I know Randa and Ron Melrin at Intraorbital, once had them over my house in
North Edwards. I looked for WFNA for them about 8 years ago and I used to
drive by their test facility at the Mojave Airport early 2000 when working
for Space Launch Corp. They used 98% HNO3 and turpentine, not a bad
storable if you really need a storable. But the Pythom guys are going to
hurt themselves, knowing little about propellants and feed systems is
dangerous. I'd help them if asked,
I am a Pyrotechnic Operator Rockets Class One licenced by the CA State Fire
Marshal in 1988, S/N 002.
LOx rocks though.
Ken
On Fri, Jan 22, 2021 at 7:32 AM David Spain <david.l.spain@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 1/21/2021 8:49 PM, George Herbert wrote:
See: https://player.vimeo.com/video/500339036
<https://player.vimeo.com/video/500339036>
And https://pythomspace.com
They’re in Bishop, California doing a currently small WFNA/something
hypergolic rocket motor
I did a little sleuthing off their website. Here they mention
consultation with friends at Interorbital (para 9):
https://www.pythom.com/ps/Pythomspace-First-Hot-Test-Hell-Yeah-2021-01-15-27998
Now over at the Interorbital website, they mention their Neptune rocket
which is powered by WFNA and turpentine.
Here para-4:
https://www.interorbital.com/Launch%20Vehicles
I doubt that the information about Interorbital is news to the regulars
here.
Also see the video above at 01:52 one of the team opening pressure
values on what I would presume are nitrogen tanks, with the silver
(stainless steel?) tanks behind them presumably containing fuel and
oxidizer. There is also a point in the video at 2:03 showing a team
member adding what I presume is a reactant from a step ladder to an
opening at the top of the trailer. Note also from the 01:52 video still,
the feed lines running from the roof of the trailer into the silver
tanks. Since nitrogen valves are also mentioned in the video. So I'm
willing to make a (small) wager that they are using a pressure fed GN2
with WFNA/Turpentine engine.
As per lack of shock diamonds, they mention that in the above link in
para 13.
So George, I hope you are able to reach them sooner rather than later.
5... 3... 4... 2... 1...
Dave