Developments on Cryogenic Tank Insulation for Reusable Launchers

Reusability of next generation launchers needs that cryogenic insulation of LH2 and LOX tanks is able to withstand without significant degradation critical environments experienced especially during pre-launch and re-entry phases.

An extensive characterisation campaign is presently on-going to improve performances of available insulations that only partially sustain thermo-mechanical loads and physico-chemical characteristics of the operative environment.

The campaign is divided in two different slices:

The first one has the objective of outlining the best insulation material and configuration; the second one foresses a test representative of the flight conditions performed with the selected insulation on a sub-scale Al-Li tank demonstrator.

Preliminary results achieved in the frame of the first slice are presented.