Energetic Materials Frontiers 2 (2021) 228–237

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Energetic Materials Frontiers

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Successful development of HAN based green propellant

Toshiyuki Katsumi a, *, Keiichi Hori b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, Niigata, 940-2188, Japan
b
Institute of Space Astronautical and Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 252-5210, Japan

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Research and development of Hydroxyl Ammonium Nitrate based liquid propellant; SHP-163 is reviewed. Starting
Hydroxyl Ammonium Nitrate (HAN) from the composition selection of the propellant to the development of 1 N thruster of Green Propellant Reaction
Propellant Control System (GPRCS) project and the successful demonstration test in space is summarized. Combustion be-
Combustion mechanism
haviors of SHP-163 were investigated and the mechanism of the very high burning rate at high pressures was
Burning rate
studied. The observation on HAN-aqueous solutions revealed that the apparent very high burning rate is triggered
by hydrodynamic instability and controlled by water nuclei formation rate which is induced by the superheat by
the exothermic reaction of HAN decomposition. The operation pressure of GPRCS was determined considering
this high burning rate region. Other characteristics of SHP-163 are also presented.

1. Introduction (Ammonium Dinitramide), and HNF (Hydrazinium Nitroformate); thus,

Hydroxyl Ammonium Nitrate (HAN) was first used as rocket propel-
lant in the 1960s in the USA and was employed as a solid oxidizer in
composite propellants. Small solid rocket motor testing was conducted at
Princeton University, but firing was unstable, and the project did not
advance. In the 1980s, the US Army launched a project that used HAN as
a liquid gun propellant (LP1845), which was an aqueous solution
composed of HAN, TEAN (tri-Ethanolammonium Nitrate) and water.1,2
LP1846, a slightly different composition than LP1845 was developed
with 60 wt% HAN, 20 wt% TEAN, and 20 wt% water. LP1846 had better
ignitability and propulsive performance than LP1845, and was rigorously
developed1–3 and re-named XM-46.4,5 As with the solid propellant,
combustion instability hampered the application of XM-46 in real sys-
tems and development was terminated in the late 1990s; however, the
use of HAN for green liquid propellant gained momentum in the USA and
Japan.
Hydrazine is widely employed in satellite RCS and launcher attitude
control systems; however, its highly toxic nature spurred the develop-
ment of green liquid propellant development. The strong recommenda-
tion by REACH6 to exclude hydrazine is the primary factor promoting
green propellant.
New thruster propellants typically require higher propulsive perfor-
mance than that provided by hydrazine, and combustion type mono-
propellant mixtures of fuel and oxidizer are prioritized as candidates.
Green oxidizers (chlorine-free) are usually nitrates such as HAN, ADN
new green propellants are not totally non-toxic, and are labelled as
“mildly toxic”.
The leading green propellants is an ADN-based LMP-103S, developed
by Ecaps, Sweden, which began applying the propellant in space in
2010.7–10 The 1 N thruster installed on the Prisma satellite worked suc-
cessfully and showed 8% higher specific impulse Isp than hydrazine.
Bradford Ecaps thrusters of up to 200 N are currently used commer-
cially.11 China also claims to have successfully demonstrated an
ADN-thruster on the Shinjan-17 satellite in 2016.12 According to their
report, the thruster system worked well to sustain satellite altitude.
Two additional HAN propellants, SHP-163 and ASCENT (Advanced
Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic; formerly AF-M315E)13–16 were subse-
quently flight-proven. The SHP-163 project Green Propellant Reaction
Control System (GPRCS) was equipped to the Rapid Innovative Payload
Demonstration Satellite 1 (RAPIS-1) satellite and launched in January
2019 by the Epsiron-4 launcher and tested for one year in space. The
success of GPRCS will be described fully in the later section of this article.
The ASCENT project, part of NASA GPIM (Green Propellant Infusion
Mission), was launched in June 2019 by the Falcon Heavy rocket and
used in four burns to change the orbit of the satellite. NASA revealed that
the operations were successful and that ASCENT will be used again in the
Lunar Flashlight project launched by the SLS rocket.17
Thus, worldwide, four green propellant projects have been used
successfully in space. The increasingly difficult competition among new
green propellants may contribute to the disappearance of hydrazine from

