GREEN PROPELLANT PROPULSION CONCEPTS FOR SPACE TRANSPORTATIONAND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT NEEDS

摘要

A study has been performed under contract fromrnESA/ESTEC identifying the development needs inrnEurope in the field of new green propellant utilization.rnCriteria for green propellants are defined and discussed.rnPromising propellants are identified together with theirrnrating w.r.t. those criteria, in particular establishing arnmeasure of the toxicity. Two application fields arernconsidered: (1) high thrust, which aims at first andrnsecond stages of launchers; and (2) low thrust, whichrnconsiders orbital propulsion of upper stages and futurernspace vehicles like space planes. Propulsion conceptsrnare shown with their technological solutions. Therndevelopment needs w.r.t. the existing technology statusrnin Europe are identified and prioritised, andrncorresponding laboratory experiments are given.