Parabilis Space Technologies, Inc. today announced it has been selected by NASA for an award to design and develop a high-performance hybrid rocket stage for low-cost trans-lunar orbit injection and maneuvering for the purpose of exploring the lunar environment using small, inexpensive spacecraft. “An entirely new class of propulsion vehicles is needed by NASA and commercial enterprises” said Parabilis CEO Dave Streich. “We intend to meet this need.”
Parabilis will leverage its previous work on a hybrid upper stage launch vehicle to design a robust transfer vehicle to propel small payloads into translunar trajectories. “Hybrid propulsion has a distinct cost advantage over most other propulsion solutions” said Chris Grainger, Vice President of Engineering and Principal Investigator for this program. “This particular hybrid rocket design will utilize a novel fuel configuration, and include a pump-powered combustion cycle instead of a pressurized system, providing excellent performance in a short form factor at a very low cost.”
In the first phase of this program, Parabilis will perform analysis and trades, conceptualize a stage architecture, perform fluid system materials testing, and design a prototype motor and feed system suitable for hot-fire testing at Parabilis’ rocket test site.
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