What is NASA's "Green Fuel"?| It's debut on Space X Falcon heavy mission.

WHAT IS GREEN FUEL?

Green fuel is a non-toxic rose coloured liquid that consists of hydroxyl ammonium nitrate ( H₄N₂O₄) which when blended with oxidizer causes it to burn.

This fuel will serve as an alternative to Hydrazine which is currently used extensively for the spacecrafts.

DEVELOPED BY?

This green propellant is developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Edwards Air Force Base situated in California.

WHY IT WAS DEVELOPED?

Hydrazine is a clear liquid that looks & behaves like water. It also has similar freezing point, surface tension, density & viscosity.

Hydrazine + Oxygen (Air) → Explosion (used in rocket propulsion)

SIDE EFFECTS:

• Extremely toxic, caustic & carcinogenic ( able to cause cancer).
• Can cause burns in eyes, nose, mouth & respiratory system.
• Burns with no visible flame so it can easily spread to other combustible materials like clothes so can be very fatal.

Other issues related to hydrazine are:

• Requires strict safety precautions like extra protective clothing, thick rubber gloves & oxygen tanks.

BENEFITS OF GREEN FUEL

NASA will test green fuel & compatible propulsion system in space for the first time with the Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) on Space X Falcon heavy rocket scheduled later in June 2019.

Credits-Ball Aerospace

GPIM seeks to improve the overall propellant efficiency while reducing the handling concerns of highly toxic hydrazine.

Green propellant can perk the performance of rocket by 50 % that means with lesser fuel on board rocket can travel farther without any problem. The fuel is said to be more denser as compared to hydrazine.

WHAT WENT BEHIND?

In order to get full benefits of the green propellant engineers had to develop whole new hardware which included everything from thrusters & tanks to filters & valves.

GPIM used for the fuel uses thrusters which fire in different scenarios  to test engine's performance & reliability.

GPIM propulsion system comprises of a propellant tank & five 1 Newton thrusters which carry the non toxic fuel. It was heavily tested by the Aerojet Rocketdyne after which Fred Wilson ( Director of Business development of Aerojet) said-

"Building upon the GPIM work, Aerojet is moving forward on a range of other thrust-level propulsion systems to utilize high-performance green propellant."

“We see interest in using green propellant across the space industry,” Wilson said. “The trend is towards smaller and smaller satellites, to do more mission in a small package.”

This green fuel will help the small satellite missions such as cube satellites with small budget & also it will inspire new ideas & new missions.

Peace☮