Ultralightweight, All Composite Conformal Pressure Vessel

NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) and Lightweight Structures and Materials PT are leading advancements to affordable space exploration. This includes beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space exploration requiring innovative lightweight and multifunctional structure concepts. Conformal designs offer enabling mass and volume efficiencies and, multifunctional potential. Steelhead Composites (SHC; Golden CO) ndash; a domestic leader in composite pressure vessel manufacture ndash; will leverage capabilities in design, test, build and manufacturenbsp;to realize conformal pressure vessels for cryogenic liquid storage and/or as habitable cavities. SHCnbsp;ultralightweight, all composite (Type V) pressure vessel (gt; 30% mass reduction) are planned as manufacture-friendly products to efficiently fill non-traditional geometric volume and, serve to influence future spacecraft designs (e.g., lunar landers, Mars landers, habitat modules and ascent vehicles). This program will develop structural design concept studies (Phase I), including a manufacturing assessment and a systems benefits examination, to realize mass, volume and cost savings for deep space exploration. In Phase II, pressure vesselsnbsp;will be fabricated and evaluated, on a scale that is representative of full-scale manufacturing. All efforts will be performed to realize commercial products, for fabrication according to SHCrsquo; AS9100 and ISO14001 (environmental) standards.nbsp;