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Old 19-06-2012, 05:31 PM
TrevorW
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 8,280
fuels and SI

Current use

Here are some common liquid fuel combinations in use today:
  • LOX and kerosene (RP-1). Used for the lower stages of the Soyuz boosters, and the first stage of the U.S. Saturn V, Atlas, and Falcon 9 boosters. Very similar to Robert Goddard's first rocket.
  • Nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) and UDMH or MMH. Used in three first stages of the Russian Proton booster, most Chinese boosters, a number of military, orbital and deep space rockets, as this fuel combination is hypergolic and storable for long periods at reasonable temperatures and pressures.
  • hydrazine(N2H4) and Aerozine-50 are also used in deep space missions because they are storable and hypergolic, and can be used as a monopropellant with a catalyst.


Typical performances of common propellants Propellant mix Vacuum Isp (seconds) Effective exhaust velocity (m/s) liquid oxygen/
liquid hydrogen 455 4462 liquid oxygen/
kerosene (RP-1) 358 3510 nitrogen tetroxide/
hydrazine 344 3369
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