Description: To-date, the realization of high-performance liquid bipropellant rocket engines for ascent vehicle and sample return applications has largely been hindered by the inability to obtain "on-board" pressurization through a light-weight and low-complexity pump. Ventions seeks to fulfill this critical need by offering low-risk, electric-motor driven pumps for a MON-30 / MMH liquid bipropellant engine in the Mars Ascent Vehicle for significant performance, mass and packaging advantages over pressure-fed or solid / hybrid propulsion systems.

Benefits: The proposed pump-fed propulsion system has direct applications for the MAV and other sample return missions. The enabling technology also overcomes a generic challenge of providing on-board pressurization at the small-scale, thereby enabling a new generation of liquid bipropellant rocket engines in the 100-5,000lbf thrust class for other NASA applications such as lunar ascent / descent missions (precursor rovers, cargo, etc.), Near-Earth-Object (NEO) missions and outer planet orbit capture and insertion missions.

These could include upper stage propulsion for small commercial launch vehicles; core upper stage propulsion for various DARPA programs; Lunar lander propulsion for commercial entities and orbital insertion engines / apogee kick engines for orbit circularization of commercial satellites.