Although hybrids have been in development over the last 50 years, they have not made it into mainstream commercial applications because they did not produce as much thrust as liquid and solid systems. “Hybrid rockets tend to be sort of anaemic in their ability to produce thrust,” Cantwell said. This is because the fuel burns too slowly,...
The major weakness of the solid-fuel rocket is the fact that, once lit, it burns to completion, and the only thing that can be done is to divert the thrust when it is no longer needed. The lack of burn control for solid-fuel rockets has led to the development of “hybrid” rockets that use a solid-fuel...
Paraffin was previously thought to be weak, easily broken and unsuitable for use as rocket fuel. But Cantwell’s team found that it is quite strong — at least twice as strong as conventional solid propellants. The paraffin they use as rocket fuel is the same material used as hurricane candles and sculptor’s wax. “Paraffin” is a...
The success of Spaceship One could increase general interest in hybrid engines, especially for eventual use in space where the hydrazine is currently the prime propellant. Hydrazine is highly toxic, explosive, and the logistics of loading a spacecraft with the fuel are difficult. Therefore, hybrid fuels could be a viable alternative. SpaceDev has already begun an in-space effort...
To prepare Spaceship One for flight, rubber fuel is poured into a fuel casing and allowed to harden in a pie-like mold before being installed into the spacecraft’s aft fuselage. After a test flight, ground crews need only replace the fuel casing and attached nozzle, then top off the nitrous oxide tank to ready the craft for the...
Spaceship One’s engine, a composite structure designed by Scaled, consists primarily of two parts: a tank of nitrous oxide and a cylinder with the HTPB fuel. Both SpaceDev and Miami, Florida based Environmental Aeroscience Corporation (eAc) contributed components of the engine. There has to be a way to shut off the motor … The propellant comes together...
Rocket propellants come in two parts, fuel and oxidizer, which work together to keep an engine burning. Spaceship One burns a material called hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), a common ingredient in tyre rubber, as fuel with nitrous oxide serving as the oxidizer. According to press statements by Scaled, the combination was chosen for Spaceship One after a lengthy study...