NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) HAS IDENTIFIED A NEED FOR A COMPREHENSIVE PROPELLANT CHARACTERIZATION CAMPAIGN FOR MIXED OXIDES OF NITROGEN (MON) WITH HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF NITRIC OXIDE (NO). NASA HAS HISTORICALLY USED ONLY LOW CONCENTRATIONS OF NO ADDED TO NITROGEN TETROXIDE PRIMARY AS AN INHIBITOR TO MITIGATE STRESS CORROSION CONCERNS. HOWEVER HIGHER CONCENTRATIONS OF THE NO CAN BE ADDED TO FURTHER REDUCE THE FREEZING POINT AND ALLOW SYSTEM LEVEL BENEFITS IN LOWER STORED AND OPERATING TEMPERATURE ENVIRONMENTS. SEVERAL PREVIOUS AND ONGOING PROPULSION SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES RELY ON INCREASING CONCENTRATIONS OF NO IN NITROGEN TETROXIDE UP TO 30 PERCENT. UNFORTUNATELY MANY OF THE AVAILABLE DATA SETS FOR OXIDIZERS WITH HIGHER THAN 3 PERCENT ARE BASED ON EXTRAPOLATIONS FROM MON1 OR MON3 PROPELLANTS. THESE DATA SETS ARE ALSO OVER NARROWER TEMPERATURE RANGES THAN THE ANTICIPATED NEEDS ARE FOR UPCOMING MISSIONS. THEREFORE A DETAILED STUDY OF THE PROPERTIES OF THIS OXIDIZER PROVIDES FUNDAMENTAL DATA NEEDED FOR THE DESIGN OF NEW MISSIONS.
$410,000FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
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