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New Hydrogen Peroxide Engine Tested
Chandler - July 1, 1999 - A new, low-cost rocket engine fueled by a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and JP-8 - a grade of kerosene commonly used as jet fuel - was successfully tested last month at NASA�s Stennis Space Center, Miss. The full-scale engine, hot-fire test lasted 140 seconds. Upon completion of development testing, the upper-stage rocket engine could be used as a propulsion system for reusable launch vehicles, crew transport vehicles and space planes. Orbital Sciences Corporation�s Launch Systems Group of Chandler, Ariz., is developing the engine as part of the Upper Stage Flight Experiment, a joint program between NASA�s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. Additional ground testing is planned at Stennis prior to flight demonstration in late 2001. The test flight will launch from the new commercial spaceport on Kodiak Island, Alaska. The engine uses a non-toxic, environmentally clean hydrogen peroxide oxidizer and JP-8 kerosene-based fuel to generate 10,000 pounds of thrust. The relatively simple design makes it cheaper than similar rocket engines. Instead of using a complex turbopump to increase the pressure and flow rate of fluids entering the engine, propellant tanks are pressurized. Using peroxide as an oxidizer also saves money. Since peroxide can be handled at "room temperature," engine materials don�t have to withstand the range of temperature extremes required with an oxidizer such as liquid oxygen, which is stored at minus 298 degrees Fahrenheit before it is used in the Space Shuttle Main Engines. In other news NASA�s Marshall Space Flight Center and Lockheed Martin Michoud Space Systems have signed a Space Act Agreement to demonstrate a hybrid propulsion sounding rocket system. Hybrid propulsion sounding rockets will be used for a variety of science missions, including weather forecasting experiments. A hybrid propulsion system consists of an inert solid fuel and a separate oxidizer source. Hybrid sounding rockets are safe, inexpensive and environmentally benign. Comprehensive ground testing of the motor and propulsion system will be conducted at NASA�s Stennis Space Center, Miss. A flight demonstration of the hybrid propulsion sounding rocket system is planned at NASA�s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., in early 2000. The 50,000-pound-thrust rocket will be capable of lifting a 1,200-pound payload higher than 175 miles. NASA currently launches more than a dozen different sounding rockets.
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Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India. |
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