A
hybrid rocket is a
rocketA rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
with a rocket motor which uses propellants in two different states of matter - one solid and the other either gas or liquid. The Hybrid rocket concept can be traced back at least 75 years.
Hybrid rockets exhibit advantages over both liquid rockets and
solid rocketA solid rocket or a solid-fuel rocket is a rocket engine that uses solid propellants . The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used by the Chinese in warfare as early as the 13th century and later by the Mongols, Arabs, and Indians.All rockets used some form of...
s especially in terms of simplicity, safety, and cost. Because it is nearly impossible for the fuel and oxidizer to be mixed intimately (being different states of matter), hybrid rockets tend to fail more benignly than liquids or solids. Like liquid rockets and unlike solid rockets they can be shut down easily and are simply throttle-able. The theoretical
specific impulse(
)Specific impulse is a way to describe the efficiency of rocket and jet engines. It represents the derivative of the impulse with respect to amount of propellant used, i.e., the thrust divided by the amount of propellant used per unit time. If the "amount" of propellant is given in terms of mass ,...
performance of hybrids is generally higher than solids and roughly equivalent to
hydrocarbon-basedIn organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons from which one hydrogen atom has been removed are functional groups, called hydrocarbyls....
liquids.
as high as 400s has been measured in a hybrid rocket using metalized fuels. Hybrid systems are slightly more complex than solids, but the
significant hazardsThe PEPCON disaster was an industrial disaster that occurred in Henderson, Nevada on May 4, 1988 at the Pacific Engineering Production Company of Nevada plant. The chemical fire and subsequent explosions claimed two lives, injured 372 people, and caused an estimated US$100 million of damage...
of manufacturing, shipping and handling solids offset the system simplicity advantages.
Basic concepts
In its simplest form a hybrid rocket consists of a
pressure vesselA pressure vessel is a closed container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure substantially different from the ambient pressure.The pressure differential is dangerous and many fatal accidents have occurred in the history of their development and operation. Consequently, their design,...
(tank) containing the liquid
propellantRocket propellant is mass that is stored in some form of propellant tank, prior to being used as the propulsive mass that is ejected from a rocket engine in the form of a fluid jet to produce thrust. A fuel propellant is often burned with an oxidizer propellant to produce large volumes of very hot...
, the
combustion chamberA combustion chamber is the part of an engine in which fuel is burned.-Internal combustion engine:The hot gases produced by the combustion occupy a far greater volume than the original fuel, thus creating an increase in pressure within the limited volume of the chamber...
containing the solid
propellantRocket propellant is mass that is stored in some form of propellant tank, prior to being used as the propulsive mass that is ejected from a rocket engine in the form of a fluid jet to produce thrust. A fuel propellant is often burned with an oxidizer propellant to produce large volumes of very hot...
, and a valve isolating the two. When thrust is desired, a suitable ignition source is introduced in the combustion chamber and the valve is opened. The liquid propellant (or gas) flows into the combustion chamber where it is vaporized and then reacted with the solid propellant.
CombustionCombustion or burning is the sequence of exothermic chemical reactions between a fuel and an oxidant accompanied by the production of heat and conversion of chemical species. The release of heat can result in the production of light in the form of either glowing or a flame...
occurs in a
boundary layerIn physics and fluid mechanics, a boundary layer is that layer of fluid in the immediate vicinity of a bounding surface where effects of viscosity of the fluid are considered in detail. In the Earth's atmosphere, the planetary boundary layer is the air layer near the ground affected by diurnal...
diffusion flameIn combustion, a diffusion flame is a flame in which the oxidizer combines with the fuel by diffusion. As a result, the flame speed is limited by the rate of diffusion. Diffusion flames tend to burn slower and to produce more soot than premixed flames because there may not be sufficient oxidizer...
adjacent to the surface of the solid propellant.
Generally the liquid propellant is the oxidizer and the solid propellant is the
fuelFuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air...
because solid oxidizers are problematic and lower performing than liquid oxidizers. Furthermore, using a solid fuel such as HTPB or
paraffinIn chemistry, paraffin is a term that can be used synonymously with "alkane", indicating hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. Paraffin wax refers to a mixture of alkanes that falls within the 20 ≤ n ≤ 40 range; they are found in the solid state at room temperature and begin to enter the...
allows for the incorporation of high-energy fuel additives such as
aluminiumAluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
,
lithiumLithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
, or metal hydrides.
