Feasibility Demonstration of a 445N High-Performance Rocket Engine

A program to demonstrate the feasibility of a high-performance 445 Newton (100 lb(sub f)) NTO/NMH rocket engine is presented. An existing high-performance injector was coupled with three different thrust chambers to acquire test data for the program. A stainless-steel sea-level chamber was used for test stand checkout, calibration and initial injector performance determinations. Two high-temperature iridium lined rhenium thrust chambers were used to determine altitude performance and durability. The first chamber was tested for a total duration of 3381 s and the second was tested for a total duration of 15,000 s with no measurable degradation. Extrapolation of epsilon = 44:1 experimental data to the recommended epsilon = 467:1 expansion nozzle, using the JANNAF methodology, showed that a performance of 3138 to 3167 N-s/kg (320 to 323 lb(sub f-s)/lb(sub m) could be achieved with the present design. Recommendations are presented which would allow a redesigned engine to achieve the 3195 N-s/kg (326 lb(sub f-s)/lb(sub m)) program goal.