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: katsumi@mech.nagaokaut.ac.jp (T. Katsumi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enmf.2021.09.002

Available online 25 September 2021

2666-6472/© 2021 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
T. Katsumi, K. Hori Energetic Materials Frontiers 2 (2021) 228–237

Table 1
Sample Compositions (unit: wt%).18
HAN AN H2O Methanol

Control 88.0 4.6 7.4 0

SHP069 81.9 4.3 6.9 6.9
SHP163 73.6 3.9 6.2 16.3

Table 2
Physicochemical properties of samples.18,19
Melting point Freezing point Density g⋅cm
3 Viscosity mPa⋅s
 
C C

10  C/20  C
10  C/20  C

Control
10.7 <-35 1.62/1.60 112.0/27.6

SHP069
7.5 <-35 1.56/1.54 80.4/25.5
SHP163
13.0 <-35 1.44/1.41 46.7/11.9
Hydrazine 2 – -/1.01 -/0.97

Data related to the safety of SHP163 acquired in the past20 are presented in
Table 3. From these data, it can be said that SHP163 is a sufficient safe liquid
propellant.

Table 3
Safety data of SHP163.20
Test Data

LD50 oral 300–2000 mg kg
1

LD50 dermal >2000 mg kg
1
AMES Test Negative
BAM hammer-fall test No ignition at 50 cm height
BAM friction test Insensitive at 353 N
Critical dia. for detonation 6.7–7.8 mm
Thermal stability at 75  C, 48 h Stable
Fig. 1. Schematic view of the combustion test setup.
Fire test No detonation
Large scale gap test 0–11 cards at 50%

the space activity scene.

This paper summarizes the history of research and development of
SHP163 and the successful demonstration test of the GPRCS project.

2. Candidates for propellant

S. Togo et al. developed the compositions of the propellant as pre-

sented in Table 118. H2O is a solvent and has a role to lower the melting
point of the solution. Ammonium nitrate (AN) can lower the melting
point of the solution and reduce the H2O content. Methanol was chosen
as a fuel because of high Isp and preferable combustion characteristics.
The mass ratio of HAN, AN, H2O was fixed to 95/5/8, and the methanol
content only was changed. The control, which does not include meth-
anol, has been developed as a liquid oxidizer having a melting point of
less than
10  C. Methanol content of SHP163 meets with stoichiometric
ratio to oxidizer (HAN þ AN) and SHP163 is a candidate of mono-
propellant. When the combustion chamber pressure of the thruster Pc is
0.7 MPa, the nozzle expansion ratio Ae/At is 50, and the thrust coefficient
CF is 1.7, then the specific thrust Isp of SHP163 is 254 s. That is about 20%
higher than that of hydrazine.
Table 2 shows the melting point, freezing point, density, and viscos- Fig. 2. Linear burning rate of Control & SHP163.26
ity.18,19 The melting point and freezing point of SHP163 are lower than
those of hydrazine. They are expected to ease the control of propellant understand the combustion mechanism and to apply the HAN-based
temperature in the cosmic space. Density is about 40% higher than that of monopropellant to a GPRCS thruster.
hydrazine, which can reduce the size of the propellant tank. Viscosities of
20  C and
10  C are acceptable in a conventional propellant supply
system. 3.1. Combustion characteristics of propellant solutions

3. Combustion characteristics 3.1.1. Linear burning rate

Combustion experiments were performed in a nitrogen atmosphere
Previously, combustion characteristics of HAN-based propellants had using a strand burner to measure the linear burning rate when the pro-
been investigated by the following experiments21–26 as shown below to pellants burned in a glass tube. As shown in Fig. 1, the propellant was put

