The U. S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] a patent for a ceramic rocket nozzle throat for solid rocket motors.

The new ceramic material promises to improve solid rocket motor affordability and performance compared to the current 4D carbon-carbon material, company officials said. Lockheed Martin Space & Strategic Missiles, of Sunnyvale, Calif., developed the technology as part of an advanced materials technology development project to assess the feasibility of using ceramic materials in solid rocket motor nozzle throats.