Rocket Propulsion Engineering Company (RP) will generate a preliminary engineering design for a storable liquid-propellant rocket engine suitable for use as an upper stage engine for Navy Standard Missile or other suborbital or orbital applications. Propellants used will be hydrogen-peroxide and NavFuel, a fuel developed over 6 years by the Naval Air Warfare Center China Lake (NAWC). The engine will employ a regeneratively-cooled chamber, hypergolic (self-igniting) propellants, and direct injection of liquid hydrogen-peroxide, thus eliminating both the engine ignition system and catalyst bed. RP will also identify key safety issues related to storage and utilization of hydrogen-peroxide based propellants in missile systems. The engine design will be completed to a level of sufficient detail to permit construction of a working prototype engine during Phase 2, when it will be used in a hot-fire engine test program at RP facilities. Anticipated Benefits/Commercial Applications: Storable liquid propellant rocket engines have advantages over solid motors used in interceptor and target missile systems, launch vehicles, and spacecraft. Among these are potentially higher performance, simple and unlimited restart capability, the potential for throttling, storage/shipping in the inert condition, and lower cost. However, available liquid rocket engines have typically utilized very hazardous propellants such as the extremely toxic MMH/NTO combination. Peroxide/hydrocarbon liquid engines offer a low-toxicity alternative to MMH/NTO, but peroxide engines of traditional design have offered problems as well. Until now, conventional peroxide engines have been a poor alternative to more toxic systems since they require problematic and sensitive catalyst beds which limit performance, impose long engine startup latencies, and prevent the use of stabilized peroxide (which contributes to safe long-term peroxide storage). The hydrogen-peroxide/NavFuel RP rocket engine solves these problems. This room-temperature storable propellant combination has very low toxicity and will eliminate the use of both the engine catalyst bed and ignition system. The resulting design simplification permits the use of high-concentration, high-performance peroxide stabilized for long-term storage, and provides for a simple, reliable, fast-starting engine.
Keywords: peroxide, rocket, missile, hypergolic, liquid, engine, interceptor, non-toxic
