Manufacture and Deflagration of an Atomic Hydrogen Propellant

It is observed that the use of very low temperatures (in the range from 0.1 to 1.5 K) produced by advanced cryogenic apparatus and the use of very strong magnetic fields (in the range from 50 to 100 kG) produced by superconducting magnets can yield a significant improvement in the atomic hydrogen trapping effectiveness of an H2 matrix. The use of a radioactive beta-ray emiter isotope may yield H-H2 propellants (with a specific impulse of about 740 sec) by secondary electron impact dissociations of H2 in an impregnated matrix maintained below 1 K in a strong magnetic field. Another method for manufacturing an H-H2 propellant involves bombardment of supercooled solid H2 with a cyclotron-produced beam of 10-MeV hydrogen atoms. The matrix-isolated atomic hydrogen must be used directly without prior melting as a solid propellant, and an analysis of the steady deflagration is presented.

[1]  D. E. Milligan,et al.  Infrared Spectrum and Structure of the Species CO3 , 1971 .

[2]  R. Hughes,et al.  EXCITATION TO THE 2s STATE OF HYDROGEN BY 20- TO 120-keV HYDROGEN-ATOM IMPACT ON He, Ne, Ar, AND N . , 1972 .

[3]  D. E. Milligan,et al.  Spectrum and structure of the HO2 free radical , 1972 .

[4]  F. Adrian.  Theory of Anomalous Electron Spin Resonance Spectra of Free Radicals in Solution. Role of Diffusion‐Controlled Separation and Reencounter of Radical Pairs , 1971 .

[5]  D. E. Milligan,et al.  Infrared Spectrum of the BrHBr− Ion Isolated in an Argon Matrix , 1970 .

[6]  V. Bondybey,et al.  Infrared Absorptions of Interstitial Hydrogen Atoms in Solid Argon and Krypton , 1972 .

[7]  D. E. Milligan,et al.  Matrix‐Isolation Study of the Vacuum‐Ultraviolet Photolysis of Methyl Fluoride. The Infrared Spectra of the Free Radicals CF, HCF, and H2CF , 1969 .

[8]  D. E. Milligan,et al.  Matrix‐Isolation Study of the Infrared and Ultraviolet Spectra of the Free Radical HCO. The Hydrocarbon Flame Bands , 1969 .

[9]  R. Simha,et al.  High‐Speed Computations in the Kinetics of Free‐Radical Degradation. I. Random Initiation , 1958 .

[10]  D. Truhlar,et al.  Exact and Approximate Quantum Mechanical Reaction Probabilities and Rate Constants for the Collinear H + H2 Reaction , 1972 .

[11]  G. Pimentel.  Rapid advances in rapid scan spectroscopy. , 1968, Applied optics.

[12]  W. Weltner,et al.  Stellar and 0ther High-Temperature Molecules , 1967, Science.

[13]  R. Etters.  BINDING ENERGIES FOR CLUSTERS OF ATOMIC-TRIPLET HYDROGEN. , 1973 .

[14]  M. Mizushima.  $delta$S = /+-/ MAGNETIC MULTIPOLE RADIATIVE TRANSITIONS , 1964 .

[15]  D. E. Milligan,et al.  Matrix‐Isolation Study of the Photolysis of Cyanogen Azide. II. The Symmetric Stretching Fundamental of the Free Radical NCN , 1966 .

[16]  D. E. Milligan,et al.  Chapter 5 – Spectra of Radicals , 1970 .

[17]  D. E. Milligan,et al.  5.1 – Infrared and Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Studies of Free Radicals and Molecular Ions Isolated in Inert Solid Matrices , 1972 .

[18]  A. Valance,et al.  Absolute Detection and Collisional Destruction of 2.5-keV Metastable Hydrogen Atoms Produced by a Charge-Exchange Process in Cesium Vapor , 1972 .

[19]  W. Fite,et al.  Condensation of Atomic and Molecular Hydrogen at Low Temperatures , 1961 .

[20]  D. E. Milligan,et al.  Matrix‐Isolation Study of the Infrared Spectrum of the Free Radical F2CN , 1968 .

[21]  A. Bass,et al.  Matrix Isolation Study of the Photolysis of Cyanogen Azide. The Infrared and Ultraviolet Spectra of the Free Radical NCN , 1965 .

[22]  D. E. Milligan,et al.  Infrared Spectrum and Structure of Intermediates in the Reaction of OH with CO , 1971 .

[23]  D. E. Mann,et al.  Infrared Spectrum of the Free Radical NCN , 1965 .

[24]  W. Weltner.  The Matrix-Isolation Technique Applied to High Temperature Molecules , 1969 .

[25]  D. E. Milligan,et al.  Infrared and Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Studies of a Number of Small Free Radicals and Molecular Ions in a Matrix Environment , 1971 .