Топливо NOFBX

[Петр Зайцев]

http://www.firestar-engineering.com/NOFBX-MP.html

Вот, готовят замену гидразину. Что-то слишком заманчиво звучит, не обман ли?

[KBOB]

Nitrous oxide fuel blend - Смесь топлива (этан, пропан, этилен, ацетилен) и закиси азота (эмульгированная).

Ну типа круто!
http://www.aiaa.org/pdf/industry/presentations/Greg_Mungas.pdf

Примерные составы можно найти в патенте
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090133788


С закисью азота были взрывы с жертвами у "неопытных" ракетчиков.
Я думаю, что у "опытных" ракетчиков будет все тип-топ.

[октоген]

liquid/gas monopropellant blends with bipropellant performance

Посмеялся... В цитате аццкая хотелка.

Максимум сия технология прокатит для маневровых движков. Даже 100-тонник на этих смесях скорее взорвется.

[KBOB]

liquid/gas monopropellant blends with bipropellant performance

Посмеялся... В цитате аццкая хотелка.

Максимум сия технология прокатит для маневровых движков. Даже 100-тонник на этих смесях скорее взорвется.

Конечно для маневровых. Регенеративное охлаждение КС невозможно.

[SpaceR]

Ну, с камерой часть вопросов решить можно, автономный жидкостной контур или завесы, а вот насчет крыльчатки и зазоров в насосе тоже сомнения есь...

[Salo]

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/12/01/firestar-nofbx-thrusters/#more-32625

Firestar Selected for SBIR Award for NOFBX Propulsion System[/size]
Posted  by Doug Messier
on December 1, 2011, at 5:06 am

NASA has selected Firestar for an award under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The Mojave-based company will use the funding to improve its NOFBX propulsion system, a green engine which is set for testing aboard the International Space Station late next year.

NASA announced the selection on Tuesday. No amount was provided, but SBIR agreements are usually made over a six-month period for amounts of up to $125,000. The award is contingent successful negotiation of terms.

A full description of Firestar's proposal follows after the break.

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

We propose to develop a miniature, low RF noise ignition module for NOFBX propulsion systems. This ignition module is designed utilizing unique properties of the NOFBX propellant to enable a potential 2-3 order magnitude reduction in spark ignition energy, voltage, current, and power under a very special set of condition realized only in an NOFBX combustion chamber.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The NOFBX technology is currently being developed under a NASA BAA for flight on the International Space Station as a commercial flight experiment. The proposed activity would upgrade the ignition element of this flight system reducing mass, volume, and power of the device as well as conductive and radiative emission characteristics. Given the commercial interest in the NOFBX propulsion technology, we anticipate this block upgrade ignition module to be readily integrated into the NOFBX product line being developed by Innovation Space Propulsion Systems, the licensee of NOFBX technology.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The unique characteristics of N2O are similar to NOFBX. Low energy ignition systems for race car applications and low specific fuel emission vehicles employing N2O based fuels (another Firestar spin-off technology) may be derived from this development effort.[/size]

[Иван57]

Nitrous oxide fuel blend - Смесь топлива (этан, пропан, этилен, ацетилен) и закиси азота (эмульгированная).

Этилен и закись азота?
А у них полиэтилен случайно не образуется при длительном хранении?

А то этак у кого-то фторопласт так однажды образовался, если мне память не изменяет...

[Salo]

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_05_21_2012_p24-458579.xml

SpaceX To Deliver Green-Propulsion Testbed To ISS[/size]
By Frank Morring, Jr.
Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology

May 21 , 2012

Frank Morring, Jr./Washington

SpaceX will get an early opportunity to show what it can do to help scientists and engineers use the International Space Station by flying a powerful thruster testbed up in the unpressurized section of its Dragon cargo capsule.

That capability to fly large unpressurized cargo, and to bring samples back from space to a splashdown recovery off the California coast, will ease a couple of transportation bottlenecks as NASA shifts gears from building the space station to using it.

Last week the agency cleared Innovative Space Propulsion Systems (ISPS), a Houston-based partnership developing green rocket engines that use its patented non-toxic monopropellant, to fly a thruster testbed on the space station. The experimental package, which will ride in the unpressurized section of a Dragon set for launch next year, is exactly the type of work the station was built to accomplish.

"We want to do the hard things, if they're of benefit to society," says Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS program manager. "So a high specific impulse, relatively non-toxic engine that uses green storable propellant has a lot of interest to a lot of folks."

The "NOFBX" engine that ISPS has been developing for the past eight years has attracted "very broad interest from spacecraft and system integrators, as well as propulsion suppliers," says Max Vozoff, the company's vice president of business development. The work has generated more than 30 patents for the propellant—a proprietary blend of nitrous oxide and other ingredients—and for the engine technology developed to burn it, Vozoff says.

In ground tests, the engines have demonstrated they can be started with a spark igniter, are self-pressurizing and will fire if the propellant is in the liquid or gas states, he says. The company has patented four different propellant mixtures, which deliver specific impulses ranging up to 325 sec., comparable to standard hypergolic propellants.

But unlike hypergols, the monopropellant is non-toxic, Vozoff says, and can be loaded without protective gear or the need for technicians trained to work with hazardous materials. That saves money, as do a number of engine features—low-cost materials throughout, low operating temperatures inside the regeneratively cooled engine jackets, and etching-based production processes borrowed from the microchip industry.

Before joining ISPS, Vozoff spent five years at Space Exploration Technologies Inc.—the formal name for SpaceX. Among his duties was drafting the company's proposal for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) seed-money effort. SpaceX was set to close out its COTS milestones this week, launch conditions permitting, with the first docking of a commercial vehicle at the ISS set for May 22.

Aside from Dragon, the only other vehicle that can deliver unpressurized cargo to the ISS is Japan's H-II Transfer Vehicle. Tentatively set for the Dragon's third commercial flight, the 430-lb. NOFBX Green Propellant Demonstration will ride in the unpressurized bay so the station robotic arm can grapple it.

The demonstration package will be mounted on a Columbus External Payload Adapter, the European version of NASA's Flight Releasable Attach Mechanism (FRAM) pallet, and installed on the outside of the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory module. The 46 X 34 X 26-in. testbed will include 8 liters of the non-toxic monopropellant, a 100-lb.-thrust engine, and associated valves, tanks and other hardware.

During a year-long test period, the engine will go through a series of hot-fire tests, including steady-state burns, pulses, deep throttling, and restart after long-term storage. Because of the risk associated with firing a rocket attached to the station, the clearance process was rigorous.

"When a new rocket engine, this NOFBX rocket test, wants to go on station, that's a big deal," says Suffredini. "It fits on a FRAM interface, but ultimately it wants to fire its rocket at different levels, at different times, and the whole station is affected by that."

Just as NASA took pains to ensure the rocket tests will be safe, the agency's station program office undertook elaborate software checks before certifying that the Dragon will be able to berth at the station safely (AW&ST Feb. 13, p. 27).

The caution exercised in granting clearance to berth does not reflect the level of anticipation among agency scientists awaiting the capability the Dragon can offer. In addition to the external-cargo capability ISPS will use, which can be applied to telescopes and other exposed sensors, the company has procedures to accommodate last-minute stowage in both directions.

"SpaceX becomes really key for our biotechnology development on the NASA lab side, as well as [NASA-funded] life sciences and human research," says Julie Robinson, the agency's ISS chief scientist. "You have to be able to put those samples in right before you launch, not load them too early . . . and you sometimes need to take them off the space station right before you undock and get them home quickly. SpaceX is going to have the best capability for both those launch and return issues." [/size]