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TAS::80 0123::TAS RECOVERY ACT FUNDS RECOVERY - SMAAART TASK TITLE: COMPOSITE CRYOTANK TECHNOLOGIES AND DEMONSTRATION DESIGN, ANALYSIS, AND TESTING FOR COMPOSITE LH2 CRYOTANKS 1.0 BACKGROUND NASA IS EXPLORING ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS AND PROCESSES TO REDUCE THE OVERALL COST AND WEIGHT OF LIQUID HYDROGEN (LH2) CRYOTANKS. COMPOSITES ARE MATERIALS THAT ARE COMBINATIONS OF TWO OR MORE ORGANIC OR INORGANIC COMPONENTS. ONE MATERIAL SERVES AS A "MATRIX," WHICH IS THE MATERIAL THAT HOLDS EVERYTHING TOGETHER, WHILE THE OTHER MATERIAL SERVES AS REINFORCEMENT, IN THE FORM OF FIBERS EMBEDDED IN THE MATRIX. A CRYOTANK IS A CONTAINER THAT CAN STORE VERY COLD LIQUIDS, IN THIS CASE LIQUID HYDROGEN. THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO PROVIDE NEW AND INNOVATIVE CRYOTANK TECHNOLOGIES THAT ENABLE HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION TO DESTINATIONS BEYOND LOW EARTH ORBIT SUCH AS THE MOON, NEAR-EARTH ASTEROIDS, AND MARS. THE FOCUS OF THIS INITIAL 1-YEAR EFFORT IS TO RESEARCH AND DEVELOP THE COMPOSITE CRYOTANK TECHNOLOGIES REQUIRED FOR A HEAVY LIFT LAUNCH VEHICLE (SIMILAR TO THE SATURN V ROCKET USED TO LAUNCH APOLLO MISSIONS) BETWEEN 8.4 METERS AND 10.0 METERS IN DIAMETER. THIS TECHNOLOGY WILL SERVE MULTIPLE CUSTOMERS INCLUDING NASA, THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD), AND COMMERCIAL AEROSPACE COMPANIES. FUTURE SPIN-OFF CAPABILITIES MAY INCLUDE LH2 CORE STAGES (1ST AND TYPICALLY LARGEST SECTION OF A ROCKET), IN-SPACE PROPULSION SYSTEMS (A PROPULSION SYSTEM IS A MACHINE THAT PRODUCES THRUST TO PUSH AN OBJECT FORWARD), ON-ORBIT PROPELLANT DEPOTS (A CACHE OF PROPELLANT THAT IS PLACED ON AN ORBIT ABOUT THE EARTH OR ANOTHER BODY TO ALLOW SPACECRAFT TO BE FUELLED IN SPACE), AND LIQUID OXYGEN (LOX) CRYOTANKS. OVER THE PAST 15 YEARS, THERE HAVE BEEN A VARIETY OF COMPOSITE CRYOGENIC TANK PROGRAMS AT NASA AND THE AIR FORCE. EACH OF THESE PROJECTS HAS HAD SOME SUCCESS BUT THERE HAVE ALSO BEEN TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES THAT HAVE MADE NASA RELUCTANT TO INCORPORATE THEM. ONE OF THE GREATEST CHALLENGES THAT NASA FACES WHEN INCORPORATING ANY ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY IS BRIDGING THE MID TECHNICAL READINESS LEVEL (TRL AS DEFINED BY HTTP://ESTO.NASA.GOV/FILES/TRL_DEFINITIONS.PDF) GAP BETWEEN EARLY DEVELOPMENT AND INCORPORATION INTO FLIGHT VEHICLES (ROCKETS). THE INTENT OF THIS CONTRACT EFFORT IS TO PUSH THE TECHNICAL MATURITY OF COMPOSITE TANKS FURTHER BY BUILDING ON THE DEVELOPMENTS OF RECENT PROGRAMS. NASAS MOST RECENT COMPOSITE CRYOTANK WAS DEVELOPED UNDER THE NEXT GENERATION LAUNCH TECHNOLOGY (NGLT) PROJECT. THE COMPOSITE CRYOTANK TECHNOLOGIES AND DEMONSTRATION (CCTD) ALSO HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD ON NEW IMPROVEMENTS DEVELOPED BY COMMERCIAL AEROSPACE INTERNAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (IR&D) ACTIVITIES AS WELL AS LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS OF INTERNATIONAL AND ACADEMIC PARTNERS, AND OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. BUILDING ON PAST COMPOSITE CRYOTANK SUCCESSES AND EVALUATING NEW STATE OF THE ART MATERIALS THROUGH EQUIVALENCY TESTING SHOULD ALLOW NASA TO REALIZE CONSIDERABLE MASS AND COST SAVINGS. IN FISCAL YEAR 2011, NASA PLANS TO BEGIN A PROGRAM THAT FOCUSES ON INNOVATIVE IDEAS ENABLING NEW CAPABILITIES OR RADICALLY ALTERING OUR CURRENT APPROACHES TO SPACE SYSTEMS. GAME CHANGING DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS (GCDP) ARE INTENDED TO BE CAPABILITY-ORIENTED AND DIFFER FROM TRADITIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT METHODS THAT ADVANCE DISCIPLINE OR CORE KNOWLEDGE. THE GOAL OF THE PLANNED GCDP IS TO MATURE TECHNOLOGIES IN PREPARATION FOR POTENTIAL SYSTEM LEVEL FLIGHT DEMONSTRATIONS THROUGH SIGNIFICANT GROUND-BASED TESTING AND/OR LABORATORY EXPERIMENTATION. NASA WILL MANAGE THE COMPOSITE CRYOTANK TECHNOLOGIES AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECT WITHIN THESE GUIDELINES. THE CCTD PROJECT WILL BE SPLIT INTO TWO PHASES. THE CURRENT EFFORT DESCRIBED IN THIS SOW IS PHASE 1. THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF PHASE 1 COULD RESULT IN NASA ISSUING A SEPARATE 2-YEAR CONTRACT FOR PHASE 2 IF FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE. PHASE 2 WILL LIKELY INVOLVE THE CRITICAL DESIGN, ANALYSIS, AND MANUFA