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Development Status of 500 N-class HTP/TMPDA Bi-propellant Rocket Engine

Conference Paper · October 2018

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 69 International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Bremen, Germany, 1-5 October 2018.
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Copyright ©2018 by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). All rights reserved.

IAC-18-C4.3-12x43293

Development Status of 500 N - class HTP/TMPDA Bi-propellant Rocket Engine

Pawel Surmacz*, Kamil Sobczaka, Bartosz Bartkowiaka, Grzegorz Rarataa, Adam Okninskia, Tobiasz
Mayera, Piotr Wolanskia, Ferran Valencia Belb

a
Center of Space Technologies, Institute of Aviation, Al. Krakowska 110/114, 02-256 Warsaw, Poland,
pawel.surmacz@ilot.edu.pl
b
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Nordwijk, Netherlands,
* Corresponding Author

Abstract
The paper presents the comprehensive experimental study on a Liquid Apogee Engine (LAE) - class thruster
operating on green propellants: 98%+ hydrogen peroxide HTP-class and TMPDA (N,N,N′,N′-Tetramethyl-1,3-
propanediamine). The engine has been designed for 500 N in vacuum. The prior catalytic decomposition of HTP
and gas-liquid type of injector are applied. Hot mixture of gases, containing approximately 46% of oxygen, also
serves as the source of ignition. TMPDA has been selected as the most promising fuel candidate.
The multi-phase development approach has been applied. Different materials for combustion chambers were used,
depending on the hot firing duration in a single test: AISI 316L stainless steel for up to 2.5 s of combustion and
refractory metal alloy (TZM) for longer firings.
Various inlet pressures of propellants for subsequent tests were applied in order to check the engine operation
under wide range of chamber pressure and mixture ratio. It was realized by 10 s firings. Additional single 15 s and
20 s hot tests were run as the preface to the final 60 s firing.
Current research has proved that the concept is promising for further development. Based on requirements and
results of the activity, the authors created the roadmap containing directions and aspects which still need
improvement. It is expected that this engine may start in the open competition for the future GEO satellite
propulsion subsystem.
The activity has been performed in the framework of GRACE (Green Bi-propellant Apogee Engine for Future
Spacecraft) realized for the European Space Agency.
Keywords: space propulsion, liquid rocket engine, green propellant, hydrogen peroxide, catalyst bed

Nomenclature propellant engines, is regarded as one of the main

c* = characteristic velocity propellant to be used as a substitute for hydrazine
µc* = efficiency of characteristic velocity (monopropellant) and oxides of nitrogen (bi-
p1 = combustion chamber pressure propellant). Environmental and political concerns
At = throat area used to be the primary driver for the need of
M = mass flow rate replacing hydrazine and derivatives. Recently the
Isp = specific impulse propulsion community is changing its approach to
propellants because of potential benefits of using
Acronyms/Abbreviations non-toxic, easy-to-handle chemicals.
AIT = auto ignition temperature Numerous R&D activities have been carried out
CEA = Chemical Equilibrium with Applications recently, aiming at development of small HTP-based
ESA = European Space Agency thrusters [1 - 3]. The presented investigation is
ESTEC = European Space Research and targeted at higher level of thrust – 500 N in vacuum.
Technology Centre The design of the engine leads to the development of
GEO = Geostationary Orbit a green LAE for GEO satellites and deep space
HTP = high test peroxide missions. The highest-class hydrogen peroxide:
LRE = liquid rocket engine
Type 98 (according to MIL-PRF-16005F), called
MMH = monomethyl hydrazine
also 98%+ HTP, was applied in the whole
O/F = oxidizer-to-fuel mass flow ratio
R&D = research and development
development process. This class of hydrogen
TZM = Titanium, zirconium, molybdenum alloy peroxide provides higher performance than any other
standard grade. The oxidizer is currently being
1. Introduction produced in Poland by two entities: Institute of
Space propulsion subsystems, alternative for Aviation (IoA) and Jakusz Spacetech Ltd. (on the
widely used hydrazine and MMH – based thrusters, license of IoA).
are being extensively developed all over the world. Fuel selection was the subject of detail analysis.
Hydrogen peroxide, both for mono- and bi- Over 80 green fuel candidate have been taken into
consideration. In the process of two-step down-
 69 International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Bremen, Germany, 1-5 October 2018.
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Copyright ©2018 by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). All rights reserved.