Common oxidizers include gaseous or liquid
oxygenOxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
or
nitrous oxideNitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
.
Common fuels include polymers such as
polyethylenePolyethylene or polythene is the most widely used plastic, with an annual production of approximately 80 million metric tons...
,
cross-linkCross-links are bonds that link one polymer chain to another. They can be covalent bonds or ionic bonds. "Polymer chains" can refer to synthetic polymers or natural polymers . When the term "cross-linking" is used in the synthetic polymer science field, it usually refers to the use of...
ed rubber such as HTPB or liquefying fuels such as
paraffinIn chemistry, paraffin is a term that can be used synonymously with "alkane", indicating hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. Paraffin wax refers to a mixture of alkanes that falls within the 20 ≤ n ≤ 40 range; they are found in the solid state at room temperature and begin to enter the...
.
Properties
Hybrid rocket motors exhibit some obvious as well as some subtle advantages over liquid-fuel rockets and
solid rocketA solid rocket or a solid-fuel rocket is a rocket engine that uses solid propellants . The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used by the Chinese in warfare as early as the 13th century and later by the Mongols, Arabs, and Indians.All rockets used some form of...
s. A brief summary of some of these is given below:
Advantages compared with bipropellant liquid rockets
- Mechanically simpler - requires only a single liquid propellant resulting in less plumbing, fewer valves, and simpler operations.
- Denser fuels - fuels in the solid phase
In the physical sciences, a phase is a region of space , throughout which all physical properties of a material are essentially uniform. Examples of physical properties include density, index of refraction, and chemical composition...
generally have higher density than those in the liquid phase
- Metal additives - reactive metals such as aluminum, magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg, atomic number 12, and common oxidation number +2. It is an alkaline earth metal and the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust and ninth in the known universe as a whole...
, lithiumLithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
or berylliumBeryllium is the chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a divalent element which occurs naturally only in combination with other elements in minerals. Notable gemstones which contain beryllium include beryl and chrysoberyl...
can be easily included in the fuel grain increasing specific impulse(
)Specific impulse is a way to describe the efficiency of rocket and jet engines. It represents the derivative of the impulse with respect to amount of propellant used, i.e., the thrust divided by the amount of propellant used per unit time. If the "amount" of propellant is given in terms of mass ,...
Advantages compared with solid rockets
- Higher theoretical
obtainable
- Less explosion hazard - Propellant grain more tolerant of processing errors such as cracks
- More controllable - Start/stop/restart and throttling are all achievable with appropriate oxidizer control
- Safe and non-toxic oxidizers such as liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...
and nitrous oxideNitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
can be used
- Can be transported to site in a benign form and loaded with oxidizer remotely immediately before launch, improving safety.
Disadvantages of hybrid rockets
Hybrid rockets also exhibit some disadvantages when compared with liquid and solid rockets. These include:
- Oxidizer-to-fuel ratio shift ("O/F shift") - with a constant oxidizer flow-rate, the ratio of fuel production rate to oxidizer flow rate will change as a grain regresses. This leads to off-peak operation from a chemical performance point of view.
- Low regression-rate (rate at which the solid phase recedes) fuels often drive multi-port fuel grains. Multi-port fuel grains have poor volumetric efficiency and, often, structural deficiencies. High regression-rate liquefying fuels developed in the late 1990s offer a potential solution to this problem.
For a well-designed hybrid, O/F shift has a very small impact on performance because
is insensitive to O/F near the peak.
In general, much less development work has been performed with hybrids than liquids or solids and it is likely that some of these disadvantages could be rectified through further investment in
research and developmentThe phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
.
Hybrid safety
Generally, well designed and carefully constructed hybrids are very safe. The primary hazards associated with hybrids are:
- Pressure vessel failures - Chamber insulation failure may allow hot combustion gases near the chamber walls leading to a "burn-through" in which the vessel ruptures.
