I vaguely recall of some (patent?) claims of hypergolic fuels for HTP being
based around non-exotic alcohols, but there was always a secret spice that was
added to weave the magic. Alas, with many such claims, the magic was more
sleight of hand with showstopping caveats than game-changing discoveries.
Troy
From: arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of
Matthew JL
Sent: Wednesday, April 5, 2023 10:47 AM
To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AR] Re: [AR] RE: [AR] Re: [AR] RE: [AR] Re: [AR] Re: [AR] Re:
“Transitioning space propulsion to a nitrous-based industry standard”
Troy -
This is scratching the deepest recesses of my brain but I remember reading
about a HTP-based vehicle in development circa the mid 2000s that was supposed
to use (perhaps wood alcohol?) alcohol as part of the igniter.
The key factor was that it was basically a waste product from… grain
production? Quaker Oats, seriously, rings a bell.
I have no idea what keywords to use to find that article again but it may well
have been something in the nitric acid family and not HTP.
On Tue, Apr 4, 2023 at 7:48 PM Troy Prideaux <troy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:troy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Matthew, you might be getting confused with Nitric Acid (RFNA or WFNA). I can’t
recall any straight alcohol being hypergolic with HTP. I would definitely be
quite excited to learn if there was something not too exotic available.