selection (theoretical and experimental) N,N,N′,N′-

Tetramethyl-1,3-propanediamine (TMPDA) was
finally chosen as the fuel.
This concept assumed the usage of a catalyst bed,
as a part of the oxidizer injection system, converting
liquid peroxide into gaseous products. Liquid-liquid
injection would require a hypergolic (with hydrogen
peroxide) fuel propellant – no certain reliable in-
house developed candidate was available at the time
of the initiation of this activity. The catalytic
conversion of hydrogen peroxide makes possible to
reach self-ignitable and restart-able configuration
with reduced hazard of hard starts.
The target technology at this stage of
development is TRL3, which means verification of
the concept in laboratory conditions. Due to the
restricted budget of the activity and low TRL,
hardware (e.g. valves, measurement equipment) was
limited to industrial components. Workhorse Fig. 2 The plan and logic for development from TRL2 to
combustion chambers could be manufactured only of TRL3
low cost materials (stainless steel for short and
The engine was designed to provide maximum
molybdenum alloys for longer operation time).
thrust of 500 N in vacuum. The corresponding
chamber pressure was 9 bar (see Table 1).
2. Material and methods
2.1. Overall logic for development
Table 1. Design conditions at maximum thrust
The concept assumes the injection of
decomposed hydrogen peroxide to the combustion Parameter Value Unit
chamber. Liquid fuel may be delivered either from
Maximum thrust, vac 500 N
the side or axially through a concentric tube to the
Expected Isp, vac 319.5 s
injector. The first approach was demonstrated by [4]
Oxidizer mass flow rate 133.2 g/s
and the second by [5]. It was also present in Stentor
Fuel mass flow rate 26.4 g/s
and Gamma engines [6]).
Mixture ratio 5.05 -
The baseline engine, used as a technology
Chamber pressure 9 bar
platform at TRL 2, is presented in Fig. 1.