- Blow back - For oxidizers that decompose exothermically such as nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
or hydrogen peroxideHydrogen peroxide is the simplest peroxide and an oxidizer. Hydrogen peroxide is a clear liquid, slightly more viscous than water. In dilute solution, it appears colorless. With its oxidizing properties, hydrogen peroxide is often used as a bleach or cleaning agent...
, flame or hot gasses from the combustion chamber can propagate back through the injector, igniting the oxidizer and leading to a tank explosion. Blow-back requires gases to flow back through the injector due to insufficient pressure drop which can occur during periods of unstable combustion. Blow back is inherent to specific oxidizers and is not possible with oxidizers such as oxygenOxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
or nitrogen tetroxide unless fuel is present in the oxidizer tank.
- Hard starts - An excess of oxidizer in the combustion chamber prior to ignition, particularly for monopropellants such as nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
, can result in a temporary over-pressure or "spike" at ignition.
Because the fuel in a hybrid does not contain an oxidizer, it will not combust explosively on its own. For this reason, hybrids are classified as having no
TNT equivalentTNT equivalent is a method of quantifying the energy released in explosions. The ton of TNT is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 gigajoules, which is approximately the amount of energy released in the detonation of one ton of TNT...
explosive power. In contrast,
solid rocketA solid rocket or a solid-fuel rocket is a rocket engine that uses solid propellants . The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used by the Chinese in warfare as early as the 13th century and later by the Mongols, Arabs, and Indians.All rockets used some form of...
s often have TNT equivalencies similar in magnitude to the mass of the propellant grain. Liquids typically have TNT equivalencies calculated based on the amount of fuel and oxidizer which could realistically intimately combine before igniting explosively; this is often taken to be 10-20% of the total propellant mass. For hybrids, even filling the combustion chamber with oxidiser prior to ignition will not generally create an explosive with the solid fuel, the explosive equivalence is often quoted as 0%.
Organizations working on hybrids
In 1998
SpaceDevSpaceDev, a part of the "Space Systems Business" of Sierra Nevada Corporation, is prominent for its spaceflight and microsatellite work. It designed and built the hybrid rocket motors for Paul Allen's Tier One suborbital SpaceShipOne space program operated by Scaled Composites...
acquired all of the intellectual property, designs, and test results generated by over 200 hybrid rocket motor firings by the
American Rocket CompanyFounded in 1985 by George Koopman, Bevin McKinney and Jim Bennett, veterans of Starstruck , the American Rocket Company, or AMROC, was a company that developed hybrid rocket motors....
over its eight year life. SpaceDev developed and produced all of the hybrid rocket motors for
SpaceShipOne. SpaceDev is currently developing SpaceDev Streaker, an expendable small launch vehicle, and
SpaceDev Dream ChaserThe Dream Chaser is a crewed suborbital and orbital vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing lifting-body spaceplane being developed by SpaceDev, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation . The Dream Chaser design is planned to carry seven people to and from low earth orbit...
, capable of both suborbital and orbital human space flight. Both Streaker and Dream Chaser use hybrid rocket motors that burn
nitrous oxideNitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
and the synthetic rubber HTPB.
SpaceShipOne, the first private manned spacecraft, is powered by a hybrid rocket burning HTPB with
nitrous oxideNitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
.
Space Propulsion GroupSpace Propulsion Group is an aerospace company founded in 1999 by Dr. Arif Karabeyoglu, Prof. Brian Cantwell and others from Stanford University to develop high regression-rate liquefying hybrid rocket fuels and motors. They have successfully fired motors as large as 12.5 in. diameter which produce...
was founded in 1999 by Dr. Arif Karabeyoglu, Prof. Brian Cantwell and others from Stanford University to develop high regression-rate liquefying hybrid rocket fuels. They have successfully fired motors as large as 12.5 in. diameter which produce 13,000 lbf. using the technology and are currently developing a 24 in. diameter, 25,000 lbf. motor to be initially fired in 2010.
Orbital Technologies Corporation (Orbitec) has been involved in some US government funded research on hybrid rockets including the "Vortex Hybrid" concept.
