Metal organic frameworks as hypergolic additives for rocket propulsion

在两个新兴部门的推动下，一场新的太空竞赛目前正在进行中：空间旅游和发射小型卫星。这第二个部门现在是一个新兴市场，因为遥感和电子技术的进步使许多小公司能够开发用于电信、农业监测和自然灾害救济应用的紧凑型和轻型卫星。对于这样的小卫星，混合轨道发射器可能是一个非常有吸引力的选择。在混合动力火箭发动机中，燃料是固体，氧化剂是液体或气体。本项目旨在为混合动力火箭开发新的燃料配方，以降低发射成本和对环境的影响。所研究的方法是基于使用高回归速率的燃料基质，例如石蜡，其中使用添加剂来改变能量和流变性。其中，聚合物将用于控制熔融燃料的粘度和金属有机骨架(MOF)，以实现自燃，即燃料与氧化剂接触时自燃的能力。这项拟议的研究对于让混合动力火箭发动机在推进性能方面与大型轨道发射器中使用的更复杂的液体燃料发动机竞争至关重要。这种基于混合动力和超高速发动机的小型轨道发射器有可能在机械上简单得多，从而降低向空间发射有效载荷的成本和风险，并更好地满足小型卫星运营商在轨道灵活性方面的需要。这些技术使加拿大能够开发轨道发射系统，例如我们的工业伙伴的系统，从小规模开始。因此，开发小型卫星的加拿大公司将有可能在当地进入太空，使它们能够比拼车更快、更便宜、更灵活地将有效载荷送入轨道。

A new space race is currently underway, motivated by two emerging sectors: space tourism and the launching of small satellites. This second sector is now a burgeoning market as progress in sensing and electronic technologies have enabled a plethora of small companies to develop compact and light satellites for telecommunication, agriculture monitoring and natural disaster relief applications. For such small satellites, hybrid orbital launchers could be a very attractive option. In a hybrid rocket engine, the fuel is solid and the oxidizer is liquid or gaseous. The present project aims to develop novel fuel formulations for hybrid rockets that lower the cost and environmental impact of launches. The approach investigated is based on the use of a high regression rate fuel matrix such as paraffin, in which additives are used to modify energetic and rheological properties. Among others, polymers will be used to control the viscosity of the melted fuel and Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) to enable hypergolicity, the ability of the fuel to ignite spontaneously upon contact with the oxidizer. The proposed research is essential to allow hybrid rocket engines to compete in terms of propulsive performance with more complex liquid-fueled engines used in large scale orbital launchers. Such small-scale orbital launchers based on hybrid and hypergolic engines have the potential to be much simpler mechanically, decreasing costs and risks associated with launching payloads to space and better meeting the needs of small-scale satellite operators in terms of orbit flexibility. These technologies enable the development of Canadian orbital launching systems, such as those of our industrial partners, starting at the small scale. As a result, access to space will become possible locally for Canadian companies developing small satellites, allowing them to get their payloads to orbit quicker, cheaper and with more flexibility compared to ride-sharing.