Non-Invasive, Portable, Real-Time Sensor for Health Monitoring of Solid Rocket Motors

ABSTRACT: Physical Sciences Inc., has proposed to develop a mobile, non-invasive, sensor to assess over time the chemical and physical health of solid rocket motors without affecting motor integrity. During Phase I, we have proposed a program that will allow us to identify and monitor specific species as markers of chemical and mechanical aging of solid propellants. We have proposed a program that will allow reliable and confident demonstration of a remote sensor in Phase II for health monitoring of propellants in a subscale SRM in environments relevant to a deployed missile system. BENEFIT: The proposed mobile, non-invasive sensor will enable remote assessment of the propellant"s structural integrity in fielded tactical and strategic systems. The overall goal of such monitoring is reducing life cycle cost and improving system reliability, which will have multiple applications throughout the DoD, NASA, and commercial industry. Our proposed sensor will offer significant advances over the current state of the art at affordable prices and with the ability to transition to field use by the DoD on a short time scale.