NMP-001 - A Novel Green Monopropellant

Kurzfassung

NMP-001 is a nitromethane-based green hydrazine alternative. Being cost-effective, this propellant addresses a crucial challenge other hydrazinereplacement propulsion technologies face. This work presents the development process of this propellant. The first step was to formulate requirements for a competitive hydrazine replacement. Following that, a multistage screening was conducted to identify suitable phlegmatizers and combustion catalysts, resulting in the development of two propellant formulations. A liquid strand burner study was then conducted to characterize the combustion behavior in a controlled environment and to refine the candidate formulations. Eventually, combustion in a rocket combustion chamber was demonstrated with NMP-001. The most important outcome of this research is that the developed propellant delivers performance comparable to LMP-103S, a well-established yet very costly propellant, in both steady-state and pulse-mode operations, and at combustion pressures below 20 bar, a novelty in nitromethane-based propulsion.