Experiment Design on Material Feasibility for Use as Hybrid Rocket Fuel in Vacuum Applications

Sammanfattning

In recent years, there has been a surge in interest from the space industry to develop hybrid rockets. With a few start-up companies developing launchers using this technology. In theory, there are a few advantages that this kind of rocket motor has over both liquid and solid propellants, the most commonly quoted being the combination of the simplicity and ease of operation of a solid propellant rocket with the controllability of a liquid propellant rocket. If orbital applications using Hybrid Rockets are to become commonplace, extensive testing would be required that the selected fuel will have the desired performance to fulfil the mission. This includes the characterisation of said materials throughout different stages of the rocket launch, satellite life, etc. This work aims to create an experiment design in order to verify the feasibility of certain materials to be used as fuel in a hybrid rocket motor when exposed to vacuum. This setup can be used to provide insight into the performance and adequacy of a material for propulsion applications in upper stages of rockets and satellites.