Thermodynamic Vent System Applied as Propellant Delivery System for Air Force

Responding to a request from the Air Force, NASA Lewis Research Center engineers designed a combination pressure control and propellant delivery system based on thermodynamic vent system (TVS) technology. The Air Force is designing a new type of orbit transfer vehicle that uses energy from sunlight to both propel and power the vehicle. Because this vehicle uses propellant at a substantially slower rate than higher-energy rockets, it needed the Lewis-developed TVS technology for long-duration storage of cryogen propellants. Lewis engineers, in conjunction with industry partners, showed how this TVS technology could also be used to deliver propellant to the thruster. The Air Force has now begun the ground test demonstration phase. After successful completion of ground testing, the Air Force plans to use this technology in a space flight as early as 1999.