HTCF

The aim of this project is to design an economical, efficient, and environmentally friendly high-temperature fan, suitable for use in reusable rockets, using advanced ceramic materials. The advanced ceramic fan blades developed in the project are planned to be used in electric ducted fans (EDF) for inflatable atmospheric decelerators (IADs). IADs are at the forefront of atmospheric re-entry research conducted by NASA and ESA. The state of the art in IAD technology uses heavy gas tanks for inflation (examples include IRDT or NASA HIAD). With the ceramic fan blades developed in the project, the use of hot air during re-entry for inflation will be possible. This enables the use of extremely lightweight IADs for small rocket stages and the return of cargo from space. This would be a great step forward towards a sustainable, circular economy in space, leading to CO2-reductions in the manufacturing and logistics of rockets.