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The demonstration effort will use advanced composite
materials to develop new technologies that could
be applied to multiple future NASA missions, including
human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
Boeing will receive approximately $24 million
over the project lifecycle from NASA's Space Technology
Program for the work which starts this month.
The tanks will be manufactured at a Boeing facility
in Seattle. Testing will start in late 2013 at
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Ala.
"The goal of this particular technology
demonstration effort is to achieve a 30 percent
weight savings and a 25 percent cost savings from
traditional metallic tanks," said the Director
of NASA's Space Technology Program, Michael Gazarik
at NASA Headquarters in Washington Sep 20. "Weight
savings alone would allow us to increase our upmass
capability, which is important when considering
payload size and cost. This state-of-the-art technology
has applications for multiple stakeholders in
the rocket propulsion community."
By investing in high payoff, disruptive technology
that industry does not have today, NASA matures
the technologies required for future missions,
while proving the capabilities and lowering the
cost of government and commercial space activities.
Continuing the advancement of technologies required
for NASA's missions in deep space exploration,
science and space operations, the composite cryotank
demonstration effort will advance the areas of
materials, manufacturing and structures.
The tanks incorporate design features and new
manufacturing processes applicable to designs
up to 10 meters in diameter. Tanks could be used
on future heavy-lift vehicles, in-space propellant
depots and other Earth-departure exploration architectures.
"This technology demonstration effort is
different in the fact that we're focused on affordability
concurrently with performance," said John
Vickers, NASA project manager for the Composite
Cryotank Technologies Demonstration effort at
Marshall. "This technology has excellent
transition potential for NASA and commercial product
lines. Critical technology advances such as out-of
autoclave composites are being matured, and when
demonstrated in an operational environment will
let us go well beyond the state-of-the-art."
Marshall will lead the project with support from
NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland; NASA's
Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.; and NASA's
Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The composite
cryogenic tank effort is part of the Space Technology
Game Changing Development Program, managed by
the Office of the Chief Technologist.
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