Timeline for What is the best chemical rocket fuel from a purely specific impulse standpoint?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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| Aug 10, 2022 at 12:50 | comment | added | caInstrument | We abandoned borides in the ‘60s. You get boron-rich particles condensing in the exhaust. This is bad for the same reason H-rich exhaust molecules are good, and H-exhaust even better: Lightweight exhaust species convert thermal energy to kinetic energy more efficiently, and KE = Isp (“characteristic velocity”). Condensates, by comparison, are macromolecules. This is aside from the issue of plating the engine with deposits. In response, we tried diluting the boron-based fuel with conventional (hydrocarbon) fuel. The dilution ratio grew so big there was no more point even adding the B. | |
| Aug 9, 2022 at 21:03 | comment | added | Mark | If you want supreme efficiency, use a photonic drive -- shining a flashlight out of your rocket will give you 30,570,000 seconds of specific impulse, and an abysmal thrust level. | |
| Aug 9, 2022 at 16:19 | history | answered | WarpPrime | CC BY-SA 4.0 |