Prototype Storage and Delivery Device for Cryogenic Solid Hydrogen Propellant

The use of cryogenic solid hydrogen as a rocket propellant may lead to major advances in rocket propulsion. To use solid hydrogen as a propellant requires a system designed to solidfy, store, and transport hydrogen. We propose to study different methods for creating H2 for more than one hour at temperature less than 10 K. Alternative methods of delivering the solid hydrogen to the combustion chamber will be investigated. The solid hydrogen must be surrounded with low pressure H2 gas or cold He gas to prevent it from melting. A possible delivery system could use a pneumatically driven piston to force the H2 into the chamber.