Ball Aerospace of Boulder has been awarded a contract from NASA to lead a government-industry team in the demonstration of an alternative fuel for future space vehicles.

The company said a Ball team will develop and fly the Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) to demonstrate a high-performance, non-toxic fuel alternative to conventional hydrazine.

GPIM will be developed over the next three years and launched in 2015 .

The purpose of employing green fuel alternatives is to reduce the environmental impact and operational hazards, and improve launch capabilities, Ball said. While the current use of hydrazine is efficient, the fuel is highly toxic and dangerous to transport, said the company.

Ball is the prime contractor for the project along with teams from Aerojet Corp., the Glenn Research Center, and the U.S. Air Force Laboratory at Edward Air Force Base.

They will be given support from the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center at Kirkland Air Force Base and NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Ball president David L. Taylor said Ball is well-known for innovative technology solutions and proud to partner with NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) "to advance space technology.

"This mission brings together a government-industry team from multiple agencies to develop a fully domestic green propellant solution for the next generation of space flight," said Taylor.

GPIM is a Technology Demonstration Mission under the leadership of NASA's Office of Chief Technologist.

Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter.com/howardpankratz

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Boulder's Ball Aerospace to develop green fuel for space vehicles