Green Propellants

Current storable non-cryogenic propellants such as hydrazine, MMH (monomethyl hydrazine), NTO (nitrogen tetroxide), MON (mixed oxieds of nitorgen) have the severe drawback of being highly toxic and/or carcinogenic and consequently require extensive safety procedures. This applies especially to testing-facilities but also to normal ground handling in the preparation for a spacecraft launch.

Green propellants represent an alternative to these propellants that is non toxic, storable and safe. This would dramatically reduce costs of ground handling and would alleviate environmental concerns connected with traditional propellants.  Hybrid rocket engines have the potential to provide high performance, restart-ability and pulsing while using only benign propellants that are storable over long periods of time and hence fulfil all criteria of green propellants.

Through the participation in new development projects such as the EU PulCheR project in the 2011 FP7 call, we aim to increase our knowledge of green propellants and find new technological options in using hybrid engines for in-space propulsion in combination with green propellants.