Utah State University has recently developed a promising High-Performance "Green" Hybrid Propulsion (HPGHP) technology derived from the novel electrical breakdown property of certain 3-D printed thermoplastics. This property has been developed into a power-efficient system that can be cold-started and restarted with a high degree of reliability. In its most mature form HPGHP uses gaseous oxygen (GOX) as the oxidizer with 3-D printed acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) as the fuel. Although GOX is a mass efficient oxidizer, unless stored at very high pressures, GOX is volumetrically inefficient. Nytrox, a two-phase blend of GOX and Nitrous Oxide, has been demonstrated as an effective, higher density replacement. The clearest advantage of using Nytrox is a significant increase in the volumetric efficiency of the propellants. Also, because Nytrox has the ability to safely self-pressurize, there is no need for an additional oxidizer pressurization system. This characteristic significantly decreases the overall system complexity. The primary issue associated with using Nytrox as a "drop-in" oxidizer replacement for GOX is an observed increase in the cold-start ignition latency. This paper quantifies this ignition latency, identifies potential sources, and analyzes the expected behaviors for these latency sources. Solutions for reducing or eliminating the Nytrox-caused ignition latency are presented.
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