229
T. Katsumi, K. Hori
Fig. 3. Photograph of a combustion wave.26 (a) Control (rb ¼ 2.0 mm s
1 @2.2 MPa) (b) Control (rb ¼ 107 mm s
1 @3.4 MPa) (c) SHP163 (rb ¼ 0.7 mm s
1
@2.3 MPa) (d) SHP163 (rb ¼ 50.5 mm s
1 @6.0 MPa).
Fig. 4. Liquid interface at transition process.26
into a glass tube (12 mm inside diameter) and was ignited by a nichrome
wire. To evaluate the influences of ambient pressure, the strand burner
was pressurized by nitrogen gas, and the ambient pressure varied from
the lower combustion limit to 7 MPa.
Fig. 2 shows the linear burning rate of Control and SHP163. The
linear burning rate of Control can be divided into two zones, very high
and low rate, at the critical pressure (around 3 MPa). By contrast,
SHP163 has no critical pressure as present in Control, and its linear
burning rate is lower than that of Control. Furthermore, sustainable
combustion was not observed in the range of operation pressure of the
RCS thruster (less than 1.5 MPa).
3.1.2. Observation of combustion wave
Also, combustion waves of HAN-based propellant in the glass tube
were observed. Fig. 3 shows combustion waves taken by a single-lens
reflex camera with the exposure time of 1/2000 s. At the lower linear
burning rate, the both combustion wave of Control and SHP163 were
relatively stable. A two-phase region comprising fine bubbles is formed
between the transparent liquid phase region and the brown gas phase
Fig. 5. Temperature profiles of combustion waves.26 (a) Control, (b)SHP163. Tad, adiabatic flame temperature; Tbp, boiling Point.
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Energetic Materials Frontiers 2 (2021) 228–237
(Fig. 3a and c). At the high burning rate, large brown bubbles are
observed over the whole combustion wave (Fig. 3(b)). For SHP163, the
collapse of large transparent bubbles is observed at an earlier stage, and a
luminous flame in the case of Control was not observed (Fig. 3(d)).
Using a high-speed camera (500 fps frame rate), transition phenom-
ena from low burning rate (Fig. 3(a)) to a high burning rate (Fig. 3(b))
were observed while changing the ambient pressure during the burning
of Control. As a result, the large bubbles intruding into the liquid phase at
around the critical pressure were observed as ambient pressure increases
(Fig. 4), and then the combustion at high burning rate followed.
If the transparent bubble layer is regarded as the evaporation zone of
the solvent, and if the brown bubble layer and gas phase are regarded as
chemical reaction zone, it can be inferred that the linear burning rate was
increased because the high-temperature gas produced by chemical re-
actions contacted directly with the liquid phase owing to no evaporation
zone at a higher linear burning rate.
3.1.3. Temperature measurement of combustion wave
Using Pt–Pt/10%Rh (R-type) fine thermocouple (25.4 μm wire
diameter), the temperature distributions of the combustion waves of
Control and SHP163 were measured in the pressure region of the low
linear burning rate. As shown in Fig. 1, a thermocouple was inserted into
a glass tube using ceramic tubes and a rubber closure. Fig. 5 presents
typical temperature distributions. The temperature rises gradually from
the initial value to the boiling point of the solvent and then increases
rapidly to the flame temperature.
The temperature gradient to reach the flame temperature is nearly the
same for SHP163 and Control. The heat flux from the gas phase to the
liquid phase (including the two-phase region) is estimated using the heat
conductivity of reaction product gases obtained by chemical equilibrium
calculation (using NASA-CEA). As the result, it was found that the heat
flux for SHP163 is approximately three times higher than that for Con-
trol. However, from the fact, no great difference in the linear burning rate
appeared, it is considered that a difference of heat flux is invalidated by
an evaporation zone where transparent bubbles exist. In other words, it
can be said that the linear burning rate is determined not only by the
T. Katsumi, K. Hori Energetic Materials Frontiers 2 (2021) 228–237

Fig. 6. Linear burning rate of HAN aqueous solutions. (a) 80–95 wt% HAN aq. Solutions, (b) 50–80 wt% HAN aq. solutions.

