Marotta Controls, an aerospace and defense supplier, celebrates another production milestone — the delivery of the company’s 30,000th CoRe® valve to SpaceX at the latter’s rocket development site in McGregor, Texas.
This milestone marks a 50 percent increase in demand for the high performance, reusable, solenoid valves in less than 18 months, underscoring Marotta Controls’ deepening footprint in the spaceflight market.
The CoRe Flow Controls series includes 10 of the company’s most versatile solenoid valves that are capable of supporting various, industrial flow, control applications. These range from Attitude Control and Propellant Systems to Landing Leg Deployment and Stage Separation.
The CoRe series’ popularity is largely driven by its quality and flexibility along with product accessibility. The CoRe products stand as one of the only catalog valve portfolios for spaceflight. They are built with common, high volume production components — an approach that allows for a cost-effective valve option with short production lead times.
CoRe valves are currently found in more than 10 vehicle platforms for customers launching more than 100 rockets per year, both domestically and internationally. They continue to be used in ground control and deep space applications, as well.
CoRe valves are designed for one- to three-quarter inch lines; handle fluids such as helium, methane, nitrogen, and oxygen; and are qualified to the Air Force Space Command’s (AFSC) SMC-S-016 standard for 10 flights. The latest models — the direct-acting MV100X and the pilot-operated MV524X — are designed for cryogenic temperatures.
“We can continue to celebrate the uniqueness of our CoRe series. In fact, over the past few years, we’ve invested heavily in our related production capabilities in response to the growing demand. Our engineering team understood what spacecraft manufacturers needed with respect to system performance, usability, and quality. We also understood the importance of rapid production and part commonality —aspects driven by the rise of commercial spaceflight programs. Our CoRe valves satisfy all of those requirements and more.” — Max Wolfinger, Vice President of Space Systems, Marotta Controls