Heated Pressurant System for Spacecraft

The pressurant systems for pressure fed propulsion systems such as are used in spacecraft, sounding rockets, interceptor missiles and upper stages constitute a major portion of the dry weight of the vehicle, decreasing performance and increasing cost The penalty becomes more pronounced as system pressure increases. However, low pressure engines are limited in performance and become large, taking up valuable space and increasing vehicle weight. Thus there is strong incentive to achieve improved propulsion efficiency by going to higher pressure. This becomes much more attractive if pressurant system weight and volume are reduced by heating the gas. It is proposed to develop a system of heating pressurant by catalytically induced reaction of gases mixed with the pressurant below the normal combustion limit. This safe and very simple system has been demonstrated years ago but never flown. This effort proposes to bring the technology to flight readiness.