Description: Anasphere has developed a solid-state hydrogen gas generator suitable for the inflation of Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators (HIADs). Deployable aerodynamic decelerators are an enabling technology for missions to planets and moons with atmospheres as well as for returning payloads to Earth. These decelerators require a gas source for inflation, and the generators provide an improvement over existing pressurized gas inflation systems. The technology has further application in terrestrial applications, namely the inflation of sounding balloons and larger payload-carrying balloons. The Navy has identified a specific need in this area and to that end will provide a matching investment. To address the terrestrial market, cost of the generators needs to be reduced through chemistry and design changes. Anasphere has lower-cost concepts ready for development which stem from the baseline Phase II generator design. Work would begin with laboratory tests of the new chemistries, and an optimal chemistry for the Navy (and thereby terrestrial) applications will be identified. This chemistry will be implemented in full generators which will be scaled up to yield a deliverable large generator for the Navy. The existing generators are already at TRL 6; this proposal will move the low-cost generators from TRL 4 to 6, matching the current TRL of the baseline generator. The NASA-supported portion of the work plan addresses increasing the efficiency of the existing Phase II hydrogen generator technology and also addresses a shared need between both versions of the technology, namely implementing an efficient cooling approach for the generated gas.

Benefits: The primary NASA application will be Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators (HIADs) as planned for use on missions to planets and moons with atmospheres as well as returning payloads to Earth. An additional application would be the inflation of planetary balloons.

Terrestrial applications include sounding balloons, research balloons, and military applications, with an emphasis on launches from remote areas where compressed gas cylinder logistics are prohibitive. Low-cost access to space will be enabled by HIAD systems which apply this generator technology for component recovery and return of material to Earth.