Chemical Rocket Propulsion

2000

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53rd AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

The UAH Propulsion Research Center (PRC) is beginning its 26 th year at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). The mission of the Propulsion Research Center is to provide an environment that connects the academic research community with the needs and concerns of the propulsion community while promoting an interdisciplinary approach to solving propulsion problems. This paper describes highlights from the research and academic programs associated with the center over the past eighteen months. Academic highlights include the offering of new graduate courses in liquid rocket engineering and solid rocket combustion instability. Research highlights include a new supersonic wind tunnel capability and a new program in nuclear thermal propulsion systems engineering. In the 2016 fiscal year, total research expenditures rose to $1.563 million and four Ph.D., eleven master's students, and numerous undergraduate students obtained degrees in conjunction with the center. The center continues to be a resource for both fundamental and applied research as well as a significant contributor to workforce development in the propulsion and energy field.

2001

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time f maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this suggestions for reducing this burden to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Inforr Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM lo TMt ABOVE ADDRESS.

Journal of KONES. Powertrain and Transport, 2016

The paper presents the main activities of the Institute of Aviation (IoA) in the field of chemical rocket propulsion. The relatively "fresh" research and development team performed many useful works within the last 5 years, starting from the strategy and ideas. Nowadays, the Space Technology Department of IoA acts as a member of international consortia realizing space projects, as well as itself working on its own assignments financed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and IoA funds. The important development aspect of rocket propulsion developed at IoA is the use of "green" propellants. These are chemicals, which are relatively safe for the environment and personnel, being a very promising alternative for storable toxic substances, e.g. hydrazine and derivatives, nitrogen tetroxide. R&D activities of STD are based on the use of Rocket Grade Hydrogen Peroxide (RGHP), also known as High Test Peroxide (HTP). This high-performance mono-propellant and oxidizer is regarded by European entities as one of the most promising candidates to replace hydrazine and its derivatives in the future. Due to numerous advantages, hydrogen peroxide is better suited for systems with human interaction that most of other propellant combinations. The paper contains selected results of research on green rocket propulsion performed at IoA, in which 98% hydrogen peroxide was used as oxidizer and monopropellant. Three types of rocket engines: monopropellant, liquid bipropellant and hybrid have been investigated and are still being developed.

This paper consists of three parts: (a) a brief overview of NASA Project Constellation tasks associated with the throttlability, mixing and combustion instabilities in Liquid Rocket Engines, (b) a brief overview of air breathing propulsion activities associated with U.S. Air Force scramjet objectives, and (c) detailed research results associated with one specific topic -a new version of the classical Ozawa flame blowout curve that was determined for high speed propulsion devices. As part of the Space Vehicle Technology Institute (SVETI), the propulsion work is being conducted at the University of Maryland, the

2018

Solid rocket propulsion enjoys unique properties favoring its use in space exploration and military missions still for decades to come. Yet, it also suffers a limited performance especially in terms of gravimetric specific impulse. Although new high-energy materials have been identified, most of them are far from being practically usable in the short range. Presently, no integrated vehicle designs make use of these new ingredients. A broad overview is discussed in this paper and attention is paid to Ammonium Dinitramide, ADN to overcome the current limitations of Ammonium Perchlorate, AP. The latter imply not only a limited gravimetric specific impulse but also a negative impact on the environment and personal health. ADN-based dual-oxidizer formulations, with Al-based dual-metal fuels and inert or energetic binders, are promising solutions for a variety of solid rocket propulsion missions aiming respectively at minimizing environmental impact (ADN + AN) or maximizing performance (A...

Several programs are investigating the benefits of advanced propellant and propulsion systems for future launch vehicles and upper stages. The two major research areas are the Metallized Propellants Program and the Advanced Concepts Program. Both of these programs have theoretical and experimental studies underway to determine the system-level performance effects of these propellants on future NASA vehicles.

Transactions on Aerospace Research

This paper describes the recent theoretical and experimental research by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) into green replacements for hydrazine, hydrazine derivatives and nitrogen tetroxide, as propellants for in-space propulsion. The goal of the study was to identify propellants that are capable of outperforming the current propellants for space propulsion and are significantly less hazardous for humans and the environment. Two types of propellants were investigated, being monopropellants and bipropellants. The first section of the paper discusses the propellant selection. Nitromethane was found to be the most promising monopropellant. As bipropellant, a combination of hydrogen peroxide (HP) and ethanol was selected, where the ethanol is rendered hypergolic with hydrogen peroxide. The second part of the paper describes the experimental verification of these propellants by means of engine testing. Initiation of the decomposition of nitromethane was ...

All spacecraft prolusion systems are primarily rooted on Newton's third law of motion. For the past 40 years spaceflight has highly evolved, however little advances have been translated to the propulsion systems. The force and efficiency of a propulsion system can then be quantified by the terms thrust and specific impulse respectively. Thrust is simply a measure of the force exerted on the spacecraft which allows it to fly. Specific impulse is defined as the ratio of the thrust to the flow rate of weight (of the propellant) ejected. While different fuels have been used, and current rocket engines are more high-tech than their early predecessors, the basic concepts involved are basically the same. Current space propulsion systems rely on bell-chambered chemical propulsion, and it would still take almost as much time to send a person to the moon as it did in 1969. However with a currently redefined view of space exploration that is accommodating thought of potential asteroid mining, space tourism, and faster space probes, new demands have been placed on the propulsion systems to achieve higher thrust and specific impulse. The innovative solution lies in two major technologies that have rapidly developed in this era of technology; plasma and nuclear propulsion. This paper will give an insight in plasma propulsion in light of Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), in which an electric power source is used to ionize fuel into plasma. The paper will also give an focus on dynamics of plasma propulsion and the overall ramifications of plasma propulsion. In nuclear propulsion, there are three kinds of propulsion that have been conceptualized and tested up to today; The designs include nuclear pulse propulsion, thermal nuclear propulsion, and nuclear electric propulsion. Pulse propulsion involves the detonation of fission bombs behind a spacecraft to generate thrust. Thermal nuclear and electric nuclear both utilize fission reactor technology to generate energy. In thermal nuclear systems, the heat energy created by the reactor takes the place of the liquid hydrogen in chemical rockets. Nuclear electric designs use a fission reactor to generate electricity which is then expelled out the back of the spacecraft as ions in order to create propulsion. Each of this kind of engines has its perks, and challenges are to be substantially analyzed in this paper.