Interesting test run on the video there. First view from aft didn't
seem to obviously show choked flow, and the side view that followed made
clear why. Looked like a middlin' hard start instantly removed the
nozzle and most of the thrust chamber, but the injector and feed
plumbing did survive and completed the run.
Insta-diagnosis, the combination may not have been as reliably
hypergolic as hoped, if enough could mix in the chamber before igniting
to produce the observed results.
Oh well! It's possible that further tinkering would have solved the
problem, but I can see why the followon funding to pay for that might
have been hard to raise.
Henry
On 12/13/2018 3:21 PM, Daniel Dyck wrote:
"One of the most promising compositions features *hydrogen peroxide, ethanolamine and special additives*. In addition to being hypergolic and non-toxic, this combination is also environmentally-friendly and fulfills the goals of "green" propellants. Its feasibility has been proven in past lab-scale tests at Sandia National Labs and other organizations.
However, because its performance is generally considered lower than conventional hypergolic propellants, it has never been adopted commercially. Operating at higher pressures and novel mass flow rates, Aphelion Orbitals’ design overcomes this shortcoming and achieves specific impulse (power efficiency) approaching that of the most commonly used rocket propellant, liquid oxygen and RP-1."
http://www.aphelionorbitals.com/blog/
My favorite part was the "novel mass flow rates".
On Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 3:16 PM Henry Vanderbilt <hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>
> Interesting plan, but a crowded field.
>
> Any idea what their non-toxic storable propellant combination was?
>
> Henry
>
>
> On 12/13/2018 2:42 PM, Bill Bruner wrote:
> > They were able to raise $500K in seed funding, but I don't think they
> > got to Series A.
> >
> > Final pitch deck here:
> > https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/aphelions-final-pitch-deck-matthew-travis/
> >
> >
>