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Amateur rocketry, sometimes known as experimental rocketry or amateur experimental rocketry, is a hobby in which participants experiment with fuels and make their own rocket motors, launching a wide variety of types and sizes of rockets.
About 170 different propellants made of liquid fuel have been tested, excluding minor changes to a specific propellant such as propellant additives, corrosion inhibitors, or stabilizers. In the U.S. alone at least 25 different propellant combinations have been flown. [2] Many factors go into choosing a propellant for a liquid-propellant rocket ...
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 ...
Several propellants were tried in various programs: One of the later (1991) successful gun fuels was a saturated solution of ammonium perchlorate in ammonia.This has a vapor pressure of one atmosphere at 20 °C (68 °F), and generally forms a convenient liquid that is stable and possible to handle.
On the other hand, if the propellants are cooled sufficiently, they exist in the liquid phase at higher density and lower pressure, simplifying tankage. 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).
Liquid propellants provide greater propulsive thrust and power, but require more complex technology and extra weight. Solid fuel is dense and burns quite quickly, generating thrust over a short time.
Solid fuel rockets have lower specific impulse, a measure of propellant efficiency, than liquid fuel rockets. As a result, the overall performance of solid upper stages is less than liquid stages even though the solid mass ratios are usually in the .91 to .93 range, as good as or better than most liquid propellant upper stages.
A liquid rocket booster (LRB) uses liquid fuel and oxidizer to give a liquid-propellant or hybrid rocket an extra boost at take-off, and/or increase the total payload ...