A new type of large, fully composite, linerless cryogen tank, designed and manufactured by
Boeing, recently completed a series of critical tests at
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Centre.
The reusable tank shell was originally constructed as flight hardware for DARPA’s (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Experimental Spaceplane Programme (XSP).
Boeing says the successful test campaign advances the new technology towards being mature, safe and ready for use in aerospace vehicles.
The 4.3m-diameter composite tank is similar in size to the propellant tanks intended for use in the upper stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which is the ‘foundational capability’ in NASA’s Artemis lunar and deep space human exploration programme.
If the new composite technology were implemented in evolved versions of the SLS’s Exploration Upper Stage, the weight savings could increase payload masses by up to 30%.
Carlos Guzman, who heads composite cryotank manufacturing at Boeing, said: “Composites are the next major technological advancement for large aerospace cryogenic storage structures; and while they can be challenging to work with, they offer significant advantages over traditional metallic structures.
“Boeing has the right mix of experience, expertise and resources to continue to advance this technology and bring it to market in a variety of applications across aerospace and aeronautics.”
During the testing, which was funded by DARPA and Boeing, engineers from Boeing and NASA filled the vessel with cryogenic fluid in multiple test cycles, pressurizing the tank to expected operational loads and beyond. In the final test, which intended to push the tank to failure, pressures reached 3.75-times the design requirements without any major structural failure.
The test, which builds upon Boeing’s extensive experience with the safe use of hydrogen in aerospace applications, will ‘inform Boeing’s ongoing studies of hydrogen as a potential future energy pathway for commercial aviation’. In addition to use in space programmes, Boeing has completed five flight demonstration programmes with hydrogen.