[AR] Re: peroxide purity (was: HTP supplier)
- From: "John Dom" <johndom@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2015 13:58:14 +0100
Ben Brockert wrote on 211215:
But, as of the last time I asked him about it, is unwilling or unable to
provide an assay or other proof of compliance with chemical purity standards.
XL-Space has always been a bit obscure. I emailed with Michael over the years.
Since the times he was enriching HP in a shack using membranes in the late
nineties. Always nice chats.
Quoting him on this list 14082010:
"Half the time you will find me running a shiny new (and large) concentrator in
Wyoming. The other half I'm in uniform working for Cyber Command in Texas".
As to the
http://frontierastronautics.com/ email:
I wonder why you wrote your email instead of letting Michael do that himself,
your business silo companion. The miniplant concentrator MC emailed me a
picture of was standing on an area with no vegetation around. That is why I
named it a desert.
An abandoned ICBM silo enterprise eh, like the Breeds on this list.
My question regarded only (about to correct me if I was wrong) that no amateur
ever was capable to launch a kerosene-peroxide bipropellant rocket.
A pity you mentioned the Beal days 1997-2000. Michael's enrichment plant for
Beal, sort of an amateur design scale-up did not perform as expected at
MacGregor (Texas) and was torn down. Got bad press at the time. You may note XL
Space Systems business went away the whole time Beal was in operation: reported
on this list on 09022013.
To write a USP (i.e. a sparger one) and next make it work industrially are very
different matters, even with pilot plant experience with it previously. Banker
entrepreneur Beal ceased rocket ops in Texas (MacGregor). Oops, 200 dismissed:
scandal then! We later read Beal was not allowed to build launch pads abroad
(ESA was), did not get along well with NASA (contrary to SpaceX much later).
Beal's impressive huge carbon fiber engines disassembled somewhat prematurely.
Maybe they combusted.
Maybe a good idea to use a sparger to produce amateur hydrogen peroxide. Not so
for industry: they all use vacuum distillation, at least up to 85 %.
Now it seems FMC does sell peroxide to amateurs: well not to Armadillo and that
is why they abandoned peroxide as a propellant. A pity after so much experience
gathered.
I never insinuated hydrogen peroxide should be abandoned as a propellant for
amateurs or big boyz. On the contrary. But this "green" liquid is sneaky & can
cause horrible detonations and fires. I know what I am talking about, like
several on this list. Even those who have "stellar" HP knowledge can still get
blown up to... the stars with it. A wrong brand of flange containing some
catalyst and boom the concentrator goes.
jd
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