Composite Tanks and Pressure Vessel Development

Pressure vessels and tanks are vital to NASA missions. Tanks need to be lightweight and perform under the operational environments. Design and material limitations make it difficult to contain the fuels and oxidizers. Recent interest in 90% Hydrogen Peroxide adds to the challenge of containment. The majority of current tank technologies are not easily adaptable to conformal shapes. The cost of tooling-up for large tanks are magnified by sudden design changes. New launch vehicle concepts may require tanks and pressure vessels of a non-standard configuration. Scaled versions of new tanks have been fabricated and testing has begun. Second and third generation launch vehicles decisions will effect the path of research and development.