MOUNTAIN AEROSPACE RESEARCH SOLUTIONS, INC. — Department of Defense STTR Phase I: AF21S-TCSO1

Description

Mountain Aerospace Research Solutions, Inc. (MARS) will conduct R/R&D in concert with Catalyst Campus for Technology & Innovation (CCTI) to determine the priority and importance of various technological aspects of our nascent propulsion platform, the MK2-X air augmented liquid rocket engine. This R/R&D will show a clear path to reducing launch costs, increasing launch cadence and overall OSAM capabilities. MARS' MK2-X is currently at a TRL-6 and ready to lower the cost and increase the cadence of the USSF OSAM mission. MARS has designed, additive manufactured and tested MK1, the first prototype at the Mojave Air and Space Port (MASP) Mojave, CA. This efficient, low resource test confirmed basic form and function with a de-risked low-power proof model. Following this test, MARS Engines team went into development for the MK2, and subsequently the MK2-X (monolithic MK2). The methods used to design MK2-X were triple verified with test data, CFD of the as-tested article matching verified test data and hand calculations. Armed with these verifications and confirmations, the team tackled designing the bigger, better, high power MK2- X around the clock for nearly a year. The step from the lower power “verification of function” MK1 to the “time to go to space” MK2-X consumed >358,640 CPU hours and >5,000-man hours. Therefore, an investment in the MARS MK2-X program is a well-placed investment. Most of the R/R&D time and money has already been spent in the development lifecycle. MARS’ MK2-X will bring down cost, production time, maintenance time and flight weight of existing rocket motor propelled platforms such as launch vehicles, hypersonic aircraft, and missiles. MARS will achieve this by utilizing our patented technology to create more thrust, more reliably at a lower cost, with smaller engines and/or less engines per platform than traditional rocket motors.