Nitrous Oxide Fuel Blend (NOFBX™) is a nitrous-oxide-based mono-propulsion technology developed specifically for a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) application by Firestar Technologies, largely funded by the NASA Mars Program Office, NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), and NASA International Space Station (ISS). The resulting propellant and engine technology offers significant benefits over previously contemplated solid and storable liquid propulsion solutions that have been proposed for planetary and in-space missions including a MAV, enabling a Single State to Orbit (SSTO) ascent vehicle for Mars Sample Return (MSR). Important characteristics of the technology include specific impulse performance that equals or exceeds state-of-the-art nitrogen textroxide/ monomethyl hydrazine (NTO/MMH) propulsion systems, restartability via spark ignition, deep throttleability (100:1) and high thrust-to-weight ratio. The propellant is completely non-toxic, non-contaminating to the planetary environment and storable over a very wide range of temperatures (<-70°C to >+70°C). Together these attributes offer the potential for dramatic simplification to the MSR program architecture as well as to the MAV itself, increasing margins, eliminating failure modes, improving reliability and decreasing cost. Firestar has demonstrated NOFBX™ thrusters in the 0.4 N to 445 N (0.1–100 lbf) thrust range, with measured vacuum specific impulse (vIsp) performance of up to ∼325 seconds. Innovative Space Propulsion Systems (ISPS) has been formed by Firestar and other strategic partners to commercialize NOFBX™ technology and will be demonstrating the 445 N (100 lbf) engine and associated feed system components on the ISS in 2013 under a National Lab award from NASA. Also, a current Phase 2 SBIR from NASA will demonstrate the proposed SSTO MAV propulsion module in a series of ground tests. This paper will describe NOFBX&- #x2122; characteristics and applications in greater detail and status of the ISS flight demonstration. The proposed Single Stage to Orbit MAV architecture will then be described with associated performance estimates and benefits to both the MAV itself and the surrounding program architecture. We will show how NOFBX™ directly addresses and mitigates many of the key technology challenges identified in recent NASA MAV architecture studies.
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