Development of scramjet engines is hindered by the lack of fast and accurate turbulent reacting flow CFD tools. Reaction Systems, LLC proposes to investigate new methods to extract minimal kinetic mechanisms from large detailed kinetic mechanisms to substantially decrease the number of additional… More

Contemporary storable hypergolic bipropellants such as MMH and IRFNA are desirable for use in military rocket applications due to their high specific impulse, no separate ignition system, and to actively control engine thrust. There is also great interest in safer munitions using gelled and… More

Development of scramjet engines is hindered by the lack of fast and accurate turbulent reacting flow CFD tools. In Phase I of this STTR project, Reaction Systems, LLC investigated a fundamentally new approach to reducing the computational burden of detailed chemistry that holds great promise in… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will investigate Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) ion thrusters for microsat and nanosat applications based on a new and innovative ion production technology. Small satellites offer exciting possibilities for future communication… More

Simulations of reacting flow in applications such as scramjet engines are currently limited in their utility or accuracy by the chemistry sub-models employed. Accurate chemistry models for hydrocarbon fuels are particularly problematic since the detailed kinetic mechanisms can be highly complex,… More

The world-wide demand for power is increasing while petroleum feed stocks are rapidly being depleted. Although known coal reserves could satisfy the world¿s energy demands for the next 60 years, coal is also a large producer of CO2, and its use could result in increased climate change. While… More

The development of new, robust, lightweight systems for CO2 removal during EVA is a crucial need for NASA. With current activity focused on the development of Lunar outposts, mission times will need to be extended without increasing the size and weight of the portable life support system (PLSS). … More

Ignition, flameholding, and flame spreading is difficult to achieve in current hydrocarbon scramjet hypersonic missile designs. This is particularly true at the end of the initial rocket boost phase when the hardware and fuel can still be very cold. Reaction Systems proposes to develop a lightweight… More

High speed air breathing engines can deliver payloads with vehicles that are smaller and lighter than rocket powered vehicles. Unfortunately, ignition and flame holding in scramjet engines has proven to be difficult, particularly with cold hardware and low-volatility fuels such as JP-7. Although… More

Because of increasing demand for energy and decreasing supply of fossil fuels there now is a strong need to reduce fossil fuel consumption and one way to do this is to use more efficient methods to convert fuel to power. Currently, the technology that has one of the highest energy conversion… More

Tremendous advances have been made in the development of large and accurate detailed reaction chemistry models for hydrocarbon fuels. Comparable progress has also been achieved in CFD as an engineering design tool. Highly accurate hydrocarbon chemistry is now desired for simulating gas turbine… More

The development of new, robust, lightweight systems for CO2 removal during EVA is a crucial need for NASA. With current and anticipated space activities, mission times will need to be extended without increasing the size and weight of the portable life support system (PLSS). While much of the… More

The development of new, robust, lightweight systems for CO2 removal during EVA is a crucial need for NASA. Current activity is focused on extending mission times without increasing the size and weight of the portable life support system (PLSS). Although CO2 sorbents that can be regenerated during… More

ABSTRACT: The surfaces of rocket engine thrust chambers, throats and nozzles are exposed to combustion products at temperatures ranging from 4000 to 6000 degrees F and therefore engines must utilize a cooling mechanism to prevent metal failure. Unfortunately, regenerative cooling leaves coke… More