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Rocket stages that fly through the atmosphere usually use lower performing, high molecular mass, high-density propellants due to the smaller and lighter tankage required. Upper stages, which mostly or only operate in the vacuum of space, tend to use the high energy, high performance, low density liquid hydrogen fuel.
High Performance Green Propulsion (HPGP) is a rocket monopropellant developed as a safer alternative to hydrazine. [1] HPGP is based on ammonium dinitramide mixed with ammonia and methanol. It can achieve a specific impulse of up to 255 seconds. The Prisma mission served as a demonstrator mission for HPGP. [2]
Ammonium perchlorate composite propellant (APCP) is a solid rocket propellant. It differs from many traditional solid rocket propellants such as black powder or zinc-sulfur, not only in chemical composition and overall performance but also by being cast into shape, as opposed to powder pressing as with black powder. This provides manufacturing ...
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky proposed the use of liquid propellants in 1903, in his article Exploration of Outer Space by Means of Rocket Devices. [3] [4] On March 16, 1926, Robert H. Goddard used liquid oxygen (LOX) and gasoline as propellants for his first partially successful liquid-propellant rocket launch. Both propellants are readily available ...
Spacecraft performance can be quantified in amount of change in momentum per unit of propellant consumed, also called specific impulse. This is a measure of the amount of impulse that can be obtained from a fixed amount of reaction mass. The higher the specific impulse, the better the efficiency.
These cryogenic temperatures vary depending on the propellant, with liquid oxygen existing below −183 °C (−297.4 °F; 90.1 K) and liquid hydrogen below −253 °C (−423.4 °F; 20.1 K). Since one or more of the propellants is in the liquid phase, all cryogenic rocket engines are by definition liquid-propellant rocket engines. [2]
A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder . The inception of gunpowder rockets in warfare can be credited to the ancient Chinese, and in the 13th century, the Mongols played a pivotal role in ...
A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket uses a rocket engine burning liquid propellants. (Alternate approaches use gaseous or solid propellants.) Liquids are desirable propellants because they have reasonably high density and their combustion products have high specific impulse (I sp). This allows the volume of the propellant tanks to be ...