[ERPS] some HTP news from AIAA

[Andrew Case]

The most recent issue of Aerospace America just arrived, and it has some
interesting stuff on HTP. The issue surveys Aerospace developments over the
last year. In the section on liquid propulsion there is mention of success by
Aerojet in developing and validating a trifluid injector using decomposed HTP,
liquid HTP, and jet fuel. The intended application is closed-cycle engines in
which an HTP gas generator drives the turbopumps. The decomposed peroxide
from the turbopump drive is injected into the main chamber, where it ignites the
fuel and the remainder of the HTP. Aerojet has constructed a test facility in
Sacramento for HTP rockets and is expanding its capabilities to perform altitude
testing on engines up to 100,000 lbf thrust.

The other HTP development mentioned is by Rocketdyne, of an advanced catalyst
for 98% HTP. They did over 50,000 seconds of hot fire tests, consuming 25,000lb of
HTP in the process. One individual cat bed accumulated 10,285 seconds(!) of firing,
with good performance throughout. They also did testing of a 98% HTP/kero torch
ignitor.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much all they have in terms of concrete details, apart
from the fact that the Rocketdyne work was done under NASA Cooperative
Agreement NCC8-193. I don't know if there is any way to get more technical
information, or if these cooperative agreements allow the company to keep
everything proprietary. A little digging on the web turned up this web site:
<http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/rdyne/whatsnew/ 042502_h2o2.html> which has a little more information, and some pictures. There's a legal document
about the cooperative agreement here: <www.boeing.com/companyoffices/doingbiz/ canoga/library/rf/rf063.pdf>, but it refers to documents I don't have access to, and
seems to imply that Rocketdyne has intellectual property rights to the things
developed under the agreement.

Anyway, it looks like more people are taking HTP seriously, and perhaps the
market for rocket grade HTP will grow a little, perhaps bringing the price down.
Not necessarily helpful to ERPS directly, but perhaps it will help out Armadillo a
little.

......Andrew

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