AFAIK, a NO2 and kerosene rocket won’t work. NO2 chills air, to increase its density, but doesn’t burn.
I get that you’re using it in atmosphere, but I don’t think it would be able to get…. Maybe you could do something very hinky but I don’t think anyone’s tried it.
Kerosene is an interesting idea instead of the ethanol of the v-2/the gasoline of Goddard.
(I think Goddard had a patent claiming to use gasoline/NO2 engine, but I don’t think he built one.)
BDK wrote: ↑Fri Dec 29, 2023 4:16 am
AFAIK, a NO2 and kerosene rocket won’t work. NO2 chills air, to increase its density, but doesn’t burn.
I get that you’re using it in atmosphere, but I don’t think it would be able to get…. Maybe you could do something very hinky but I don’t think anyone’s tried it.
Kerosene is an interesting idea instead of the ethanol of the v-2/the gasoline of Goddard.
(I think Goddard had a patent claiming to use gasoline/NO2 engine, but I don’t think he built one.)
Nitrous oxide is actually a very good oxidizer for rockets, commonly used in hybrid designs today. With the right catalyst or at high temperatures it decomposes exothermically into nitrogen and oxygen.
Kerosene / N2O has a sea level specific impulse of 250 seconds, about the same as kerosene/ H2O2, and N2O is much safer to handle than concentrated H2O2.
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