booster not only has the advantage of low purchase cost, but it also has the advantage of simplicity of operation, resulting in improved reliability, safety, and launch readiness. Future versions of the low cost booster are expected to be scaleable to very large sizes, enabling heavy lift launch vehicles that are needed for large payloads, space construction projects and manned exploration missions beyond LEO.

Suborbital sounding rockets for scientific research is likely to be one of the first applications for the proposed low cost booster. Recently, private space missions have been increasing in frequency and variety, and the proposed low cost booster concept directly addresses the needs of these private enterprises: low-cost, high reliability, reusability, safety and readily available raw materials and propellants.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 5) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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