Hydrogen Pressurization of LOX: High Risk/High Reward (Preprint)
Abstract
Hydrogen safety has been an oxymoron in many circles since the catastrophic loss of the Hindenburg on May 6, 1937 due to a sudden fire consuming the huge 800 foot long, 100 foot diameter dirigible filled with hydrogen gas. Airship commercial service, enabled by relatively low-cost hydrogen, died along with the longest vehicle ever to fly, even though thousands of passengers had been transported without incident prior to that time. Since 1937 hydrogen has had a bad reputation, though less prominent applications such as launch vehicles, fuel cells and batteries have been safe and successful. But the passing of three generations and the maturation of certain technologies has advanced things sufficiently so that a hydrogen fuel transportation infrastructure and other uses can be discussed constructively. One beneficial application of hydrogen is pressurization of launch vehicle propellants, in other words forcing the liquid propellants out of their storage tanks and into the combustion chamber, overcoming combustion back-pressure and other resistance along the way. Hydrogen is the most mass-efficient way to do this. However, helium is more often used as the safer and more reliable solution, though it weighs twice as much. While the use of helium is a sensible approach for high-cost, high-reliability systems, hydrogen is attractive for systems that do not require high reliability. An example is Aquarius, a new low-cost, reduced-reliability launch vehicle for low-cost consumables, for which an occasional failure will be tolerated. This article discusses pressurization of liquid oxygen (LOX) with gaseous hydrogen, something most rocket scientists would not attempt but that has now been shown to be worthy of development.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 24, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA467734
Entities
People
- Aaron Leichner
- Andrew E. Turner
Organizations
- Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings