SBIR Phase I: Liquid Oxygen (LOX) - Methane Engine for Small Satellite Launch Vehicles

SBIR 第一阶段：液氧 (LOX) - 小型卫星运载火箭的甲烷发动机

• 批准号: 2050703
• 负责人: Maksud Ismailov
• 金额: $ 25.6万
• 依托单位: ROCKET PROPULSION SYSTEMS LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-11-01 至 2022-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2050703&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Liquid; Oxygen; LOX

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to significantly lower the capital barriers for new enterprises to participate as small satellite launchers and service providers, by offering high-performance rocket engines produced at the $100 K cost point. On the production side, this change would lead to a restructuring of space launch and satellite sector supply chains from the current high cost/low volume to a low-cost/high volume configuration as in the aircraft or automotive industries. Such a change could also provide a significant increase in high paying aerospace engineering and manufacturing jobs. On the customer end, once the small satellites reach the orbit, they could expand capabilities for military and civilian services in space, from surveillance and weather monitoring to completely new industries such as agricultural earth observation and climate change monitoring, or when combined into large constellations, provide wireless and mobile internet service globally to underserved populations. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will boost the development of American-made, high-performance, reliable, high thrust-to-weight and low maintenance liquid rocket engines of 1.5-metric-ton thrust for small 50-180 kg satellite launch vehicles to 700 km Low Earth Orbit (LEO), using low-cost liquid oxygen (LOX) / methane (or liquified natural gas) propellants. A two-stage rocket would be propelled by a cluster of six such engines on its 1st stage, and a single vacuum-version of this engine on its upper stage. The small satellite business has been growing exponentially in the last few years, with the launch demand far outpacing supply. The annual demand/supply launch gap is expected to be in the 200-700 satellite range by 2026. The primary objectives of Phase I are to design and build the preburner and thrust chamber assembly and to design the turbopump assembly. The results from Phase I will provide data on the initial engine weight, manufacturability, production cost, and define the pace, risk posture, and resource needs for engine development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）I阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，通过提供高性能的火箭发动机以$ 100 k的成本点提供，新企业作为小型卫星发射器和服务提供商的资本障碍大大降低了作为小型卫星发射器和服务提供商。 在生产方面，这种变化将导致空间发射的重组，卫星部门供应链从当前的高成本/低量到低成本/高量配置，如飞机或汽车行业中的低成本/高量配置。 这样的变化还可以为高薪航空工程和制造业工作提供显着增加。在客户端，一旦小卫星到达轨道，它们就可以扩大太空中军事和民用服务的能力，从监视和天气监测到全新的行业，例如农业地球观察和气候变化监测，或者在大型群集中，提供无线和移动的互联网服务到全球范围内的人群。 这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）I阶段项目将提高美国制造的，高性能，可靠，高推力重量和低维护的液体火箭发动机，该火箭发动机对小型50-180千克卫星发射车的推力为1.5-Metric-TON的推力，使用低量液体氧气（Loxey）（loxen）（loxen）（loxen）（loxen）（loxen）（loxen）（loxen）（loxen） / ife速度（lox）（或者）。在其第一阶段，将会由六个这样的引擎群集促进两阶段的火箭，并在其上阶段对该发动机进行了一次真空。 在过去的几年中，小型卫星业务一直在成倍增长，而发射需求远远超过了供应。 预计到2026年，年度需求/供应发射差距预计将在200-700卫星范围内。第一阶段的主要目标是设计和建造预燃烧器和推力室组件并设计涡轮机组件。第一阶段的结果将提供有关发动机重量，制造性，生产成本的数据，并定义了发动机开发的节奏，风险姿势和资源需求。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响评估的评估来支持的。