There will be a continuing national defense need for low-cost solid or liquid fuel vehicles to be complementary to the reusable space shuttle such expendable vehicles must be created from the existing family of rocket motors available to the armed forces if development costs are to remain low. Astrospace, inc. Has developed a rocket vehicle concept that combines the traditional benefits of bundling small motors together with an innovative rocket nozzle to produce a cluster-based, versatile single stage vehicle. The key technological innovation that makes such a vehicle competitive with its more traditional multi-stage counterparts is the integrated nozzle assembly (tina). Tina utililzes one large nozzle to produce a large expansion radio for the high altitude burning motor(s) as the same nozzle for the low altitude burning motors. Therefore, it appears that a tina/cluster based vehicle could afford the user an attractive alternative to the development of a new motor/vehicle. Astrospace proposes that a Phase I SBIR contract be issued to identify the key nozzle and vehicle design elements and their interactions in this unique configuration, resulting in a baseline vehicle to be the subject of a phase ii research and development effort.