Environmental Aerospace Corporation (eAc) was incorporated in 1994 to develop hybrid rocket propulsion systems. It was included in the design competition for the
SpaceShipOne motor but lost the contract to
SpaceDevSpaceDev, a part of the "Space Systems Business" of Sierra Nevada Corporation, is prominent for its spaceflight and microsatellite work. It designed and built the hybrid rocket motors for Paul Allen's Tier One suborbital SpaceShipOne space program operated by Scaled Composites...
.
The
Reaction Research SocietyThe Reaction Research Society is the oldest continuously operating amateur experimental rocket group in the United States. Founded by George James on 6 January 1943, originally as the Southern California Rocket Society, the organization's name was changed to the Glendale Rocket Society two months...
(RRS), although known primarily for their work with liquid rocket propulsion, has a long history of research and development with hybrid rocket propulsion.
Copenhagen SuborbitalsCopenhagen Suborbitals is a non-profit organization working towards suborbital manned spaceflight. Founded in 2008 by Kristian von Bengtson and Peter Madsen the project has accomplished a successful sea launch of a test hybrid rocket, carrying a full scale human model...
, a Danish rocket group, has designed and test-fired several hybrids using N
2O at first and currently LOX. Their fuel is epoxy, paraffin, or polyurethane.
Several universities have recently experimented with hybrid rockets.
BYUBrigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
, the
University of UtahThe University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
, and
Utah State UniversityUtah State University is a public university located in Logan, Utah. It is a land-grant and space-grant institution and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities....
launched a student-designed rocket called Unity IV in 1995 which burned the solid fuel
hydroxyl-terminated polybutadieneHydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene is a polymer of butadiene terminated at each end with a hydroxyl functional group. It reacts with diisocyanate to form polyurethane, a stable and easily stored synthetic material....
(HTPB) with an oxidizer of gaseous oxygen, and in 2003 launched a larger version which burned HTPB with
nitrous oxideNitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
.
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
is the institution where liquid-layer combustion theory for hybrid rockets was developed. The SPaSE group at Stanford is currently working with NASA Ames Research Center developing the Peregrine Sounding rocket which will be capable of 100 km altitude.
The
WARR student-team at the
Technical University of MunichThe Technische Universität München is a research university with campuses in Munich, Garching, and Weihenstephan...
is developing hybrid engines and rockets since the beginning of the 1970s. Using acids,
oxygenOxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
or
nitrous oxideNitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
in combination with
polyethylenePolyethylene or polythene is the most widely used plastic, with an annual production of approximately 80 million metric tons...
or HTPB. The development includes test stand engines as well as airborne versions, like the first German hybrid rocket
BarbarellaBarbarella is a female given name, variant of Barbara. It may also refer to:* Barbarella by Jean-Claude Forest; the origin of the story** Barbarella , based on the comic book; starring Jane Fonda...
.
University of BrasiliaThe University of Brasília , is one of the largest and most prestigious Brazilian public universities funded by the Brazilian federal government...
's Hybrid Team has extensive research in paraffin/nitrous oxide hybrids having already made more than 50 tests fires. Hybrid Team is currently working liquefied propellant, numeric optimization and rocket design
Many other universities, such as the
University of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
at Ann Arbor, the
University of Arkansas at Little RockUniversity of Arkansas at Little Rock , is a public research university located in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, and the second largest university by enrollment in the state of Arkansas....
,
Hendrix CollegeHendrix College is a private liberal arts college located in Conway, Arkansas. The student body averages around 1,400 and currently represents forty-three states and fourteen foreign countries. In US News and World Report's America's Best Colleges, Hendrix is ranked annually in the top tier of...
, the
University of IllinoisThe University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
,
Portland State UniversityPortland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
, and
Texas A&M UniversityTexas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
have hybrid motor test stands that allow for student research with hybrid rockets.
Boston UniversityBoston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
's student-run "Rocket Team", which in the past has launched only solid motor rockets, has completed several static tests of motors using paraffin and HTPB solid fuels and nitrous oxide as the oxidizer.
