This federal contract award to Ultramet, a small business manufacturer, is focused on developing an advanced ignition system for hybrid rockets to support sample return missions from Mars or the larger moons in the solar system. Specifically, Ultramet will design, test, and characterize electrically powered foam heaters and perform ignition testing with paraffin fuel grains for a hybrid rocket propulsion system. This Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has a potential value of $125,000. The goal is to enable multi-start capability for hybrid rockets, which trades favorably compared to other propulsion options for these challenging sample return missions.
Generated 3/23/24, 3:33 AM