Fig. 7. Combustion waves of the respective solutions at constant pressure (3 MPa) (a) 95 wt% (b) 80 wt% (c-1) 85 wt% at low rb (c-2) 85 wt% at high rb.

chemical reaction in the gas phase but also by the evaporation step.
3.2. Combustion characteristics of HAN aqueous solution
To elucidate the combustion mechanism of the HAN-based propel-
lant, combustion characteristics of HAN aqueous solutions had been
obtained varying HAN concentration.
3.2.1. Linear burning rate
First, Fig. 6(a) shows the linear burning rates of HAN concentrations
95, 85, 82.5, and 80 wt% aqueous solutions, which increase as the HAN
concentration is reduced. Next, the linear burning rates of HAN con-
centration 80, 77.5, 64, and 50 wt% aqueous solutions are shown in
Fig. 6(b), and decrease as the concentration is reduced. From Fig. 6, the
linear burning rate reaches the maximum when the HAN concentration is
80 wt%. Also, it can be said that the linear burning rate is independent of
the pressure in the high linear burning rate region exceeding
100 mm s
1.
3.2.2. Observation of combustion wave
As shown in Fig. 6(a), at the pressure of 3 MPa, linear burning rates of
95, 85, and 80 wt% HAN aqueous solution are 3 mm s
1, 10–20 mm s
1,
and 300 mm s
1 respectively, and are greatly different from each. Fig. 7
shows the combustion wave in these cases. In any case, the two-phase
regions and brown gas which indicates that the chemical reaction pro-
ceeded were observed. For the 95 wt% HAN aqueous solution, (Fig. 7(a)),
the liquid phase, two-phase region, and gas phase existed in the form of a
layer. Brown gas presented in the bubbles of the two-phase region as well
as the gas phase. With 80 wt% HAN aqueous solution (Fig. 7(b)), a thick
two-phase region was observed on the liquid phase. Many fine bubbles
existed in front of the large brown bubbles. For an 85 wt% HAN aqueous
solution, two modes are observed alternately. In the first mode (Fig. 7(c-
1)), the liquid phase and gas phase were stable and layered. Fine and
transparent bubbles were observed around the gas-liquid interface. In
this case, the linear burning rate is very low, and a combustion wave
structure which is similar to that of 95 wt% HAN aqueous solution can be
observed. In the second mode (Fig. 7(c-2)), the rapid growth of brown

Fig. 8. Temperature profiles of the combustion waves of the respective samples. (a) 95 wt % solution (rb ¼ 3.1 mm s
1, 2.9 MPa) (b) 85 wt% solution
(rb ¼ 142 mm s
1, 3.2 MPa) (c) 80 wt% solution (rb ¼ 654 mm s
1, 2.2 MPa).