Florida Institute of TechnologyFlorida Institute of Technology, also known as Florida Tech, is an independent private technical research university located in Melbourne, Florida, United States. Founded in 1958 as Brevard Engineering College, the institute has been known by its present name since 1966. Florida Tech's curriculum...
has successfully tested and evaluated hybrid technologies with their Panthr Project.
A United Kingdom-based team (laffin-gas) is using four N
2O hybrid rockets in a drag-racing style car. Each rocket has an outer diameter of 150mm and is 1.4m long. They use a fuel grain of high-density wound paper soaked in cooking oil. The N
2O supply is provided by Nitrogen-pressurised piston accumulators which provide a higher rate of delivery than N
2O gas alone and also provide damping of any reverse shock.
There are a number of hybrid rocket motor systems available for amateur/hobbyist use in high-powered model rocketry. These include the popular
HyperTek systems and a number of 'Urbanski-Colburn Valved' (U/C) systems such as
RATTWorks,
Skyripper Systems,
West Coast Hybrids,
Contrail Rockets, and
Propulsion Polymers.
All of these systems use
nitrous oxideNitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
as the oxidizer and a plastic fuel (such as PVC or PolyPropylene) or a polymer-based fuel such as HTPB. This reduces the cost per flight compared to solid rocket motors, although there is generally more 'GSE' (ground support equipment) required with hybrids.
In popular culture
An October 26, 2005 episode of the Television show
MythBustersMythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
entitled "Confederate Rocket" featured a hybrid rocket motor using liquid nitrous oxide and paraffin. The myth purported that during the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the
Confederate ArmyThe Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
was able to construct a rocket of this type. The myth was revisited in a later episode entitled
Salami Rocket, using hollowed out dry
salamiSalami is cured sausage, fermented and air-dried meat, originating from one of a variety of animals. Historically, salami has been popular among Southern European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for periods of up to 10 years, supplementing a possibly meager or inconsistent...
as the solid fuel.
In the February 18, 2007 episode of
Top GearTop Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars. It began in 1977 as a conventional motoring magazine show. Over time, and especially since a relaunch in 2002, it has developed a quirky, humorous style...
, a
Reliant Robinthumb|right|250px|1975 Greek advertisement for Mebea Robin The Reliant Robin is a small three wheeled car formerly manufactured by the Reliant Motor Company in Tamworth, England...
was used by
Richard HammondRichard Mark Hammond is an English broadcaster, writer, and journalist most noted for co-hosting car programme Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky 1.-Early life:...
and
James MayJames Daniel May is an English television presenter, journalist and writer. He is best known for his role as co-presenter of the award-winning motoring programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond....
in an attempt to modify a normal K-reg Robin into a reusable
space shuttleThe Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
. Steve Holland, a professional
radio-controlled aircraftA radio-controlled aircraft is controlled remotely by a hand-held transmitter and a receiver within the craft...
pilot, helped Hammond to work out how to land a Robin safely. The craft was built by Senior members of UKRA and achieved a successful launch, flew for several seconds into the air and managed to successfully jettison the solid fuel rocket boosters on time. This was the largest rocket launched by a non-government organisation in Europe. It used 6 x 40960 NS O
Contrail Rockets motors giving a maximum thrust of 8 metric tons. However, the car failed to separate from the large external fuel tank due to a faulty explosive bolts between the Robin and the external tank and the Robin subsequently crashed into the ground and
seemed to have exploded soon after. In fact this explosion was added for dramatic effect as hybrids do not explode in the way depicted.
See also
- Spacecraft propulsion
Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. There are many different methods. Each method has drawbacks and advantages, and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. However, most spacecraft today are propelled by forcing a gas from the...
- Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
ry
- SpaceDev
SpaceDev, a part of the "Space Systems Business" of Sierra Nevada Corporation, is prominent for its spaceflight and microsatellite work. It designed and built the hybrid rocket motors for Paul Allen's Tier One suborbital SpaceShipOne space program operated by Scaled Composites...
- Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne
- Space Propulsion Group
Space Propulsion Group is an aerospace company founded in 1999 by Dr. Arif Karabeyoglu, Prof. Brian Cantwell and others from Stanford University to develop high regression-rate liquefying hybrid rocket fuels and motors. They have successfully fired motors as large as 12.5 in. diameter which produce...
External links