LIQUID HYDROGEN AS A
PROPULSION FUEL,1945-1959
Part II : 1950
-1957
5. NACA Research on High-Energy
Propellants
Research Conference on Supersonic
Missiles
[78] On 13 March 1952,
the NACA held a research conference at the Lewis laboratory to
present the latest results of research pertaining to supersonic
missile propulsion. Papers on turbojet and ramjet propulsion
dominated the meeting, but there was one paper on the status of
liquid-propellant rocket engines by Gerald Morrell and Vearl Huff.
Their paper covered propellants, combustion, and cooling-the three
subjects of NACA research. Experimental performance data for rocket
engines using ammonia and ammonia-hydrazine mixtures as fuels and
liquid fluorine as the oxidizer were presented. With respect to
high-energy propellants in general, the authors stated:
- The high specific impulse [exhaust
velocity] propellant systems Iive of greatestpromise for
application in long-range missile propulsion; recommendations
forpropellant systems which require development include
hydrogen-oxygen,hydrogen-fluorine, and ammonia-fluorine.
Experience with these systems is still in the early experimental
stages, but the performance obtained to date is encouraging. With
the hydrogen-oxygen system, other laboratories (JPL, Aerojet and
Ohio State) have obtained 96 to 97 percent of the theoretical
specific impulse calculated for equilibrium expansion; that is,
maintenance of chemical equilibrium is assumed during the
expansion process. Experiments with the hydrogen-fluorine system
in a 100-pound-thrust [445 newton] engine at JPL have yielded
equally good performance.15
-