Chemical Propulsion: Greater than 60 Years of Leadership and Innovation at NASA Glenn Research Center

Design and performance evaluation of a novel H2/O2 electro-chemical hybrid thruster

“…Different from the electric thruster, chemical propulsion [9][10][11] is characterized by large thrust, but its specific impulse is strongly limited by the energy stored in the chemical bonds of the propellant and is impossible to exceed 500 s (i.e., the value theoretically predicted by a H 2 /O 2 detonation engine in a vacuum environment) 12,13 . This indicates that more propellant would be consumed when performing the manned deep space exploration which requires large velocity increments (Δv).…”