NASA, Industry Prepare Cryogenic Fuel Technology Demo
NASA is collaborating with Eta Space of Rockledge, Florida, on an on-orbit technology demonstration aimed at advancing a key capability for future deep space missions. The Liquid Oxygen Flight Demonstration, or LOXSAT, will test cryogenic fluid management technologies needed to create space propellant depots, essentially fueling stations in space, that could support long-term exploration.
During a nine-month mission, LOXSAT will demonstrate 11 cryogenic fluid management technologies. Eta Space built LOXSAT as part of a NASA Tipping Point opportunity, and Rocket Lab is providing spacecraft and launch services to deliver it to low Earth orbit. The LOXSAT payload has been integrated into a Rocket Lab Photon satellite bus and will launch aboard the company’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula no earlier than July 17.
The technologies presented by LOXSAT were selected to address the key challenges of using cryogenic or ultra-cold propellants in microgravity, including reducing evaporation, propellant transfer, maintaining tank pressure, and assessing propellant levels. Data collected from these tests will support the development of future space propellant depots that could refuel spacecraft as they travel to the Moon, Mars, or other deep space destinations.
NASA’s LOXSAT team is comprised of members of the Cryogenic Fluid Management Portfolio project at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Cryogenics portfolio work is part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and includes more than 20 individual technology development activities.
To learn more, visit:
https://go.nasa.gov/49nbAO5
