SBIR-STTR Award

Solid Rocket Motors for High Performance Interceptors
Award last edited on: 6/30/2023

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
DOD : MDA
Total Award Amount
$1,649,985
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
MDA20-003
Principal Investigator
Devon Jensen

Company Information

Advanced Cooling Technologies Inc (AKA: ACT)

1046 New Holland Avenue
Lancaster, PA 17601
   (717) 295-6061
   info@1-act.com
   www.1-act.com
Location: Single
Congr. District: 11
County: Lancaster

Phase I

Contract Number: HQ0860-21-C-7000
Start Date: 12/28/2020    Completed: 6/30/2021
Phase I year
2021
Phase I Amount
$149,999
The advent of hypersonic attacks is pushing the current limits of the United StatesÂ’ anti-missile defense system, Aegis. In the time required by Aegis to launch a counter attack, a hypersonic threat would already have flown such that an interceptor missile could not catch up. To resolve this challenge, Advanced Cooling Technologies (ACT) is collaborating with The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) to develop an advanced solid rocket motor technology for high-performance, compact interceptors. To this end, ACT and PSU will design a highly loaded solid rocket motor packed with high density energetic materials capable of producing a specific impulse of at least 280 seconds. Also, packing more propellant relative to the inert mass will enable a total impulse 20% higher than what is currently achieved by conventional rocket motors. The Phase I effort will conduct a proof-of-concept study of notional propellant grains and provide predictions of their technical performance, including maximum thrust and specific impulse. The propellant will also be evaluated for multiple-pulse operations. Approved for Public Release | 20-MDA-10643 (3 Dec 20)

Phase II

Contract Number: HQ0860-22-C-7112
Start Date: 7/7/2022    Completed: 6/7/2024
Phase II year
2022
Phase II Amount
$1,499,986
The advent of hypersonic attacks is pushing the current limits of the United StatesÂ’ anti-missile defense system, Aegis. In the time required by Aegis to launch a counter attack, a hypersonic threat would already have flown such that an interceptor missile could not catch up. To resolve this challenge, Advanced Cooling Technologies (ACT) collaborated with The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and Sierra Engineering and Software Inc. (Sierra) during the Phase I program to develop an advanced solid rocket motor technology for high-performance, compact interceptors. ACT, PSU, and Sierra designed a highly loaded solid rocket motor packed with high density energetic materials capable of producing a vacuum specific impulse of at least 280 seconds and a 20% increase in total impulse. Moving to the Phase II effort, ACT will bring back the strong team members from PSU and Sierra to develop and execute incremental evaluation and testing that matures the notional propellant grain technologies introduced in the Phase I period. A new team member, Industrial Solid Propulsion (ISP), will contribute in the culminating production, testing, and assessment of a prototype. Approved for Public Release | 22-MDA-11102 (22 Mar 22)