Strengthening Our Space Technology Future: Snapshots of Success

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Thanks to a partnership with industry and the Air Force Space and Missile System Center, a Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) is being readied for launch in September 2016, Jurczyk explains.

GPIM is designed to test the distinctive quality of a high-performance, non-toxic, “green” fuel on orbit. STMD worked with Aerojet Rocketdyne in Redmond, Washington and GPIM prime contractor Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado to develop a spacecraft with a distinctive propellant.

That “green” propellant is a hydroxyl ammonium nitrate-based fuel/oxidizer mix, also known as AF-M315E. GPIM will flight demonstrate this fuel designed to replace use of highly toxic hydrazine and complex bi-propellant systems now in common use today. Doing so means enhancing a spacecraft’s performance and “volumetric efficiency” – more oomph for the ounce.

Robotics – a helping hand for humans

In the arena of STMD’s Game Changing Development (GCD) program, an impressive research and technology agenda is ongoing involving advanced robotic technology.

At the heart of this research is tapping the strength of robotics to augment human productivity. That translates to lowering mission risk by melding “best of” attributes of humans and robots.

For instance, work is ongoing to fabricate a prototype rover in support of a NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate effort, the Resource Prospector project. This Moon-bound mission may fly in 2020. It will demonstrate lunar prospecting skills to identify the location and composition of “volatiles”—perhaps large reservoirs of water-ice that may be buried below the Moon’s surface.

Jurczyk said that STMD’s effort in this area could lead to a “gas station” on the Moon. “Extracting water on the lunar surface could allow producing quantities of hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel. So we’re looking at that prospect too,” he adds.

STMD manages NASA’s Centennial Challenges program. In 2015, the space agency awarded $100,000 in prize money to the Mountaineers, a team from West Virginia University, Morgantown. They took part in the Sample Return Robot Challenge, successfully showcasing how robots can locate and collect geologic samples from wide and varied terrains, operating without human control.

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