Cobham has designed, developed and qualified the largest
composite xenon propellant tank ever flown. This high performance
titanium-lined, carbon composite pressure vessel was qualified to
launch with 992 lbs of xenon at 1,250 psig.
The full assembly weight of the tank and skirt is less than 49
pounds. This hand laid-up, autoclave cured skirt design is an
extremely lightweight and effective solution for integrating the
propellant tank with the spacecraft structure.
The hand layed-up, autoclave cured skirt integrates the
propellant tank with the rest of the spacecraft structure. The
composite skirt is attached to the tank via an adhesive bond.
Cobham, with its flight heritage in pressurant tanks for cold
gas propulsion, fuel expulsion, and thrust vector control, also
designs pressure vessels that store Xenon propellant.