New Lightweight Rocket Fuel Tank Ditches Metal for Carbon Fiber and Plastic - Gizmodo
With the support of the European Space Agency, German aerospace company MT Aerospace has developed a unique design for a small-scale rocket fuel tank made of a carbon-fiber reinforced plastic.
The upper stages of rockets are important for high-altitude and in-space propulsion; switching the upper stage from aluminum to a carbon composite could yield an extra 2 tons of payload capacity, according to Daniel Neuenschwander, the director of space transportation for the ESA.The new carbon-fiber reinforced plastic design was put through cryogenic stress tests, to see how the tank would fare in holding propellants chilled to -253˚C (-423.4 Fahrenheit).Phoebus will have nearly 12-foot-wide hydrogen and oxygen tanks made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic, and the material will also be applied to the interface between the tanks and the upper stage’s outer layer.