The shape of things to come

Thiokol Propulsion is probably best known in aerospace circles for the large, powerful, solid rocket motors they produce for NASA's Space Shuffle program. Besides the tremendous progress Thiokol has shown over the last 40 years in the solid propulsion arena, new commercial ventures are being cultivated that are affording Thiokol engineers additional opportunities to flex their "technical muscles" (see photo -Figure 1- on this page). This article discusses the benefits afforded by Thiokol Propulsion's unique conformable fuel storage and the status of work in progress to apply the concept to on-board, alternate fuel storage, Design, material, and process considerations, as well as prototype fabrication and testing performed to date, are addressed. Current and planned work in liner development, cost modeling, and qualification testing are also discussed.