Chemical Propulsion Information Analysis Center - History of CPIAC

History of CPIAC

The rapid technological advances of the U.S. rocket industry during World War II, accomplished primarily through the wartime Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) and its cadre of leading scientists, produced a substantial foundation of technical reports and data on solid rockets, propellants, and ballistics. Following deactivation of the OSRD in 1945, several of these early scientists accepted positions at the fledgling Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and were subsequently appointed by Commander (later Admiral) Levering Smith to serve on the post-war Navy Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) Propellant and Ignition Advisory Group. In April 1946, at the suggestion of Dr. Ralph E. Gibson (later to become the second director of APL), the group recommended the establishment of “a rocket intelligence agency with one main responsibility—that of promoting rapid circulation of technical information to all activities concerned.” Armed with $20,000 in BuOrd funding, APL established the initial Rocket Propellant Information Agency (RPIA) on 3 December 1946 to consolidate, organize, and catalog the inventory of wartime reports.

In 1948, the addition of Army sponsorship and accompanying expansion of agency scope into gun propellants prompted a name change to the Solid Propellant Information Agency (SPIA). SPIA subsequently assumed responsibility for organizing and publishing the proceedings of the Joint Army-Navy and Interagency Solid Propellant Group Meetings, which later evolved into the JANNAF Propulsion Meeting. The previously sporadic industry technical exchange meetings were now formalized and conducted on a regular basis. The Air Force and NASA joined in sponsorship of SPIA in 1951 and 1959, respectively. With the establishment of NASA and increased activity in liquid-fueled rockets, missiles, and space vehicles, the Navy established the companion Liquid Propellant Information Agency (LPIA) at APL in 1958. On December 1, 1962, the SPIA and LPIA combined operations to form the Chemical Propulsion Information Agency. At the same time, CPIAC’s scope was expanded to include airbreathing, electrical, nuclear, and gun propulsion. The Interagency Chemical Rocket Propulsion Group (ICRPG), predecessor of the current JANNAF Interagency Propulsion Committee, was also chartered that year.

In 1964, CPIAC became a DoD Information Analysis Center under the Naval Sea Systems Command. In 1980, the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) assumed administrative oversight of CPIAC, and in 1990, the operation of CPIAC was transferred from APL to The Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering. While CPIAC’s core functions have expanded significantly over the years, its founding mission of report collection activities has continued uninterrupted to date, making CPIAC the custodian of the most comprehensive chemical propulsion scientific and technical reports collection in the world.