Future space exploration will require that the cryogenic fuel used to propel machinery in space be stored in tanks for months, even years, aboard spacecraft, but the behavior of this type of fuel is different in space than it is on Earth.

Shanbin Shi, assistant professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was recently awarded an Early Stage Innovations grant from NASA’s Space Technology Research Grants program to develop an approach for modeling how cryogenic propellant will behave in microgravity when stored for a long time. The goal is to gain a greater understanding of how to best design propellant storage systems for long-term missions.

Shi’s project is one of 14 university-led research projects being funded by NASA, all aimed at studying early-stage technologies.