GRC NEWS RELEASE 00-043



00-043  

For Release: July 31, 2000



Pamelia Caswell
Media Relations Office
(216) 433-5795/2901
p.caswell@grc.nasa.gov

<h3>Company Delivers Rockets and a Small-Business Research 
Success</h3> Space rockets made of rhenium promise to last longer 
and, perhaps, fly, farther. Rhenium, though, is one of Earth's rarest 
metals. It is hard to obtain, hard to work, and hard to form. 

But Rhenium Alloys, Inc., a small Elyria, OH, company, has delivered 
two small chemical rocket thrusters made of rhenium to the NASA Glenn 
Research Center, Cleveland, OH. The delivery completes the second and 
final phase of the company' s small business innovation research 
(SBIR) contract with Glenn and sets the stage for further 
improvements in the life and capabilities of rockets for both 
commercial satellites and NASA space exploration missions.



The thrusters are the product of new manufacturing processes that 
reduce both the manufacturing time and cost while improving the 
product quality. Room-temperature isostatic pressing, that is, 
applying pressure evenly to all sides of the item, was used to 
compact rhenium powder into the near final shape and dimensions of 
the thruster. Containerless hot isostatic pressing was used to 
consolidate the powder compact until its molecules align into the 
strongly bonded crystalline structure of conventionally cast metals.



"We would never have been able to develop these processes without the 
financial and technical support of the SBIR contracts," said Todd 
Leonhardt, chief metallurgist at Rhenium Alloys, Inc. "The advice and 
encouragement we received from Glenn researchers was also 
invaluable."



During the late 1980's Glenn researchers began looking for ways to 
reduce the costs of deep space missions by making rockets last longer 
and use less fuel. Rhenium, with its very high melting point (5756 oF 
or 3180 oC) and durability after repeated temperature swings, seemed 
to fit the bill. A rocket made of rhenium could be cooled simply by 
radiating its heat into space instead of being cooled by a fuel film 
layer against the thruster walls, a major source of combustion 
inefficiency.



The problem was not just with rhenium's scarcity and high cost, but 
also with the high cost and difficulty of making it into useable 
parts. Glenn researchers found several less costly forming methods, 
but believed the manufacturing community was best to perfect those 
methods and put them into practice.



That's where Glenn's SBIR program stepped in. "Meeting NASA's future 
mission needs by putting together NASA researchers and small 
businesses interested in conducting research is our primary task," 
said Walter Kim, SBIR program manager. "In this case we also 
contacted the two rocket manufacturers for help in evaluating both 
the manufacturing process and the thrusters," he said.



The rocket manufacturers, TRW, Cleveland, OH, and Primex Space Systems 
(formerly Kaiser Marquardt), Van Nuys, CA, provided their designs for 
making the thrusters. After the finished thrusters are coated with an 
oxidation resistant coating of iridium, TRW and Primex will test 
their respective thruster in their own facilities.



NASA is one of 11 federal agencies participating in the SBIR program, 
which was established by congress to promote small business 
participation in the research process. NASA SBIR contracts are let to 
encourage the development of new ideas in the areas of aerospace 
research and technology and the commercialization of products and 
processes that result.




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Print-quality images are available at 
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/PAO/pressrel/2000/00-043addm.html

	
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