NASA Engineers Prepare Game Changing Cryotank for
Testing
NASA and Boeing engineers are inspecting and preparing one of the largest
composite rocket propellant tanks ever manufactured for testing. The composite
cryotank is part of NASA’s Game
Changing Development Program and Space Technology Mission Directorate,
which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in NASA's
future missions. NASA focused on this technology because composite tanks promise
a 30 percent weight reduction and a 25 percent cost savings over the best metal
tanks used today. The outer shell of the 18-foot-diameter (5.5-meter) cryotank
is the same size as propellant tanks used on today’s full-size rockets.
The tank was manufactured at the Boeing Developmental Center in Tukwila,
Wash., and like artists, the team demonstrated their passion and commitment by
signing their work. The silver signatures of the NASA and Boeing team members
are visible on the black dome end of the tank. NASA’s Super Guppy delivered the
tank in March 2014 to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.,
and the Kmag, a 96-wheeled cargo truck, transported the tank to a Marshall
Center test area. The 28,000-gallons (105.992- liter) tank will be insulated and
placed in a test stand where it will be loaded with liquid hydrogen cooled to
extremely cold, or cryogenic temperatures. The orange ends of the tank are made
of metal and will attach to the test stand so that structural loads can be
applied similar to those the tank would experience during a rocket launch. This
advanced composite cryotank could benefit many of NASA’s deep space exploration
spacecraft including NASA's Space Launch
System, the largest most powerful rocket ever built.
Image Credit: NASA/MSFC/Fred Deaton
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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