A Light Unsaturated Hydrocarbon and Hydrogen Peroxide as Future Green Propellants for Bipropellant Thrusters

In the framework of the PulCheR project, an experimental test campaign on a 40 N bipropellant thruster prototype has been carried out with the aim of assessing the attainable propulsive performance in steady state conditions of 98% concentration hydrogen peroxide and propyne. The experimental specific impulse measured at sea level with the matched conical nozzle of the prototype has been 213 s that corresponds to an extrapolated vacuum specific impulse for a high expansion area ratio bell-contoured nozzle higher than 320 s. The light unsaturated hydrocarbon has been effectively ignited by the oxygen-rich hot gases produced by the catalytic decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide.