STATUS OF NASA EARTH-TO-ORBIT PROPULSION TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM

NASA's Earth-to-Orbit (ETO) Propulsion Technology Program, was formalized as such in 1981 as part of the agency's Space Research and Technology Program and in 1988 was moved into the agency's Civil Space Technology Initiative (CSTI) as a focused program. It continues its traditional advanced propulsion technology development and verification character at an enhanced level of investment ($20-30 million annually). Approximately 185 tasks addressing liquid rocket engine subsystems, components and generic analysis and design methodologies are presently being conducted by industrial contractors, universities and within five NASA research and flight-program center, This work is distributed among the Program's three major technical areas: combustion devices, turbo-machinery and controls and monitoring, with a small number of special tasks being carried out in a fourth ''systems level'' study arena, principally to provide planning visibility for the Program. Ultimately directed toward markedly reducing acquisition and operations risk and cost, as a focused-technology effort, the ETO Program is conducted in two serially-performed program categories: technology acquisition and technology validation. The former is constituted by studies, ''tool building'', and bench-scale experimentation. often toward proof-of-concept demonstrations. The latter involves next-step verification of the acquisition results and findings, usually leading to a test-bed validated technology ''product'' which, with success, is now ready for incorporation into flight-system propulsion development programs as needs arise.