The nozzle was adjusted to the atmospheric

pressure (Ae/At = 2.1), thus the engine thrust and Isp
were limited to approximately 63% of their values
for vacuum conditions.
2.2. Design for short firings
Fig. 1 The general concept of the engine The engine for short – up to 2.5 s of combustion
– tests was fully made of AISI 316L stainless steel,
The development process consisted of multi-
except the nozzle insert, which was manufactured
stage interdisciplinary approach, including analysis,
from graphite. Two different versions of injector (see
design, manufacturing, integration and testing (see
Fig. 3) and three combustion chambers of lengths: 60
Fig. 2). Structural materials, fuel and catalyst, were
mm, 75 mm and 90 mm were prepared for testing.
subjects of analysis. Design included the catalyst bed
Variant 1 used a central tube to deliver fuel from the
geometry, different injection configurations,
front-mounted inlet to the injector (see Fig. 3a).
combustion chamber geometry and the nozzle. The
test campaign consisted of four parts: (1) catalyst bed
and fuel ignition examination, (2) experimental
optimization of injection and combustion chamber
geometry, (3) intermediate (mostly 10-second) tests
on various inlet conditions and (4) the final tests.
 69 International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Bremen, Germany, 1-5 October 2018.
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Copyright ©2018 by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). All rights reserved.
a) b)
Fig. 3 Design variants of injection: a) variant 1, b) variant
2
In variant 2 the fuel was delivered by the sideway
inlet to the near-toroidal manifold and distributed to
8 replaceable (bolted) injectors (see Fig. 3b). The
second variant of the engine with a 90 mm chamber
is presented in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 First design: engine for short tests – variant 2
Ports for measurement of pressure along the
engine (including combustion chamber) and
temperature along the catalyst bed were attached to
the structure via standpipes. Axial thrust and
propellant flow rates were measured in order to
determine the engine performance. Efficiency of
characteristic velocity served as a main criterion for
selection of the hardware for further
2.3. Design for long firings
The design was adjusted to longer firings by
replacing stainless steel chambers (supported with
graphite nozzle inserts) by an integrated
chamber/nozzle component, made of high-
temperature material. Ceramics and refractory
metals were considered for the base structure of the
chamber/nozzle. Figure 5 presents the final design of
the engine with chamber/nozzle made of TZM (alloy
of molybdenum). The anti-oxidation coating was not
applied because of the unavailability of adequate
technology on the local market. Thus, the
perspective of a surface oxidation, resulting in mass
loss and geometry change of the chamber during
firing, was accepted.
Fig. 5 Second desing:engine for intermediate and long
firings
3. Results and discussion
The typical bi-propellant test sequence consisted
of: 1.5-second monopropellant mode pre-heating, bi-
propellant mode (up to 2.5 s) and 1-second
monopropellant purging. The first monopropellant
mode period was required to create ignition
conditions in the combustion chamber and the
second was to burn out all the remaining fuel before
the subsequent test.
3.1 Initial short tests
In general, the second variant of injection
provided higher performance than the first variant
(µc* equaled to 93% and 84% respectively). At the
same time the first variant characterized with faster
response (both rise and decay time) compared to
variant 2. The extended rise time as well as a peak in
thrust and chamber pressure during the
monopropellant purging (after closing the FMV –
see Fig. 6) were caused by relatively high dribble
volume of the fuel line in comparison with variant 1
(5.7 cm3 and 1.6 cm3 respectively). Calculations
confirmed that the difference in the rise time
between variants (approximately 0.2 s) was
consistent with the difference in time required to fill
different volumes of inlet manifolds.
Fig. 6 Chamber pressure for two variant of injection
Differences in µc* could be also compared by the
visual analysis of the exhaust gas. Variant 1
characterized with clearly visible outlet flame, which
suggests relatively low combustion efficiency inside
the chamber (see Fig. 7). Regardless
 69 International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Bremen, Germany, 1-5 October 2018.
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Copyright ©2018 by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). All rights reserved.

disadvantageous transient characteristic, the second
variant was selected for the further consideration
because of better performance. Recommendation has
been made to optimize the dribble volume of the fuel
manifold in future design.
due to the oxidative impact of the hot oxidizer on
TZM (excessive oxidation of material and its mass
loss).
Various inlet conditions, applied to the engine,
resulted in the generation of the map of inlet
pressures (see Fig. 9) and mass flow rates.

Fig. 9 Inlet pressure map collected from 10-s test

campaign

Inlet pressures of both fuel and oxidizer are

different for the design point of the engine.
Differences in inlet pressures resulted from very low
value of pressure drop in the oxidizer catalytic
conversion/injection system.
Fig. 7 Exhaust gas from the eingine for two different
The range of mixture ratio, obtained in the test
injection variants applied: a) variant 1, b) variant 2
campaign, varied from 3.9 to 7.6 and the chamber
Fire tests with three combustion chambers of pressure from 8 to 10.3 bar. The engine delivered the
lengths: 60 mm, 75 mm and 90 mm were performed maximum thrust of 235 N. Figure 10 presents the
with the injector in variant 2. Similar results were correlation between the chamber pressure and net
obtained (see Fig. 8) with slight differences in thrust thrust, generated by the engine.
and chamber pressure. Resultant efficiencies of
characteristic velocity were: 88%, 91% and 91.5%
respectively. The main criterion – performance –
suggested selecting 90 mm long chamber for further
application. However, considering additional
aspects: mass, cost and film cooling it was decided
to stay with 75 mm.

Fig. 10 Correlation between thrust and chamber pressure

for 10-s firings

The chamber performance, by means of the

efficiency of characteristic velocity, varied with the
mixture ratio (see Fig. 11) and corresponding
oxidizer mass flow rate as well as with the chamber
pressure. The general trend indicated increasing
efficiency with increasing oxidizer flow rate.

