Space1 announces a completely new chemically engineered lightweight transparent rocket body constructed from trans walls made with Tested Trans Polyethylene Terephthalate, dubbed TTPT, which provides alcohol, fuel and oil barrier properties, excellent chemical resistance and high tensile strength resistant to impacting forces. It has an ideal degree of Modulus of Flexure which facilitates rocket performance and recovery, and it provides a gas and moisture barrier. TTPT can be recycled numerous times, prior to fatigue, to hold significant rocket fuel and pressurization so it can be made into formed fuel tanks. TTPT is designed for operating conditions not to exceed 200 degrees Fahrenheit (93 deg. C). The material can be formed and tool machined to change its shape, ideal for forming rocket space capsules.
Transparent rocket walls and farings allow not only light to pass through but also offer up the ability to instantly inspect the condition of the internal contents such as crew quarters, capsule contents with cargo, fueling tank conditions and the amount of fuel remaining, and other component details without rocket disassembly. Transparency allows faster missions and turn around time, plus greater inspection detail before, during and after flight. TTPT consists of polymerized units of monomer ethylene terephthalate with repeating C10H8O4 units. In this case, it's used in the amorphous transparency state.
In the space industry, the monomer bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate can be synthesized by the esterification reaction between terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol with water as a byproduct, or by transesterification reaction between ethylene glycol and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) with methanol as a byproduct. Polymerization is through a polycondensation reaction of the monomers (done immediately after esterification/transesterification) with water as the byproduct. TTPT has a density of 1.38 g/cm3 at 20 deg. C. It can be engineered at 260 deg. C. Its Molar Mass is variable, and its insoluble ti water and moisture. With a thermal conductivity of 0.15 to 0.24 W m-1 K-1 and a refractive index of 1.57 to 1.58 (nd), it can therefore act as an insulator of electrical properties. TTPT has a specific heat capacity of 1.0 KJ/(kg-k) and the related monomer is Terephthalic acid.
