Advanced Liquid and Gelled Propellants for Rocket and Ramjet Propulsion

The development of future propulsion systems is affected by different and partly contradictory demands like more complex mission requirements, higher reliability, environmental and safety aspects, and of course also cost reduction. This requires intensified research and technology development activities always in relation to the improvement of the complete propulsion system. In relation to the improvement of the properties and the reliability of advanced propellants, materials, structures and components, tests have to be conducted under relevant loads and environmental conditions in addition to basic research. This presentation gives a short insight into the work on the research and technology development level, which has to be conducted to test new flowable propellant candidates within the scope of their application in propulsion systems. The procedure will be described for two examples of new propellant types, i.e. gel propellants and various candidates which shall replace hydrazine in satellite propulsion systems