Maturation of Structural Health Management Systems for Solid Rocket Motors

Solid rocket motor cases are subject to a variety of external environmental and loading conditions from cradle-to-grave. These conditions can significantly impact the performance and decrease safety of the rocket motor. Fueling of the rocket motor adds an additional complexity in that inspection of the interior becomes impossible while creating the possibility of disbonds between the case and fuel. These factors can have potentially catastrophic consequences for the space vehicle performance. Acellent Technologies is currently developing structural health monitoring systems to address this issue. The TRL at completion of the current technology development is anticipated to be TRL 5-6. The proposed program focuses on maturing the technology to a TRL level 7 for implementation on existing and future space transportation vehicles. The development will be conducted in close collaboration with ATK-Thiokol who fully support the developmental and commercialization efforts.