Light Weight Spherical Cryotank

BHL? technology offers the means to reduce the mass of cryogenic propellant tanks by 75% relative to state-of-the-art metal tanks. Since propellant tanks are generally the largest individual mass item on a launch vehicle or spacecraft, this mass savings of this magnitude can have profound effect on vehicle performance. A conceptual design of a spherical BHL cryotank for the NASA Morpheus Lander shows an 80% reduction in mass from the existing aluminum cryotanks. Replacing all four metal tanks on Morpheus with BHL cryotanks would provide the lander with more than 15% additional ∆V. In the Phase II effort, GTL will develop a spherical BHL cryotank suitable for use on the Morpheus lander. This will include fabrication and testing of a full scale (48? diameter) developmental unit, followed by the fabrication and delivery of a prototype spherical BHL cryotank. This effort will also demonstrate the capability to integrate propellant management devices into the spherical BHL cryotank.

The immediate application for the 48? diameter spherical BHL cryotank is on NASA?s Morpheus Lander. Replacing the existing metal tanks on Morpheus with BHL cryotanks would reduce tank mass by 75%, which would translate into more than 15% additional ∆V. NASA?s Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer project (CPST) could benefit from the reduced mass of spherical BHL cryotanks and the long-term cryogenic propellant storage potential. The BHL cryotank technology could also be used to upgrade the NASA Space Launch System (SLS). If implemented for the entire vehicle, SLS could potentially deliver double the payload of the current design.

The BHL technology provides performance benefits to a wide spectrum of industries and applications by offering a light weight alternative for transporting cryogenic propellants. A leading application for BHL technology is liquid natural gas (LNG) storage and transportation. All LNG is currently transported using ships, train cars, or trucks over the road using massive double walled metal tanks to transport the LNG. Using a cryogenic-compatible BHL composite, the overall weights of these transportations methods could be reduced, greatly cutting shipping costs. One of the most significant sectors for BHL commercialization is in launch vehicles (commercial, military and NASA). Traditionally, metal propellant tanks are the most massive components in a launch vehicle and constrain vehicle performance. When BHL cryotanks are substituted for metal tanks in conventional launch vehicles, the mass savings would double the launch vehicle performance.

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