231
T. Katsumi, K. Hori
Fig. 9. Combustion wave structure. (a) 95 wt% solution (rb ¼ 3 mm s
1) (b) 80 wt% solution (rb ¼ 650 mm s
1).
Fig. 10. Transition of two modes.
bubbles was observed. The linear burning rate exceeds 100 mm/s
instantaneously, whereas the combustion wave structure is different
from that of 80 wt% HAN aqueous solution. The first mode is maintained
for about 500 ms, the second mode is generated in about 100 ms.
3.2.3. Combustion wave temperature measurements
Fig. 8 shows the temperature distribution of combustion waves of 95,
85, and 80 wt% HAN aqueous solutions at the pressure of 3 MPa. The
point where the temperature rises from the initial value is regarded as an
origin of the x-axis. For a 95 wt% HAN aqueous solution, the temperature
rose gradually from the initial value, maintained at about 500 K in the
range of x ¼ 2–5 mm, and then increased to about 700 K. Probably, 500 K
corresponds to the boiling point of the solution. When the linear burning
rate was high as shown in Fig. 8(b) and (c), the temperature increased to
the boiling point, and it was kept at constant thereafter.
3.3. Combustion mechanism
3.3.1. Combustion wave structure
Based on observations of the combustion wave and measurements of
temperature distribution, combustion wave structures of the two types
were proposed as shown in Fig. 9. For a low linear burning rate such as
95 wt% HAN aqueous solution (Fig. 9(a)), the temperature increases
from the initial value, maintains at the boiling point (Tbp) in the two-
phase region, and then reaches the flame temperature in the gas phase.
It is considered that this structure is established for the case water
amount is less. For a very high linear burning rate such as 80 wt% HAN
aqueous solution (Fig. 9(b)), the temperature increases from the initial
value in a similar manner as the 95 wt% cases, reaches the boiling point,
and then remains constant. The reason why the temperature did not rise
to the flame temperature might be that the two-phase region is longer
than 95 wt% cases due to higher water content. In this case, the chemical
reaction might be promoted inside of the bubbles in the two-phase region
because the bubbles rapidly became large and brown.
Fig. 10 shows the case where low linear burning rate and high linear
burning rate alternate such as 85 wt% HAN aqueous solution. A stable
combustion wave (Fig. 10 (i)) with a low linear burning rate is disturbed
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Energetic Materials Frontiers 2 (2021) 228–237
as the turbulence in the gas-phase becomes strong, and the gas-liquid
interface becomes unstable (Fig. 10 (ii)). Then reactive gas enters into
a dent at the gas-liquid interface (Fig. 10 (iii)) and expands rapidly
(Fig. 10 (iv)). Subsequently, the dent spreads entirely. After the reactive
gas is fully consumed, the gas-liquid interface stops, and the combustion
wave becomes stable again (Fig. 10 (i)).
3.3.2. Evaporation step
Results of temperature measurements indicate that heat inflow from
the gas-phase reaction zone is not a concern and that the evaporation step
in the two-phase region might be important. The boiling rate was
calculated theoretically, and its influence was evaluated comparing with
experimental data of the linear burning rate. For boiling, overheating
which means temperature exceeds the boiling point is necessary, and the
magnitude of superheating is called the degree of superheating. In the
case of HAN aqueous solution combustion, the degree of superheating
increased together with the progress of chemical reaction in the gas-
phase (including the bubble inside). The bubble nucleus was generated
around the gas-liquid interface. The rate of nucleus generation increased
exponentially along with the degree of superheating and pressure. For
example, when the degree of superheating exceeds the critical value, the
nucleation generation rate increases rapidly in the two-phase region.
Therefore, when the reaction of the bubble inside gas in the two-phase
region causes a great degree of superheating, as shown in Fig. 9(b), it
is probable that many nuclei are formed rapidly in the two-phase region.
A very high apparent linear burning rate might be obtained through such
rapid nuclear formation.
J. G. Collier and J. R. Thome showed the bubble nucleus generation
speed in water boiling.27 The bubble nucleus generation speed dn/dt per
unit volume is expressed by Equation (1). In the equation, n represents
the number of bubble nuclei, λ is the collision frequency, N is a constant
(nearly equal to the number of molecule per unit volume), k is the
Boltzmann coefficient, and Tg is the steam temperature in the bubble
( C).
dn
¼ λNe
ΔGðr Þ=kTg
*
(1)
dt
T. Katsumi, K. Hori
Fig. 11. Bubble volume rate of increase.
ΔG(γ*) is given by the following equation.
4 were opposite to the tendency obtained by our experiments (becomes
ΔGðr* Þ ¼ π r* σ (2)
3
In that equation, σ represents the surface tension (Nm
1); γ* stands
for radius of spherical bubble nucleus (m) calculated using the following
equation. Also, R is the universal gas constant (Jkmol
1⋅K
1), TSAT de-
notes the saturated temperature ( C), ifg denotes the evaporative latent
heat (Jkg
1), M represents the molecular weight (kgkmol
1), pf ex-
presses the liquid phase pressure (Pa), and ΔT signifies the degree of
superheating (Tg – TSAT).
2
2RTSAT σ
r ¼
*
(3)
ifg Mpf ΔT
The bubble nucleus generation speed of water is calculated, using
these equations, as a function of pressure in the bubbles and steam
temperature Tg. Furthermore, the increase rate of total volume of the
bubble nuclei per unit volume, dv/dt, is obtained by the product of dn/dt
and volume of a bubble nucleus. Minimum radius r* of the bubble nu-
cleus is set to 2 mm, as referred from a report by Matsumoto.28 The
pressure dependence of dv/dt in different degrees of superheating is
presented in Fig. 11. From this, it is found that the greater the degree of
superheating, the higher the volume increase rate. If the volume increase
rate reaches 1Eþ01 m3 s
