4 ms·
The way these work is pretty interesting. Rather than combusting a fuel and an oxidizer as in a typical rocket, these use hydrogen peroxide that is exposed to a
by jeffreyrogers 6y ago
The way these work is pretty interesting. Rather than combusting a fuel and an oxidizer as in a typical rocket, these use hydrogen peroxide that is exposed to a platinum catalyst, which causes the rapid decomposition of h202 into h20 and 02, which is then expelled through the rocket nozzle, generating thrust. This greatly simplifies the design of the rocket engine.
- arethuza 6y agoH202 rockets have been around for a long time. Indeed, the UK's only self launched satellite was on a launcher using the stuff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-test_peroxide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-test_peroxide
- liability 6y agoThe German V2 rockets also used hydrogen peroxide and a catalyst (sodium or possibly potassium permanganate) to drive their turbopumps (which pumped LOx and alcohol into the engine.) Here's a pretty good 2.5 hour long documentary about the V2 turbopumps specifically: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EgiMu8A3pi0 https://youtube.com/watch?v=EgiMu8A3pi0 (The H2O2/catalyst system is discussed/demonstrated around the 45 minute mark.)
- avmich 6y agoRussian Soyuz rocket family still uses hydrogen peroxide for driving pumps on engines of 1st and 2nd stages - RD-107 and RD-108. The only - notable - exception is Soyuz 2-1v, which has no boosters and the 1st stage engine is famous NK-33. That's a whole different story.
- mannykannot 6y agoThe claim in this article is that the motors use 70% hydrogen peroxide with alcohol (it does not say which one), without a catalyst. I have not found any explanation of the alcohol's purpose, or whether it is oxidzed in the process.
- thescriptkiddie 6y agoIt could be a "mixed monopropellant". The H2O2 decomposes to H2O + O2, presumably at high enough temperature to react the O2 with the alcohol (probably ethanol or methanol). As an added benefit your exhaust gas is no longer oxygen-rich, which can cause problems.
- skykooler 6y agoIt's confusing, because at the top they say "This rockets don't use a catalyst" but further down the page they say "all this thanks to our proprietary formula of the penta metallic catalyst pack invented by Juan Manuel Lozano Gallegos from TAM." (Side note: I saw that name and wondered where I had seen it before; turns out he's the guy Popular Science wrote about fifteen years ago for building his own peroxide-powered jetpack.)
- Gravityloss 6y agoMaybe they meant the catalyst is not a liquid catalyst that is consumed.
- mrtnmcc 6y agoDoes this mean there is only one fuel line feeding up to the prop, not two that would get twisted by rotation?
- jeffreyrogers 6y agoMy guess is they have a fuel line running to the rotor head, and then some sort of seal which allows for rotation and for feeding the fuel into the rotors.