Novel Analysis Tools for Rapid Evaluation of New Propulsion Systems

Critical to the cost-effective development of future space transportation systems is the ability to rapidly evaluate advanced vehicle concepts and propulsion systems from an integrated perspective and with varying levels of fidelity. The objective of this project is to complete and demonstrate the core elements of this novel approach and focus on components of propulsion systems and vehicle integration to accelerate the development of fully integrated software in the Java object-oriented programming environment. Phase I demonstrated the Graphical User Interface and Solver packages for several launch vehicle subsystems. The work presented in Phase I was based on an underlying computing architecture in Java. Phase II will result in a computational architecture and basic software framework for interdisciplinary design and rapid evaluation of aerospace vehicle concepts and integrated propulsion systems. The effectiveness of this framework will be demonstrated with a generic launch vehicle. Phase III tasks are to expand this capability by integrating additional analysis modules, evaluate this environment at different levels of fidelity the practical characteristics of a range of advanced propulsion concepts, measure performance and optimize where necessary, and pro-duce the documentation and support infrastructure expected for a commercial product.