Carbon fiber composites are nothing new in aerospace. They're being used increasingly in aircraft, satellite launchers, and spacecraft. What is new is their use in a satellite's fuel tank that has been designed to burn up on re-entry.
The Propulsion Branch of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has developed and tested the first spacecraft fuel tank that will fall apart completely and harmlessly when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere. This tank is designed to reduce the amount of debris falling to the Earth's surface. Instead of needing to carry additional fuel to reposition for re-entry, a satellite could operate on a much simpler propellant tank, or it could do without one entirely. The craft itself could also be much lighter (allowing for a larger payload), and it could last longer on the fuel it does carry.
Click on the image below to start a slideshow on the tank.
Carbon fiber composites are used in a satellite fuel tank designed to burn up on re-entry. The tank will be used in the core satellite of NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement program. The core satellite and partner satellites will measure rain and snow around the globe to improve weather forecasting and gather data on climate change. (Source: NASA)
NASA has been pursuing Design for Demise (D4D) spacecraft systems for several years. One of the major barriers has been designing a propellant tank that constitutes between 10 and 20 percent of the total debris cast off from a craft re-entering Earth's atmosphere. The new tank was designed, developed, and qualified by Cobham Life Support and represents a major achievement in this pursuit. It integrates carbon fiber composites with an aluminum liner, and it holds up to 1,600 pounds of hydrazine fuel at 400 psig.
The tank was originally designed for the core satellite in NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. The GPM Core Observatory Satellite and an international network of partner satellites, currently under construction at the Goddard Center, will measure rain and snow around the world every three hours. The frequent measurements are expected to help us improve weather forecasting, gather accurate climate change data, and understand how the planet's water and energy cycles affect the environment. NASA's main partner in this project, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, will launch the core satellite next year.
According to an article in a Goddard Center newsletter, the tank's key innovations are an aluminum-lined composite overwrap pressure vessel and a highly wettable aluminum propulsion management device (PMD). The device has wicking properties very close to those used with standard titanium tanks. But titanium doesn't get hot enough during re-entry to disintegrate. That was one of the sticking points in efforts to build demiseable propellant tanks.
By reducing the amount of fuel required, the new tank design contributes to an effort by the center's Propulsion Branch to find greener technologies. For example, many satellite fuel tanks use hydrazine propellant, but the branch is looking at safer, higher-performing fuels.
Cobham Life Support makes composite propellant and pressurant tanks, as well as propulsion systems for spacecraft. Previously, it designed the biggest composite xenon propellant tank, holding 992 pounds of xenon at 1,250 psig at launch. That carbon composite pressure vessel, lined with titanium, weighs less than 49 pounds, including the entire tank and skirt assembly. The tank is light enough to be integrated with the spacecraft structure.
Cobham makes other composite-metal hybrid structures, including aspirators, launch tubes, rocket motor cases, torque tubes, and drive shafts. Its integrated systems include helium pressurization systems and oxygen and nitrogen pneumatic life support systems.
Hi, I was the principle investigator for GSFC's GPM demiseable tank (now retired). the effort spanned about 10 years. Last year we published a number of papers in JANNAF, AIAA, SAMPE and had an artlcle in the Compsoites World trade magazine. While the goal of the effort was to produce a spacecraft propellant tank which demised (ablated) upon reentry. The goal of the entrie spacecraft was to do the same so that we would not need to waste propellant or curtail the useful life of the spacecraft just to force it to reenter to a safe splash down location (usually the Pacific Ocean). Your question had to do with fragmentation due to impacts or over pressurization. The tank was designed to not fracture in a brittle fashion. Most spacecraft propellant tanks including monolithic metallic tanks will rupture violently but the result is usually a number of sizeable chunks rather than shards such as is the case for a ruptured glass bottle. COPV's have the added benefit of having the composite and metal liner firmly bonded to each other which should also reduce the number of small fragments. For space debris fields it's the cloud of small fast pieces rather than a few large chunks tha tis the bigger worry - shot gun vs cannon ball. Hope this helps answer your question. BTW, the hidden beauty of a demiseable spacecraft is that it can be left to itself to die a natural death as it ages and gets less reliable rather than needing to be forced to reenter while it is healthy enough to do so. With spacecraft like GPM coming in at $500M - $1000M one can see that extending its life by even a year is very attractive
Ann, my thoughts were incomplete, please excuse me. The tanks burn up better on reentry, but what about if the tank does not reenter atmosphere? More than a few tanks ruptured catastrophically on orbit when the fuel in them heated up, expanding to rupture the tank. This happens with spent upper stages that do not reenter shortly after launch. Most agencies now reignite the spent stage after separation from IRS payload to consume all possible fuel and oxidizer; or have a way to vent to prevent this problem. Several times in the last shuttle flights, one could see the external tank venting after separation from the shuttle.
TJ, the whole point of making this tank partly out of composites instead of out of all metals was to help it disintegrate more easily, completely and harmlessly. NASA began R&D on demiseable craft a few years ago after a couple of notorious incidents involving spacecraft debris causing potential hazards on reentry.
One comparison against regular tanks is how this new composite one fragments if destroyed in orbit (as by collision). Will a composite tank fragments more or less could be important.
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