Nitric acid/Amine propellant. Drawing on the German World War II Wasserfall rocket, nitric acid (HNO3) became the early storable oxidizer of choice for missiles and upper stages of the 1950's. To overcome various problems with its use, it was necessary to combine the nitric acid with N2O4 and passivation compounds. These formulae were considered extremely secret at the time. By the late 1950's it was apparent that N2O4 by itself was a better oxidizer. Therefore nitric acid was almost entirely replaced by pure N2O4 in storable liquid fuel rocket engines developed after 1960. Early storable rocket systems sought to improve ignition characteristics and performance by eliminating the kerosene portion of the fuel. An amine is an organic compound produced when one or more hydrogen atoms of ammonia is replaced with organic groups. Mixed amine fuels were first developed by the Germans in World War II. TONKA-250, developed for the Wasserfall rocket, was used by the Russians after the war in various engines under the specification TG-02.
TONKA-259 was 50% xylidine and 50% triethylamine by weight. In the United States the preferred amine was aniline, an organic base belonging to the phenylamines. In this case it was an ammonia in which one hydrogen atom was replaced by the radical phenyl. Other US fuels in the family included Hydyne.
Optimum Oxidizer to Fuel Ratio: 3.2. Oxidizer Density: 1.510 g/cc. Oxidizer Freezing Point: -42 deg C. Oxidizer Boiling Point: 86 deg C. Fuel Density: 1.020 g/cc. Fuel Freezing Point: -6 deg C. Fuel Boiling Point: 184 deg C.
Subtopics
21AL-2600 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Development begun January 1946. Regeneratively cooled. Development and production first flight 1953.
25AL-1000 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine for A-20 ATO. Development begun May 1942. Production version of GALCIT unit. First flight 1944.
25XALD-1000 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine JATO rocket engine. Development begun May 1942. Droppable version of XLR1, packaged compactly with parachute, for P-38, B-24, and B-25J. First flight 1944.
300LR-200 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Development begun January 1943. Planned successor to XCALT-6000, developed under 'Project X' for the Northrop XP-79 Flying Wing rocket fighter. First flight 1945.
30AL-1000 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Development begun March 1947. Boeing surface-to-air missile, which would evolve into Bomarc and reach IOC in 1959.
38ALDW-1500 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Development begun July 1943. Regeneratively cooled. Also a few 45ALDW-1500 were built. Droppable version. First flight 1945.
40ALD-3000 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Development begun October 1943. Droppable version, pressure fed, regeneratively cooled, supplied with 331 kg of propellant. First flight 1945.
40XAL-4000 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Development begun July 1943. Gasoline engine driven pumps. Also 40ALD-6000 and 60ALD-8000 versions First flight 1945.
45AL-2600 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Development begun June 1948. Manufacture of complete Aerobee systems First flight 1955.
Aerobee engine Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Aerobee. Development begun December 1947. Research with high altitude vehicle as carriers of scientific information.
Aerobee Jr Aerojet Nitric acid/aniline rocket engine.
Burya booster Nitric acid/Amine propellant rocket stage. Booster for Burya missile. Two used to boost ramjet second stage to ignition conditions. Engines developed by Isayev from R-11 S2.253 engine. Early Buryas had S2.1100 engine. Masses estimated based on known total vehicle mass.
Centrojet Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Work begun June 1943. Torque to rotate the main shaft of the propellant pumps was developed by the canted engine nozzles themselves at the aft end of the shaft. Abandoned 1945.
Corporal American short range liquid-propellant ballistic missile. The first American operational guided missile, deployed 1954-1964. Replaced by the Sergeant solid-propellant missile.
Corporal E American short range ballistic missile. Experimental version of Corporal Missile. Nitric acid/Aniline-Furfuyrl alcohol propellants.
Hermes A-1 The Army Hermes A-1 single stage test rocket was an American version of the German Wasserfall anti-aircraft rocket.
Isayev P-15 Isayev Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. P-15 Termit. Out of Production. Designation unknown. Thrust range 11.895-5.43 kN.
Isayev V-750V Isayev Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. SAM-missile V-750V. Out of Production. Designation unknown.
KTDU-5A Isayev Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Used on Luna E-6 probes. Out of Production. First turbopump engine with surface tension propellant management devices in tanks, allowing re-ignition in zero-G.
R-101B.36000-0 Isayev Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Single chamber engine designed for use in the R-101B and R-108 (derivative of German Wasserfall).
RD-0200 Kosberg Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Lavochkin SAM, flew 1960. Out of Production. First liquid rocket engine by OKB-154, evolution of Isayev S2.1200 transferred to Kosberg. Thrust range 59 - 5.9 kN. Sea level specific impulse 230 - 166 sec
RD-0201 Kosberg Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. SAM V1100 by Grushin stage 3. Out of Production. Thrust range 59 - 28 kN. First flight 1960.
S09.29 Isayev Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. V-300/V-303 (S-25 system). Out of Production.
S09.502 Isayev Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Four chamber engine designed for use in the R-101 (derivative of German Wasserfall). Abandoned by 1950 in favor of single-chamber engine.
S2.1150 Isayev Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Burya booster. Out of production. First flight 1957. Engines developed from R-11 S2.253 engine.
S2.713 Isayev Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. R-13 (SS-N-4). Out of Production. First engine to employ gas generator on main propellants. One main and four vernier thrusters. (Mixture derived ratio from tank content.)
S2.720 Isayev Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Engine for SAM-missile V-755. Out of Production. Pump-fed engine. Used in engine unit of a special apparatus. Pump-fed engine. 20,4 kN sea level.
S2.721V Isayev Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. KSR. Developed 1956-.
Wasserfall Seminal German storable propellant surface-to-air missile, tested during World War II, but never operational. The rocket was copied in the USA as the Hermes surface-to-surface missile, in the USSR as the R-101, and in France as the R.04. In Russia it also became the starting point for the R-11/R-17 Scud surface-to-surface missile.
X45ALD-4000 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Development begun June 1948. Regenerative cooling, nitrogen pressure-fed, droppable but no recoverable. Early version using XLR-13-AJ-1 thrust chamber assembly.
X4-AL-1000 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Braking rocket for glider. Single uncooled chamber, pressure fed, 13 kg of propellant.
X60AL-1300 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Development begun January 1945. Superperformance
X60ALD-4000 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. ATO for XB-45, B-45A. Development begun May 1946. Pressurizing tank surrounded propellant tanks. Regeneratively cooled. Parachute for dropping and recovery after takeoff.
X90ALT-60000 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Development begun April 1947. Unspecified Application, 20,000 lbf subscale tested, new vertical test facility
XCALR-2000A-1 Aerojet's unique Aerotojet consisted of a pair of canted 130 kgf thrust chambers mounted longitudinally on a drive shaft, which drove the turbopumps. Developed 1943-1945 for the XP-79 Northrop Flying Wing; blew up on first test.
XCALT-6000 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Conservative alternate to Aerotojet for XP-79 flying wing rocket fighter. Successfully tested in August 1945, but project cancelled. Regeneratively cooled, 4 thrust chambers, pump-fed.
XLR13-AJ-5 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Development begun June 1948. Ceramic chamber and nozzle, nitrogen pressure-fed, droppable but no recoverable.
XLR13-AJ-7 Aerojet Nitric acid/Amine rocket engine. Modification of -AJ-1. Regeneratively cooled by fuel, droppable.
