Demonstration of 500 N scale bipropellant thruster using non-toxic hypergolic fuel and hydrogen peroxide

While shedding light on green space propulsion, the development of non-toxic hypergolic bipropellants has provided alternatives to the conventional, highly toxic propellants. Non-toxic energetic hydrocarbon fuels promoted by sodium borohydride were produced, and their hypergolicity with rocket grade hydrogen peroxide was confirmed. Ignition delays ranged from 4 ms to 17 ms, depending on the oxidizer concentration. A 500 N scale thruster utilizing a non-toxic hypergolic bipropellant combination was also developed. With an oxidizer-to-fuel ratio of 5.48, the injector was designed with pentad unlike-impinging jets, one fuel jet orifice and four oxidizer jet orifices for enhancing the mix and atomization of the hypergolic propellants. The operation test was performed, and burning time was established to be 3.5 s. For the demonstrator, the rising time was approximately 158 ms, and the pressure oscillation inside the combustion chamber was approximately 7.69%. These results indicate the feasibility of this novel concept engine for future space missions. (C) 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.