1, then the influence of the pressure becomes
insignificant.
Division of dv/dt by unit area can convert to a one-dimensional
vaporization rate. The tendency of pressure dependence is similar to
that of the linear burning rate. For an 82.5 or 85 wt% HAN aqueous
solution, the two-phase region is shorter than that of an 80 wt% HAN
aqueous solution, and thereby the gas temperature in the bubbles is
lower than that of an 80 wt% HAN aqueous solution. For 50, 64, 77.5 wt
% HAN aqueous solutions, the gas temperature in bubbles is lower than
that of the 80 wt% HAN aqueous solution because of the great amount of
water. Therefore, because the degree of superheating becomes lower as
these cases, it is inferred that the bubble nucleus generation speed and
apparent linear burning rate were reduced.
3.3.3. Hydrodynamic instability
Since the turbulence of the gas phase disturbs the gas-liquid interface,
we focused on hydrodynamic instability in combustion. Margolis29
expanded the theory of hydrodynamic instability by incorporating
reaction-diffusion instability, and assessed the combustion stability of the
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Energetic Materials Frontiers 2 (2021) 228–237
Fig. 12. Pressure dependence of the Markstein number.
HAN-based propellant using pressure sensitivity Ap. However, the results
unstable with increased pressure and then becomes stable with increased
methanol content). Thus, it is found that another mechanism is necessary
to explain the tendency obtained from our experiments.
From this fact, we then evaluated the flame stretch effect. The
Markstein number, Ma, which is the index of flame stretch effect, is ob-
tained in the form of a correlation coefficient of the linear burning rate
ratio and the Karlovitz number, Ka, and the relationship is represented by
Equation (4).
SuðlÞ
SuðsÞ
¼ Ma  Ka (4)
SuðlÞ
Therein, Su(l) is the burning velocity of a laminar flme; Su(s) is the
burning rate of a stretched flame. The Markstein number can be calcu-
lated by Equation (5) in the form of an asymptotic solution.30 In this
equation, ρ represents the density ratio (ρb/ρu), ρb stands for the burnt gas
density, ρu denotes the unburned gas density, β is the Zeldvich number, Le
is the Lewis number and x expresses the distance in one-dimensional
space.
1
ρ
Zρ
1 1 βðLe
1Þ ρ lnð1 þ xÞ
Ma ¼ ln þ dx (5)
1
ρ ρ 2 1
ρ x
0
Fig. 12 presents the pressure dependence of the Markstein number of
each solution. The Markstein number reduces while the pressure in-
creases (becomes unstable), and increases while the methanol content
increases (becomes stable). These tendencies agree with the experi-
mental results. The Markstein number at the critical pressure where the
linear burning rate increases discontinuously shows nearly the same
value. This might be defined as the critical Markstein number Ma(cr).
Therefore, it might be said that linear burning rate characteristics of
HAN-based propellant are determined by the potential hydrodynamic
instability and the flame stretch effect.
4. Thruster development.
Based on the study on combustion characteristics of HAN-based
monopropellants in the glass tube, a GPRCS thruster has been
researched and developed. As the first step, static firing tests of lab-scale
GPRCS thruster were conducted and the combustion and propulsion
characteristics were obtained.23,25–27 As the second step, the firing test at
the free fall test by using a balloon was carried out, and the feasibility of
the GPRCS thruster system was evaluated. Finally, the demonstration test
T. Katsumi, K. Hori
Fig. 13. Catalytic thruster. (a) External view (b) Cross section.
Fig. 14. Catalyst bed temperatures for several flow rates.
Fig. 15. Downstream side temperature of the catalyst bed.
of the GPRCS thruster was performed on the orbit by loading on the
technology demonstration satellite, RAPIS-121,36. The details of research
and development for the GPRCS thruster are reported below.
4.1. Thruster static firing test
4.1.1. Experimental apparatus
To apply the HAN-based monopropellant to a thruster, static firing
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Energetic Materials Frontiers 2 (2021) 228–237
Fig. 16. Pressure and temperature curves of 100 s operation.
tests were performed using a thruster and SHP163. The catalytic ignition
system is used according to the conventional hydrazine thruster. As the
catalyst, the iridium-based catalyst, S405, used in hydrazine thrusters
was selected because it had been found that S405 could reduce the onset
temperature of the chemical reaction of SHP163. Fig. 13 presents an
outline of the catalytic thruster. This thruster was installed in the vacuum
chamber, the propellant was injected into the preheated catalyst in the
thruster to cause the combustion and to generate the thrust.
4.1.2. Experiment results
With the continuous operation mode of the thruster, it was inferred
that the catalyst temperature would increase by heat inflow from the
flame, and simultaneously the catalyst temperature would reduce by
injection of the room-temperature propellant. To evaluate the influence
of the mass flow of the propellant and the length of the catalyst bed, the
catalyst temperature at continuous operation mode is measured. Fig. 14
presents the relation between the mass flow of the propellant and the
temperature of the catalyst bed (upstream, downstream). Fig. 15 shows
the relation between the length and the downstream temperature of the
catalyst bed. It is found from these results that a higher mass flow is
associated with a lower catalyst bed temperature, and the longer the
catalyst layer is, the higher the obtained temperature becomes. It had
been reported that Iridium as the catalyst of S405 becomes IrO2 when
oxidized in the oxidizing atmosphere with a temperature greater than
600  C, after that it becomes IrO3 which is easily sublimated at tem-
peratures higher than 900  C.31 Therefore, the catalyst bed temperature
should be held to a lower temperature. However, from the previous
T. Katsumi, K. Hori Energetic Materials Frontiers 2 (2021) 228–237

