Author Topic: New "Green" Monopropellants as potential first stage propellants  (Read 42173 times)

Offline Former SSC employee

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Initial Evaluation of ADN as Oxidizer in Solid Propellants for Large Space Launcher Boosters. Final Report.

http://www.comspacewatch.com/news/viewsr.rss.html?pid=30020

http://www.foi.se/rapport?rNo=FOI-R--2988--SE

http://books.google.se/books/about/Initial_Evaluation_of_ADN_as_Oxidizer_in.html?id=feSEYgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Abstract: The aim of this work is to perform an initial evaluation of ammonium dinitramide, ADN, as substitute for ammonium perchlorate, AP, in solid rocket propellants for large space launch boosters.

This final report includes performance evaluation, compatibility and curing assessments, propellants formulation and determination of ballistic properties.

The results show that the theoretical specific impulse increases from 262 s to 270 s by replacing AP with the same volume ADN in a typical HTPB/Al-based formulation.

ADN is found to be chemically compatible with HTPB. However, ADN seems to accelerate the oxidative degradation of HTPB and thus a suitable antioxidant is required.

ADN/HTPB/Al-based propellants have been formulated and cured successfully using isocyanates. The formulations were found to be thermally stable.

Ballistic properties were determined using a strand burner.

ADN/Al/HTPB propellant with a solid loading of 80 % had a burn rate of 12.8 mm/s at 6 MPa and a pressure exponent of 0.9. The pressure exponent is high. However, no burn rate modifiers or ballistic additives were used.

This encourages continued evaluation. The report also includes information on how to handle ADN with respect to transportation, toxicity and hazard properties.

This work was performed on NASA contract NNC09CA11C.



See alse the "old" report:

Elimination of Toxic Materials and Solvents from Solid Propellant Components
Final Report
January 2001
Sponsored by: Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program

http://www.serdp.org/content/download/6143/82970/file/PP-1058-FR-01.pdf

Offline HappyMartian

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Green Satellite Propulsion Nears Industry Breakthrough   By Caleb Henry   December 23, 2013
At: http://www.satellitetoday.com/technology/2013/12/23/green-satellite-propulsion-nears-industry-breakthrough/


"[Via Satellite 12-23-13] After decades of uncontested use, hydrazine is being challenged by a new upcoming fuel in the spacecraft propulsion market. Together with Aerojet Rocketdyne, NASA and the U.S. Air Force, Ball Aerospace’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) is using 15 years of work to create a competitive satellite propellant called Hydroxyl Ammonium Nitrate (HAN) fuel/oxidizer blend, or AF-M315E."

And, "'When your look at a mature bus that has a hydrazine system, the odds are the rebuild of the next system wouldn’t employ this, but some of our studies show that when you employ AF-M315E, you can step down a launch vehicle for some LEO type missions,' said McLean. 'There’s $20-30 million off your launch price tag right there.'"


Nifty! Some large mono-propellant rocket engines might be useful, too! 
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Offline Archibald

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N2O is third best oxidiser behind LOX and H2O2, specific impulse with kerosene is around 310 seconds.
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Offline HappyMartian

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N2O is third best oxidiser behind LOX and H2O2, specific impulse with kerosene is around 310 seconds.


There are many possibilities for stable and efficient additives to H2O2 that would make it into a useful mono-propellant for rocket engines. Some of the additives are noted here:

THERMODYNAMIC DESIGN OF AN ALTERNATIVE MONOPROPELLANT FOR EMERGENCY POWER UNITS  By Shin Matsumura, John J. Rusek Department of Aeronautics and Astronautic  Purdue University   2002

"A monopropellant to replace hydrazine in emergency power units used in military aircraft has been formulated from a thermodynamic design approach. The combustion products from a combined mixture of hydrogen peroxide and a miscible organic fuel have shown that the energy available far exceeds that of pure hydrogen peroxide or of hydrazine. The propellant mixture was analyzed and formulated using a thermochemistry code and the simplex downhill method for the optimization of a design objective function. The results have shown that even with the most common fuels such as methanol, acetaldehyde, acetonitrile, acetone, and methyl ethyl ketone, a decrease of about a factor of two in the propellant volume, or an increase of about a factor two in the total operation time is possible."



Note also:

"Hydrazine is also used as a low-power monopropellant for the maneuvering thrusters of spacecraft, and the Space Shuttle's auxiliary power units (APUs). In addition, monopropellant hydrazine-fueled rocket engines are often used in terminal descent of spacecraft. Such engines were used on the Viking program landers in the 1970s as well as the Phoenix lander and Curiosity rover which landed on Mars in May 2008 and August 2012, respectively."

From: Hydrazine    Wikipedia
At: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrazine


It would seem that H2O2 and an additive, such as noted in "hydrogen peroxide and a miscible organic fuel", has the stability and energy density needed to be carefully considered in the search for various new 'green' mono-propellants for potential new reusable first stages or LRBs".

Perhaps the upcoming SLS booster competition will include at least one green mono-propellant LRB design.


Edited.
« Last Edit: 01/11/2014 03:27 pm by HappyMartian »
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Offline savuporo

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Just remembered we had this thread
http://spacenews.com/aerojet-rocketdyne-wraps-green-propulsion-system/

Quote
The propulsion system consists of a propellant tank and five thrusters that each produce 0.22 pounds of force. It uses AF-M315E, a nontoxic fuel developed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory that provides higher performance than conventional propellants like hydrazine that are also hazardous to handle.

“This propulsion system delivery marks the success of more than 10 years of research and development,” Julie Van Kleeck, vice president of advanced space and launch programs at Aerojet Rocketdyne, said in a prepared statement. “Following extensive testing, we ended up with a propulsion design using a new, green monopropellant, which will fly into orbit in 2016.”

Second, older thread specifically on GPM early announcement:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31821.0
« Last Edit: 08/23/2015 04:29 pm by savuporo »
Orion - the first and only manned not-too-deep-space craft

Offline savuporo

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http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2015/new-green-propellants-complete-milestones.html

Quote
NASA recently completed several hot-fire tests with thrusters powered by two different green propellants with the potential to replace hydrazine. Both are ionic liquid-based blends that are less toxic and less flammable than hydrazine, which makes them easier and less costly to store, to handle and to fuel up spacecraft before launch. Additionally, the new propellants offer higher performance, delivering more thrust for a given quantity of propellant than hydrazine.

..For this project, the GPIM team tested two different sized thrusters (1 and 22 Newton) with AF-M315E. Five of the 1-Newton thrusters will fly on GPIM...

..A team at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, recently completed tests with both 5 Newton and 22 Newton thruster built by ECAPS and powered by LMP-103S. Engineers fired the 22 Newton thruster 35 times under varying conditions and monitored results with infrared cameras...

Both alternatives are making progress, GPIM is slated to fly next year, with ECAPS of course already with flight heritage.

Orion - the first and only manned not-too-deep-space craft

Offline savuporo

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http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=0&article=3670&context=smallsat&type=additional


Quote
SkySat-3 was the first commercial S/C to fly a HPGP system
ECAPS’ next generation 1N ‘GP’ thruster will be incorporated into future SkySat platforms
Progress on bringing both smaller and larger HPGP thrusters to market continues
Orion - the first and only manned not-too-deep-space craft

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