Dawn Aerospace has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) phase 2 assignment of 500,000 euros by the Netherlands Space Office (NSO). The funding is for research into 3D printing fuel tanks with non-standard metals for use in ESPA and ESPA Grande class satellites. The project includes TNO Department of Energetic Materials and the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) as partners.
Dawn Aerospace is a Dutch and New Zealand startup. The company develops reusable rockets designed to carry small satellites to space. The company's satellite propulsion system uses the self-pressurising propellants nitrous oxide and propylene. This means they do not require helium or Propellant Management Devices, which is common with standard propellants such as hydrazine.
More freedom in design
This gives Dawn Aerospace more freedom in designing fuel tanks. It allows the company to produce these tanks in a wide range of form factors. This allows the manufacturer to tailor the tanks specifically to the customer's satellite. This makes propulsion systems simpler, more flexible in design, faster to produce and cheaper.
"We can make tanks suitable for almost any satellite form factor, and we are already 3D printing these tanks as we speak," explains Jeroen Wink, co-founder and CRO of Dawn. "The weirder the form factor, the higher the mass of the tanks. With this NSO-funded research, we hope to remove this disadvantage and give our customers full design flexibility."
Higher impulse density
Dawn Aerospace is comparing its propulsion system with an alternative to green satellite propulsion: LMP-103S (ADN). This uses the classic blowdown architecture. Dawn Aerospace reports that, in many cases, its propulsion system offers a pulse density more than 50% higher.
"We hope to reduce our tank mass by another 50%," says Wink. "That will result in even more impulse density, delta-v and higher performance for our customers." Customers can purchase Dawn propellants without export restrictions from all industrial gas suppliers, the company reports.
"NLR is pleased to contribute to the project with its unique metal 3D printing knowledge and facilities, such as the NLR Metal Additive Manufacturing Technology Centre (MAMTeC). This stimulates the future production of qualifying propulsion components for space application by 3D printing in the Netherlands," said Marc de Smit, R&D Engineer at NLR.
SBIR funding
Earlier this year, Dawn Aerospace as one of ten companies also received Phase I funding for feasibility studies. The five most promising innovations received phase 2 funding, with a total of EUR 2.5 million made available for projects. It is the first time than SBIR funding is available for space hardware development. The funding is part of a strategic call by the Dutch government in 'Technology development for space infrastructure'. With this, the Netherlands aims to promote the Netherlands-based supply ear future European space agencies and commercial missions.
"The aim of the SBIR is to challenge companies from the Netherlands to demonstrate their technological and innovative capabilities," says Ramon Peeters, SBIR-T project leader at NSO. "Those who can show a good prototype have a better chance of winning tenders for future space missions."
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Photo: Dawn Aerospace
