Advanced Insulation Materials for Cryogenic Propellant Storage Applications

Advanced Materials Technology, Inc responds to the NASA solicitation Topic X9 entitled "Propulsion and Propellant Storage" under subtopic X9.01, "Long Term Cryogenic Propellant Storage, Management, and Acquisition". The proposed Phase II program will focus on developing new multifunctional insulation materials that will impact cryogenic systems for space transportation orbit transfer vehicles, space power systems, spaceports, spacesuits, lunar habitation systems, robotics, and in situ propellant systems. These innovative materials will be capable of retaining structural integrity while accommodating large operating temperatures ranging from cryogenic to elevated temperatures conditions. These advanced materials can be incorporated into thermal protection systems (TPS), reducing the amount of TPS and its structure. We will continue to use the technical approaches that have shown tremendous potential during the successful Phase I effort. Our key approach will be based on the development, fabrication, and characterization of organic-inorganic nanocomposite foams. In the Phase I program, we successfully demonstrated the feasibility of fabrication of these new foams with significantly improved mechanical properties. Our results confirmed that the proposed technology have high potential in developing strong, lightweight, cryogenic insulation materials. The proposed effort will further enhance and optimize the novel foams, scale up the optimized materials, and culminate in the fabrication of prototype materials to demonstrate the readiness and maturity of our techniques.