UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
1
AN EVALUATION OF GREEN PROPELLANTS FOR AN ICBM POST-BOOST PROPULSION SYSTEM
Brian J. German*, E. Caleb Branscome*, Andrew P. Frits*, Nicholas C. Yiakas*, and Dr. Dimitri N. Mavris†
Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory
School of Aerospace Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332-0150
ABSTRACT *†
Propellant toxicity is a major concern in storing,
maintaining, and transporting strategic missiles. Many
low toxicity “green” propellants have been developed
which hold the potential of increasing the safety and
lowering the operation and support costs of liquid-
fuelled strategic missile propulsion systems. This study
evaluates several green propellants for use in a notional
next-generation post-boost propulsion system (PBPS).
The mission and physical dimensions for this PBPS
were defined by the requirements of the current
Minuteman III propulsion system rocket engine
(PSRE). Possible propellants were initially screened in
terms of toxicity, performance, and technical feasibility
for the PBPS application with a multi-attribute ranking
method based on an overall evaluation criterion (OEC).
Promising propellants were identified, and candidate
PBPS concepts were developed and sized for each of
these propellants. These concepts were evaluated in
terms of weight, cost, and technical risk to determine
which concepts, and hence propellants, show the most
promise for the application. Probabilistic techniques
were employed to explore the effects of uncertainty in
the propellant performance and structural weight
estimates. The results indicate that high-test peroxide
(HTP) combined with either an ethanol-based nontoxic
hypergolic miscible fuel (NHMF) or competitive
impulse non-carcinogenic hypergol (CINCH) is a very
viable propellant solution.
NOMENCLATURE
ACS
Attitude Control System
CDF
Cumulative Distribution Function
CINCH Competitive Impulse Non-Carcinogenic Hypergol
DACS
Divert Attitude Control System
HTP
High Test Peroxide (High Concentration H2O2)
Isp
Specific I