Student research team develops hybrid rocket engine:
In a year defined by obstacles, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign student rocket team persevered. Working together across five time zones, they successfully designed a hybrid rocket engine that uses paraffin and a novel nitrous oxide-oxygen mixture called Nytrox. The team has its sights set on launching a rocket with the new engine at the 2021 Intercollegiate Rocketry and Engineering Competition.
[...] Last year the team witnessed a number of catastrophic failures with hybrid engines utilizing nitrous oxide. The propellant frequently overheated in the New Mexico desert, where the IREC competition is held. Lembeck said this motivated the team to find an alternative fuel that could remain stable at temperature. Nytrox surfaced as the solution to the problem.
[...] In June 2021, the rocket will be transported to Spaceport America in Truth or Consequences for its first launch.
The team collaborated online to build their rocket.
Vignesh Sella et al. Development of a Nytrox-Paraffin Hybrid Rocket Engine, AIAA Propulsion and Energy 2020 Forum (2020). DOI: 10.2514/6.2020-3729
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Freeman on Wednesday August 26 2020, @10:11PM
The proof is in the pudding as they say, put up or shut up, etc. If nothing else though, might be cool to see it make a sudden unscheduled disassembly.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2020, @02:50AM (2 children)
You can buy these...
AeroTech RMS/Hybrid Reloadable Motor System is the world's first commercially available reloadable hybrid propellant rocket motor and has successfully completed the Tripoli Rocketry Association's beta-testing and motor certification programs. A hybrid propellant rocket motor employs separated propellant ingredients in two different physical states (generally the fuel is a solid while the oxidizer is a liquid). In AeroTech's RMS/Hybrid motor design, pressurized liquefied nitrous oxide (N2O) is employed as the oxidizer while cellulose (C6H10O5) is utilized as the solid fuel (patent pending).
http://www.aerotech-rocketry.com/customersite/products/motors/hybrid/hybridexplanation.html [aerotech-rocketry.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by KilroySmith on Thursday August 27 2020, @03:15AM (1 child)
Hybrid rocket motors have a long history in amateur rocketry. What I believe is unique is their use of Nytrox as a safer, more stable oxidizer. But TFA is mostly a fluff piece designed to keep U of I in the press...
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2020, @08:09AM
Those Aerotech hybrids were developed about 22 years ago, and advanced rocketeers (certified to do this stuff) were experimenting with N2O/sugar, N2O/Ammonium Perchlorate, and other custom formulations. I question the validity of "Student Research Team Develops Hybrid Rocket Engine" when this tech was available off the shelf 20 years ago.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday August 27 2020, @03:42PM
I wish they'd called it something else.
Nytrox - Nitrous oxide-oxygen mix apparently used for rockets.
Nitrox - Oxygen enriched nitrogen-oxygen breathing mix used by scuba divers to reduce fatigue and nitrogen narcosis.
It's unlikely that someone would make this mistake, breathe the wrong mixture, and die. It's still an unfortunate naming choice.