By combining thin thermoplastic films, woven Vectran reinforcements, and heat a reliable, deployable, rigidizing space habitat can be created. Although much research has been performed on rigidizing space structures, characteristic material flaws prevent reliable deployment of rigidizing… More

Firestar Engineering proposes a compact 4 cylinder, boxer style, piston engine that uses a NOFB3x series monopropellant to facilitate extreme altitude flight for long durations. This 4 cylinder engine will require substantially less fuel than other monopropellant based engines, will be non-toxic,… More

We propose conducting further development for a Nitrous Oxide Fuel Blend (NOFB) propulsion system. Phase I activities will concentrate on a revising a previous 5 lbf thruster to facilitate continuous operation with repeated restart. The thruster will utilize a novel new NOFB monopropellant. NOFB… More

Firestar Engineering has developed a set of Nitrous Oxide Fuel Blend monopropellants that are: 1) Non-toxic, 2) Specific Impulse> 310 s, 3) Freezing point < -77 C, 4) Self Pressurizing, and 5) Highly throttleable. A monopropellant with these characteristics and with bipropellant performance has… More

Firestar Engineering, LLC has been exploring the use of NOFB monopropellants for use in very high altitude unmanned aerial vehicle applications. Monopropellants remove the requirement for ingesting air into the vehicle. As a result, the feed system is greatly simplified, and there is no requirement… More

We propose the research, development and testing of a clustered aerospike engine to eventually be utilized with our high performance NOFB (nitrous oxide fuel blend) monopropellant and combustion chamber designs (patents pending) for planetary ascent stages. Compared to existing systems, this… More

We propose the continuation of our research and development of a Nitrous Oxide Fuel Blend (NOFBXTM) Single-Stage-to-Orbit (SSTO) monopropellant propulsion system for future use on a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) as part of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) architecture. This liquid monopropulsion system… More

This development will provide an inexpensive vacuum nozzle manufacturing option for NOFBX<SUP>TM</SUP> monopropellant systems that are currently being developed under NASA SBIR funding. NOFBX<SUP>TM</SUP> is non toxic and utilizes a much simpler monopropellant feed system… More

We propose to develop a miniature, low RF noise ignition module for NOFBX propulsion systems. This ignition module is designed utilizing unique properties of the NOFBX propellant to enable a potential 2-3 order magnitude reduction in spark ignition energy, voltage, current, and power under a very… More