NASA goes green: NASA selects green
propellant technology demonstration
mission
16 August 2012
NASA has selected a team led by Ball Aerospace Missile Systems Center at the Kirkland Air Force
& Technologies Corporation of Boulder, Colo., for a Base in New Mexico, NASA's Glenn Research
technology demonstration of a high performance
Center in Cleveland and NASA's Kennedy Space
"green" propellant alternative to the highly toxic
Center in Florida for the new mission.
fuel hydrazine. With this award, NASA opens a
new era of innovative and non-toxic green fuels
NASA's Green Propellant Infusion Mission is
that are less harmful to our environment, have
expected to be developed and flown in
fewer operational hazards, and decrease the
approximately three years. The Space Technology
complexity and cost of launch processing.
Program will provide $45 million for the mission,
with some additional cost-sharing by mission coToday's use of hydrazine fuel for rockets, satellites investigators.
and spacecraft is pervasive. Hydrazine is an
This demonstration will bridge the gap between
efficient propellant and can be stored for long
technology development and use of green
periods of time, but it also is highly corrosive and
propellant. The team will develop and fly a high
toxic. NASA is seeking new, non-toxic high
performance green propellants that could be safely performance green propellant, demonstrating and
characterizing in space the functionality of the
and widely used by rocketeers, ranging from
integrated propulsion system. Such a
government to industry and academia. Green
propellants include liquid, solid, mono- propellant, demonstration will provide the aerospace
which use one fuel source, or bi-propellants, which community with a new system-level capability for
future missions.
use two, and hybrids that offer safer handling
conditions and lower environmental impact than
Maturing a space technology, such as a
current fuels.
revolutionary green propellant, to mission readiness
through relevant environment testing and
"High performance green propellant has the
demonstration is a significant challenge from a
potential to revolutionize how we travel to, from
cost, schedule and risk perspective. NASA's
and in space," said Michael Gazarik, director of
Technology Demonstration Missions Program
NASA's Space Technology Program at NASA
performs this function, bridging the gap between
Headquarters in Washington. "An effective green
rocket fuel would dramatically reduce the cost and laboratory confirmation of a technology and its inital
use on an operational mission.
time for preparing and launching space missions
while decreasing pollution and harm to our
environment."
More information: For more information about
NASA's Space Technology Program and
Following a solicitation and peer-review selection
Technology Demonstration Missions, visit:
process, NASA chose the Green Propellant
www.nasa.gov/oct
Infusion Mission proposal and a team lead by Ball
and co-investigators from the Aerojet Corporation
in Redmond, Washington, the U.S. Air Force
Research Laboratory at the Wright Patterson Air
Provided by NASA
Force Base in Ohio, the U.S. Air Force Space and
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APA citation: NASA goes green: NASA selects green propellant technology demonstration mission
(2012, August 16) retrieved 18 June 2017 from https://phys.org/news/2012-08-nasa-green-propellanttechnology-mission.html
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