Experiment and Speculations on Nontoxic Hypergolic Propulsion with Hydrogen Peroxide

Abstract

This Paper suggests two speculations on the nontoxic hypergolic propulsion using hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizer based on the experimental data. Drop tests were repeatedly performed with the nontoxic hypergolic combination, stock 3 fuel, and hydrogen peroxide, to measure the ignition delay. The first speculation was to review the content of the stabilizers in hydrogen peroxide. The speculation implies technical benefits when the restriction on the content of the stabilizers was relaxed with the nontoxic hypergolic technique. The second speculation was to determine the minimum content of the ignition source for the nontoxic hypergolic fuel. The ignition delay was dramatically changed depending on the content of the ignition source. When the content of the ignition source was relatively low, the success rate of the hypergolic initiation could be strongly associated with the encounter probability between the oxidizer and the substances of the ignition source dissolved in the fuel. In the opposite situation, the physical properties of the propellants became the key factors to determine the ignition delay.