再使用型宇宙輸送機の材料技術課題

抄録

Drastic weight reduction of airframe structures is needed for realization of the practical reusable space transportation systems. Utilization of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) for cryogenic propellant tanks would be one of the most promising enabling technologies on this purpose. So far there has been very little information or data to verify feasibility of this technology, although some very ambitious demonstrations like DC-XA and X-33 have been carried out. The expected weight reduction of general aerospace primary structures by using composite materials would be 20% to 30% if compared with conventional aluminum materials. This report overviews research on CFRP materials for cryogenic use and discusses important technological issues to realize successful application to the RLV cryogenic propellant tanks.