Non-Toxic Propulsion Systems for BMDS Applications

ORBITEC proposes to develop non-toxic propulsion systems to replace hyradzine-derivative systems in interceptor applications. In ongoing work, ORBITEC has been developing high-performance ionic liquid fuels. These inherently non-volatile fuels promise safer, less sensitive systems while providing specific impulse comparable to MMH and density specific impulse 10-15% higher. Because the ionic liquid fuels ignite and combust differently than vintage hypergols, they require special hardware to full realize their benefits. The objectives of the proposed program are to design and test thrust chamber assemblies specifically tailored to these fuels. The results of the Phase I program will be a thorough understanding of the combustion of the ionic liquid fuels, a set of injector and chamber hardware optimized to the fuels, and a strategy for scaling up the designs. The Phase II program would scale up the hardware and target an interceptor application. The ultimate result of this SBIR program will be the development of propulsion systems appropriate to BMDS and a host of other tactical systems and will offer high performance, improved safety, and cost savings.