ADVANCES IN GREEN CRYOGENIC SOLID PROPELLANT PROPULSION

摘要

The combustion of hydrocarbons with hydrogenrnperoxide or oxygen based oxidizers is known as thernbest possible realization of green bipropellants inrnthe realm of conventional propellants. By the naturernof these constituents, corresponding rocket motorsrnare either hybrids or bi-liquids. This isrnadvantageous in all applications requiring thernmerits of these categories, such as variations of thernthrust - time profile (throttle-ability up to shut downrnand restart), or variable propellant loading andrnmixture ratio variation in liquid bipropellants.rnHowever, when it comes to thriving on thernsimplicity and reliability of solid propellantrntechnology, it takes cryogenic solid propulsionrn(CSP) as enabling technology to make thesernnormally liquid propellants available for many solidrnpropellant applications, in particular for high thrustrnEarth-to-orbit boosting. It is obvious that properrnCSP propellant selection yields solids that are asrn"green" as any chemical propellant combination canrnbe. The paper describes recent advances in CSPrntechnology related investigations sponsored by thernGerman Aerospace Centre DLR and the EuropeanrnSpace Agency ESA at AI/ICT.