Fig. 18. Chamber pressure and temperature of the outer surface during the
static firing test.

Fig. 17. (a) HAN-based thruster system and (b) balloon-based opera-
tion vehicle.

study, a temperature should be maintained at higher than 100  C to

sustain the reaction in the catalyst bed.
A firing test of the thruster having propellant mass flow and catalyst
bed length selected based on the previous experimental results was
performed. As the result, stable combustion was confirmed in the
continuous operation mode for 100 s. Fig. 16 presents temperature and
pressure data obtained from this firing test. Combustion chamber pres-
sure Pc is stable, and the catalyst bed temperature is maintained at about
100  C. The fact that the combustion chamber temperature reaches a
high temperature indicates that the reaction progresses in the chamber.

4.2. Verification of thruster system technology

4.2.1. Outline of system

A HAN-based monopropellant thruster system (Fig. 17(a)) was
developed for use in free dropping experiments for a supersonic testbed
(Fig. 17(b)) using a balloon, balloon-based operation vehicle (BOV). This
testbed was lifted by a balloon and let to fall freely from 35 km altitude.
This thruster system has 75 mm diameter and 990 mm tube-shaped
length. It includes a thruster, propellant tank, valves, heater, two pres-
sure sensors (in combustion chamber and propellant tank), and ther-
mocouples. Two thruster systems are loaded near the tail fin of the
testbed.
Fig. 19. Chamber pressure and temperature of the outer surface during the
flight test.
lifted by a balloon, it was separated from the balloon at the height of
37.5 km. Then it dropped freely into the Pacific Ocean. The firing test of
thruster system for the HAN-based monopropellant was started at 20 s
after the testbed was separated from the balloon, and combustion
continued normally for 30 s. Fig. 19 shows the combustion chamber

4.2.2. Results of static firing test

Before the free-dropping experiments, to confirm the soundness of
thruster system and to acquire the characteristics, static firing test was
performed under the simulated 35 m altitude environments (low tem-
perature/low pressure). The burning time was 30 s which was the same
as the free-dropping test. Fig. 18 presents one example of the results of
the static firing tests. After ignition, about 5 s spent to rise the combustion
pressure, and then the pressure was stable for about 25 s. Therefore,
stable combustion could be expected for a free-dropping experiment.

