New lightweight rocket fuel tank hollow metal for carbon fiber and plastic

With support from the European Space Agency, German aerospace company MT Aerospace has developed a unique design for a small-scale rocket fuel tank made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic. The tank can hold liquid hydrogen and oxygen without leakage and without the use of a metallic coating.

Excluding the metal, the new fuel tank is much lighter. It also requires fewer parts to assemble and is a faster and cheaper alternative to other fuel tank designs, according to ESA. Any way to reduce the weight of a spaceship is a godsend, as more fuel is needed to launch heavier objects into orbit and beyond.

“It’s a huge step forward. We have found a very specific carbon composite and processing method that will allow us to envision new architectures and combinations of functions for the upper rocket stages that are not possible using metal ”, Kate Underhill, Project Manager in the ESA preparation program for future launchers. , said in a news agency Release.

The upper stages of rockets are important for high altitude and space propulsion; the change from the upper stage of aluminum to a carbon composite couldoffer an additional payload capacity of 2 tonnes, according to Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA’s director of space transportation.

The new carbon fiber reinforced plastic design was cryogenic stress tested, to see how the tank would fare keeping the thrusters cooled to -253˚C (-423.4 Fahrenheit). “The metal is waterproof. To recreate the same property with a carbon composite, it took an intricate weave of black carbon fiber and a special resin. The material has withstood cryogenic temperatures, pressure cycling and reactive substances in a number of separate tests, ”said Underhill.

Ultimately, the data from the innovative design tests will be applied to the final appearance of the upper stage of ESA’s Phoebus rocket for the Ariane 6 launcher. Phoebus will have hydrogen and oxygen tanks nearly 12 feet wide made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic, and the material will also be applied to the interface between the tanks and the outer layer of the upper stage. Phoebus will be tested with cryogenic fluids in 2023, according to the THIS.

This team is not the only one to try unconventional materials for spacecraft. Engineers at Finlaand have built and tested a wooden satellite prototype which, according to them, will be a proof of concept for future nanosatellites with little with no metallic components.

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