Compositex, Inc.

Last updated October 25, 2006

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Compositex, Inc. is a small business located near Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. We are dedicated to advancing the state of the art in composite structures, rocket propulsion systems, and aircraft technologies. Our main focus is on using innovative designs and efficient fabrication technologies to continually improve the value of the products and services that we offer to our customers. We have plans for substantial growth in the near future, but our paramount goal is delivering state-of-the-art performance and high reliability at affordable prices. Our technology development specialization areas include:

· High-performance filament-wound composite structures; high pressure vessels, cryogenic propellant tanks, motorcases

· Ablative chambers and nozzles: Low-cost Silica/SiC/Carbon -Phenolic

· Rocket propulsion systems; Primarily self-pressurizing liquid systems

· Aerodynamic innovations; Collapsible/deployable flexwings, active circulation control, powered lift

We pride ourselves in adopting the customer’s point of view. Whether it's researching a new material, designing a filament-wound composite tank, or developing an entire rocket propulsion system, Compositex, Inc. can get the job done more efficiently and for less money than you might imagine. Of course, talk is cheap, so give us the chance to prove to you we're more than just talk. We know that the key to our success is proving our technical excellence and dependability to our customers every day. Details about Compositex, Inc. products and services can be found by clicking here.

Ablative Chambers: Shown above is a 2005 test firing of the AirLaunch LLC upper stage engine prototype with a Compositex-built ablative thrust chamber. We have since produced 4 more thrust chambers for AirLaunch, and hope to continue supporting this noble effort. AirLaunch is developing the Quick Reach, an innovative small launch vehicle that is air-launched from a C-17 cargo plane. The Quick Reach is a two-stage vehicle which burns self-pressurizing LOX/Propane propellants. Ablative chambers are self-cooled, which is vital to the success of pressure-fed rocket propulsion systems, since they exert no fluid pressure drop penalties for chamber cooling. This is why the more complicated regeneratively-cooled chambers are most often used with pump-fed engine systems, where substantial pressure drops are more easily tolerated. Pressure-fed liquid rocket systems are much simpler, less expensive, and more reliable, but they are optimized at lower feed pressures, so a low cost self-cooled chamber with zero pressure losses is highly desirable. That’s where we come in!

Propellant Tankage: Shown above is a metal-lined carbon/epoxy composite tank being wound on our computer-controlled filament winding machine. This tank is very lightweight and designed to contain cryogenic liquids under considerable internal pressure. Our first generation of metal-lined composite cryotanks achieved a PV/W (performance factor = burst pressure times internal volume divided by empty weight) of approximately 1,000,000 inches, which results in a tank empty weight that is less than half that of the highest performing metal tank. Our current composite cryotanks are achieving PV/W > 1,700,000 inches. These tanks are compatible with liquid oxygen, methane and hydrogen. We are also working on a more advanced propellant tank technology that can theoretically deliver PV/W > 3,500,000 inches with existing, low-cost material technology. If this level of performance can indeed be achieved, it would result in a tank that is approximately 10 times lighter than the very best metal tank with an equivalent operating pressure and internal volume; a truly revolutionary technology! Very lightweight pressure containers enable the development of highly-simplified pressure-fed rocket propulsion systems, which will be key to reaching the elusive goal of routine, reliable, and affordable space transportation. Our ongoing development work on composite cryogenic propellant tanks is being supported by both customer contracts and internal R&D funds.

Aerodynamics: Shown above is a picture of one the Kestrel flight test articles being prepared for flight testing near the southeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake. To view two short video clips of flight testing, click here and here. This unique aircraft has a variable blowing system which actively controls circulation about the airfoil. Variable blowing allows this fixed wing aircraft to achieve very low airspeeds with enhanced maneuvering capabilities. Data collected during flight tests includes airspeed, altitude, engine power level, servo positions, and GPS position-velocity-course. This data is downloaded to a computer and analyzed after each flight. In parallel with flight testing, extensive wind tunnel testing and computation fluid dynamics analyses efforts were also conducted at Georgia Tech. The Air Vehicles Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB was administering the contract for Kestrel mini-UAV aircraft development. This contract has recently been completed, but we plan to continue the development and flight testing efforts with IR&D funds. The results of this development project have been very encouraging thus far, and many aircraft designs could potentially benefit from this unique circulation control technology.

Self-Pressurizing Liquid Rocket Propulsion Systems: Shown above is the test set-up from of one the Comp-L system test articles being readied for a series of static test firings at the Mojave Test Area. It burns a light hydrocarbon fuel with concentrated Hydrogen Peroxide oxidizer. Both fuel and oxidizer are fed to the engine by the vapor pressure of the volatile fuel. A small fraction of the fuel is vaporized as the propellants are consumed, thereby sustaining feed pressure without an external pressurization system. The copper engine chamber shown is sized for 100 pounds of thrust (in vacuum with a high expansion nozzle). This system was designed for on-board propulsion for small spacecraft.

Recent development efforts are focused on the Actively Vaporized Oxidizer (AVOx ) propulsion system, burning LOX/hydrocarbon, and the Evaporated Cryogen Propulsion System (ECPS ) for LOX/hydrogen. Recent design trade studies have shown the feasibility of a low cost SSTO that is based on the ECPS. Two launch vehicle designs were created, dubbed the Bluebird, a small launch vehicle which lifts 1,000 pounds of payload to LEO, and the Eagle, which lifts 12,500 pounds.

Contact Compositex, Inc.:

compositex@comcast.net

Telephone & Fax: (801) 501-0562

Street Address: 11815 Littler Road, Sandy, UT 84092-5758

President, Chief Technical Officer: Daniel J. Moser

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ã 2000-2006, Daniel J. Moser, All rights reserved