Fig. 8 Test results for three lengths of combustion

chamber: 60 mm, 75 mm and 90 mm

3.2. 10-s tests

The test campaign, performed with the second
design engine, consisted of 22 hot runs, from which
16 lasted 10 s each. Apart from 10-second bi-
propellant mode, each test included the additional
1.5 s of pre-heating and 0.25 s of purging in Fig. 11 Performance: a) theoretical and tested values of
monopropellant mode. Purging by oxidizer was C*, correlation between µc* and mixture ratios
finally abandoned from the ninth to the last firing,
 69 International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Bremen, Germany, 1-5 October 2018.
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Copyright ©2018 by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). All rights reserved.
The deep analysis of this correlation led to draw
a hypothesis that the mass flow of decomposed
oxidizer (and corresponding injection velocity)
exerted great impact on the fuel atomization and – in
effect – on combustion efficiency. This assumption
might be supported by the fact that the decrease in
performance went together with the increase of the
oxidizer injection area (with respect to the first
design in variant 2).
3.3 Longer firings
The longest-in-time experiment in the test
campaign lasted 20 s, not including initial 1.5 s
monopropellant pre-heating period. Inlet conditions
were the same as in one of previous 10 s firing in
order to compare results of two different in duration
experiments. The output of this test has shown that
the combustion chamber, made of TZM, has the
potential to survive longer burns. Figure 12 presents
a video frame from the last second of this test,
representing a nearly steady state thermal condition
of the chamber. The excessive oxidation of TZM was
noticed when disassembled the chamber.
Fig. 12 Image of the engine fired continuesly for 20 s
Figure 13 presents selected results of this
experiment: thrust, propellant inlet pressures and the
chamber pressure. A steady burning occurred.
Fig. 13 Thrut and pressure data collected from a continues
20 s test
3.4 Discussion
The present development revealed a strong
relationship between the gaseous oxidizer mass flow
rate (resulting in varying injection velocities) and the
propulsive efficiency. The modification of design of
version 2 with respect to version 1 of the engine,
connected to the increase in the injector flow area,
resulted in the decrease of performance.
The excessive oxidation of TZM was noticed due
to the natural susceptibility of molybdenum to the
oxidation under temperatures above 500℃. This
phenomenon resulted in the evolution of the throat
area.
In general, the wide range of inlet pressures, as
well as mixture ratios, did not influence on the
engine stable operation. The general instability level
resulted from the oxidizer injection system, in
particular the catalyst bed.
4. Conclusions
This activity consisted of theoretical analysis,
design, testing and analysis of test results in an
iterative process. The fuel propellant was selected
either by trade-off and experimental work. Two
subsequent designs with different versions led to the
number of hot tests, exceeding 149.
The maximum efficiency of characteristic
velocity in bi-propellant mode reached 93% of its
theoretical value under given conditions. The
efficiency strongly depended on the oxidizer flow
rate and injection velocity. Each test characterized
with a certain pressure instability, initiated in the
catalyst bed. Thus, the catalyst is the subject of future
improvement. Moreover, at this stage of
development the catalyst lifetime is one of major
concerns for LAE engine.
In the subsequent design it is required to modify
materials for catalyst chamber and combustion
chambers. For catalyst chamber Inconels or similar
alloys are considered. For the combustion chamber
high temperature material combination, e.g. iridium
coated rhenium structure is regarded.
Acknowledgements
The present work has been funded by the
European Space Agency in the framework of Polish
Industry Incentive Scheme, ESA contract no.
4000112705/14/NL/CBi, whose support is gratefully
acknowledged.
References
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of a Flight Type 1N Hydrogen Peroxide
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[2] Pasini, G. Pace, D. Valentini, Experimental
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A. Lear, E. Fletcher, D. Gibbon, M. Palmer,
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Hydrogen Peroxide Thruster, Space
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 69 International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Bremen, Germany, 1-5 October 2018.
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[4] General Kinetics, 300 lbf 90% H2O2/RP-1

Rocket Engine, P/N: GK-PD035-201-001,
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