Green Propellant Implementation for Space Missions and Upper Stage Propulsion

Abstract

Most interplanetary probes use MMH / NTO or hydrazine. Small / medium launcher upper stages like FREGAT and AVUM (VEGA) use also UDMH / NTO combinations. It is proposed to study their replacement by green propellants either storable (nitrous oxide / hydrocarbons) or semi cryogenic (LOX / hydrocarbons). The storable solutions are interesting for V < 2 000 m/s while semi cryogenic or cryogenic solutions are more attractive for higher V. Mission's examples toward Moon, Mars and Jupiter are proposed as well as a small upper stage for a micro satellite launcher. Some very simple ground demonstrators are proposed to validate the selected combinations.

A liquid propulsion panorama

“…Cleaner propellant combinations relative to usual storable propellants (MMH, UDMH, NTO), commonly designated as "green propellants" could come to fruition, provided early demonstration at low thrust level are satisfactory [8,16,21,42].…”