Valveless Solid Propellant Divert Propulsion System

INTEGRATED SYSTEMS INC. (ISI) AND INDUSTRIAL SOLID PROPULSION INC. (ISP) HAVE JOINTLY DEFINED A CONCEPT FOR A VALVELESS SOLID PROPELLANT DIVERT CONTROL OF KINETIC ENERGY PROJECTILES. ISP AND CONSULTANT DR. BOB GEISLER EVOLVED THE MULTIPULSE PROPELLANT GRAIN AND DUAL-ENDED IGNITER DESIGN OUT OF ISP'S SMALL ROCKET MOTOR TECHNOLOGY. ISI PROVIDED THE GUIDANCE AND CONTROL KNOWLEDGE NECESSARY TO DETERMINE THE CONTROL POLYCY, MINIMUM IMPULSE BIT SIZING AND OVERALL VALVELESS SOLID DIVERT (VSD) MODULE SIZING. IN THIS PROPOSAL ISP PROPOSES TO DEVELOP AND GROUND TEST THE VSD MODULE PROPULSION HARDWARE. IN ANOTHER PHASE I SBIR PROPOSAL SUBMITTED UNDER SEPARATE COVER, ISI PROPOSES TO DEVELOP AND TEST A MULTIPULSE IGNITION CONTROLLER FOR THE VSD CONCEPT. THE VALVELESS SOLID DIVERT CONCEPT INTEGRATES AN APPROPRIATE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALLY-IGNITABLE SOLID PROPELLANT GRAINS, SIZED TO PROVIDE THE MINIMUM IMPULSE BITS NEEDED TO ASSURE TARGET HIT-TO-KILL, INTO TWO DOUBLE-ENDED CHAMBERS (OR "MODULES") TO PROVIDE PLUS AND MINUS DIVERT CONTROL ALONG THE DESIRED TWO DIVERT AXES. APPLICATION OF DIVERT THRUST IS CONTROLLED BY ELECTRONICALLY-ACTIVATED IGNITERS INSTEAD OF EXPENSIVE AND OFTEN UNRELIABLE HOT-GAS VALVES. THE PROPOSED VSD SUBSYSTEM CAN BE PRODUCED RAPIDLY AT A FRACTION OF THE COST OF CURRENT SOLID PROPELLANT DIVERT CONTROL SUBSYSTEMS.