Flometrics, Inc. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: Non-DoD

Description

The inability to replace the RD-180 in a timely manner highlights the long development cycle for turbopump rocket engines.A Pistonless pump would allow for quick development of rocket engines that can be scaled as mission requirements evolve. This would support DOD contractors who are developing liquid rocket engine powered vehicles.This proposal responds to this need with a scalable pump system design, build and test project resulting in a design guide for various propellants, pressurants and thrust levels.This pump will increase payload mass fraction, reliability, safety, and operating flexibility. The pump "system Isp" including pressurant and tank mass will be intermediate between gas-generator and staged combustion turbopump systems, but at much lower cost and complexity.The pump has been tested under lab conditions, pumping kerosene, liquid nitrogen and water. The performance of the pump in spacecraft, launch vehicles and aircraft has been analyzed.The purpose of this SBIR is to bring the Pistonless pump technology up to a TRL 5-6 level, optimize it for scalability, integrate it with a rocket engine conduct static testing.Future work could include testing with larger thrust chambers to verify performance at scale.