{"id":193992,"date":"2008-11-02T06:07:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-02T11:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2008\/11\/02\/neat-tech-gel-fueled-rocket-motor\/"},"modified":"2008-11-02T06:07:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-02T11:07:00","slug":"neat-tech-gel-fueled-rocket-motor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2008\/11\/02\/neat-tech-gel-fueled-rocket-motor\/","title":{"rendered":"Neat Tech: Gel Fueled Rocket Motor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: pointer\" src=\"http:\/\/img88.imageshack.us\/img88\/4633\/aw102020081519ljs6.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/>The Germans have developed a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aviationnow.com\/publication\/awst\/loggedin\/AvnowStoryDisplay.do?fromChannel=awst&amp;pubKey=awst&amp;issueDate=2008-10-20&amp;story=xml\/awst_xml\/2008\/10\/20\/AW_10_20_2008_p62-85615.xml&amp;headline=Germany+to+Test-Fly+New+Motor+Technology\">gel-fuel rocket motor, and are getting ready to flight test<\/a> (<em>paid subscription required<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve not worked with the technology, but I did work with <span>someone<\/span> who did work with liquid propellant artillery, and I <span>imagine<\/span> that the tech is rather similar.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, it allows for a <span>monopropellant<\/span> rocket, much like solid fuel rockets, with the ability to easily throttle the motor by varying the flow of the propellant into the combustion chamber.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, since it&#8217;s the <span>consistency<\/span> of toothpaste, or at least it was in the LP gun, it means that if the tank is punctured, you do not get leakage. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color:#000099;\">The <span>Bayern<\/span>&#8211;<span>Chemie<\/span> demonstrator uses a single gas generator designed to support a range of missions. It is used to drive a piston that forces the gelled propellant and, in a bi-propellant mode, oxidizer, into the combustion chamber. The gel passes through a valve to regulate its flow, and then through injectors that effectively turn it into a liquid as it enters the combustion chamber to optimize the burn. The motor will use a pyrotechnic ignition system.<\/p>\n<p>An entirely non-explosive configuration has also been conceived. It would replace the solid propellant gas generator with an air pressure reservoir and the ignition would be triggered through a gas burner.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It&#8217;s more complex and bulkier than solid fuel motors, but should have interesting applications where a complex thrust profile is required.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Germans have developed a gel-fuel rocket motor, and are getting ready to flight test (paid subscription required). I&#8217;ve not worked with the technology, but I did work with someone who did work with liquid propellant artillery, and I imagine that the tech is rather similar. Basically, it allows for a monopropellant rocket, much like &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1006,1180,1025],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military","category-missiles","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193992"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193992\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}