PARABILIS SPACE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. — National Aeronautics and Space Administration STTR Phase I: T1

Description

<p>The proposed innovation is a&nbsp;modular,&nbsp;high-performance orbital transfer stage&nbsp;(OTS)&nbsp;vehicle&nbsp;for&nbsp;Nanosats and&nbsp;Microsats&nbsp;launched as secondary payloads&nbsp;and require maneuvering to their desired orbits.&nbsp;The OTS has a modular design,&nbsp;and&nbsp;can&nbsp;accommodate&nbsp;payloads ranging from&nbsp;5kg 3U size Nanosats to &gt;50kg&nbsp;Microsat&nbsp;size vehicles. The propulsion&nbsp;system&nbsp;uses hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) fuel with nitrous oxide (N2O).&nbsp; These&nbsp;&ldquo;green propellants&rdquo;&nbsp;that&nbsp;are&nbsp;sufficiently&nbsp;safe&nbsp;for ridesharing,&nbsp;will&nbsp;provide&nbsp;density impulse over 10-15% higher than a hydrazine system,&nbsp;and&nbsp;are&nbsp;capable of&nbsp;near-impulsive &Delta;V maneuvers to support launch vehicle collision avoidance operations, final operational orbit insertion, or tactical inclination/plane change maneuvers.&nbsp;The proposed system leverages additive manufacturing as the primary fabrication process incorporating&nbsp;modular&nbsp;tank and thruster configurations with integral Reaction Control Subsystem.&nbsp;&nbsp;Basic Propulsion &ldquo;modules&rdquo; can be combined to enable various size vehicles and missions.&nbsp; The basic concept for the OTS &ldquo;core&rdquo; configuration is also amenable to integrating the hybrid propulsion directly into a Nanosat bus.&nbsp;The&nbsp;proposed solution&nbsp;will&nbsp;allow lower cost access to space than existing&nbsp;commercial monopropellant system&nbsp;liquid stages,&nbsp;uses&nbsp;a fraction of the power of electric propulsion systems, and will be much safer than systems that use toxic and/or explosive propellants.&nbsp;&nbsp;The OTS will have complete capability (power, guidance and navigation, etc.) to position the Payload spacecraft into their desired orbits.&nbsp;</p>