Propellants

Electric Solid Propellants Electric Solid Propellants (ESPs) are a family of high performance plastisol solid propellants that have the unique property of being ignited and throttled by the application of electric current.

Double-base (DB) propellants DB propellants are composed of two monopropellant fuel components where one typically acts as a high-energy (yet unstable) monopropellant and the other acts as a lower-energy stabilizing (and gelling) monopropellant.

During World War II double based propellants were very widely used and there was some use of triple based propellants by artillery.

ETC increases the performance of conventional solid propellants, reduces the effect of temperature on propellant expansion and allows for more advanced, higher density propellants to be used.

High-energy composite (HEC) propellants Typical HEC propellants start with a standard composite propellant mixture (such as APCP) and add a high-energy explosive to the mix.

Triple based propellants were used in post-war ammunition designs and remain in production for UK weapons; most double based propellants left service as World War II stocks were expended after the war.

Without the bright flame and dense smoke trail produced by the burning of aluminized propellants, these smokeless propellants all but eliminate the risk of giving away the positions from which the missiles are fired.

In 2019, NASA attempted to demonstrate the transfer of cryogenic propellants at the International Space Station, but the chilling system failed and the liquid methane “boiled off”—turned to gas and was vented into space.

It’s not the only technology Kim wishes to develop–also on the cards are hypersonic missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) fueled with solid propellants and and nuclear-powered submarines.

The Hwasong-15 is one of the North’s three ICBMs, which all use liquid propellants that require pre-launch injections.

The launch must take place from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, which is the only SpaceX pad at Cape Canaveral equipped to fuel the lander with liquid oxygen and methane propellants shortly before launch.

In recent years, North Korea has been pushing to develop more weapons with built-in solid propellants, which make launches harder to detect than liquid-propellant missiles that must be fuelled before liftoffs and cannot last long.

The stage was de-orbited from 650 km to 350 km, which facilitated its early re-entry, and was passivated to remove residual propellants to minimize any accidental break-up risks.

The Vulcan Centaur’s first stage is equipped with two BE-4 engines, each producing 550,000 pounds of thrust, using a combination of liquified natural gas and liquid oxygen as propellants.

Ozone-depleting substances, or ODS, were developed in the 1920s and ’30s and became popularly used as refrigerants, solvents and propellants.

The delivery of Blue Origin’s BE-4 was delayed over an issue with the engine’s complex single-shaft turbopump, the part of a rocket engine that injects flammable propellants during ignition with forces of 80,000 horsepower.

Elon Musk's rocket firm has also conducted ground systems testing and loaded it with propellants.

Lab results revealed the potion is largely made up of potassium nitrate and alunite which are not poisonous but are nevertheless used in pesticides, fertilisers and rocket propellants.

Musk later tweeted that the chamber pressure in the Raptor engine was too high because the methane and liquid oxygen propellants flowing into it were colder than expected.

Water ice is frequently mentioned as a key resource — not only because it can be melted down to slake a settler’s thirst, but also because it can be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket propellants.