4.2.3. Results of free-dropping experiments

Free-dropping experiments using the supersonic testbed were per-
formed on September 1, 2010 in Hokkaido, Japan, in order to verify the
thruster operation under low gravity environment. After the testbed was Fig. 20. Accumulated operation time of GPRCS

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T. Katsumi, K. Hori
Fig. 21. Accumulated Pulse mode Operation of GPRCS.
Fig. 22. Comparison of Isp of SHP-163 as a function of inlet pressure.
pressure and the burner external wall temperature in this test. The
combustion chamber pressure increased gradually during about 8 s from
ignition and then was stable for about 20 s. The specific impulse Isp
calculated from the combustion chamber pressure was 230 s, which is
higher than the value for hydrazine (about 210 s) and which is 88% of the
theoretical Isp. The density ratio thrust ρIsp is 1.46 times that of hydra-
zine. These results showed that our thruster system can obtain the same
performance under low gravity environment as the ground static firing-
test.
4.3. GPRCS demonstration test in space
The USEF (Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer; former JSS
(Japan Space System)) decided to employ the SHP163-based thruster as a
GPRCS project in 2011 and began developing a 1 N thruster. The ISAS,
MHI and JSS resolved several technical difficulties, enjoyed favorable
development prospects after a successful 5000 s burning test at the
ground level in 2014, and won the selection competition for the payloads
at the RAPIS-1 satellite by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)
in 2015.32
GPRCS was equipped to the RAPIS-1 satellite and launched in
January 2019 by the Epsiron-4 launcher.33 The SHP-163 propellant mass
was initially 2.85 kg and the full success threshold of the GPRCS mission
was set to 3000 s the accumulated operation time and 10,000 times the
pulse mode operation at the Isp of 200 s. The extra success was greater
than 4000 s the accumulated operation time, and 13,000 times the pulse
mode and entire the propellant was consumed.
Operation of the thruster began in February 2019 and continued for
one year. The results are shown in Fig. 20-23.34,35 Figs. 20 and 21 show
the accumulated operation time and accumulated pulse mode operation
of the GPRCS and reveal that the results exceeded expectations. The
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Energetic Materials Frontiers 2 (2021) 228–237
Fig. 23. Fuel consumption data.
accumulated operation time reached 4635 s, and the pulse mode oper-
ation was 13,660 times.
Fig. 22 shows a comparison of the Isp of the GPRCS with past data as a
function of the inlet pressure. The Isp of the GPRCS was evaluated with
the satellite semi-major axis increment data. Fig. 22 shows that the Isp
depends slightly on the inlet pressure; the Isp of GPRCS was at 209 s and
exceeded the mission requirement of 200 s. Fig. 23 shows the con-
sumption data of the SHP-163 propellant. The real data are compared
with two cases at nominal and low Isp and the mass curve shows that the
Isp delivered in space is 209 s.
The demonstration test of GPRCS in space was successfully completed
in February 2020 (Fig. 20–23), and the RAPIS-1 satellite operation was
terminated in March 2020. These successful results show that the
maturity of the GPRCS system is sufficient for the next stage of com-
mercial use.
5. Summary
Research and development of SHP-163 and GPRCS was reviewed, and
the successful demonstration test of GPRCS in space was presented. The
competition strength is high among the new green propellants in the
world, however, the extra success of GPRCS at RAPIS-1 satellite may
promote the applications of GPRCS to other space programs in future.
Combustion characteristics and the modeling of SHP-163 were also
presented. The understanding on the instability at high pressures may
contribute to other HAN-based propellants usage and the understating
the combustion mechanism of other high energetic liquid propellants.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
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Japanese.
Toshiyuki Katsumi graduated and received his PhD degree
from The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKEN-
DAI, in 2000 (Department of Space and Astronautical Science).
His research interests are mainly combustion of ionic-liquid
green propellants and its thruster development.