Earl_Colby_Pottinger wrote:


I posted here to see if anyone had already done the math and could
tell me how well it could or could not work in theory, that's all.

The problem is that monopropellants tend to have low specific impulses,
so although you will be able to make the engine simpler than one using
dual propellants, it won't be that good of a engine as far as getting
something into orbit via its use goes.
If you go over he
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/c...d/propelnt.htm
.....there is a list of various propellant combinations and their specific
impulses on page 44 (note that the list doesn't include LOX/LH2).
Nitromethane is the best at 190-230.
For comparison to monopropellants, LOX/LH2 has a isp of around 400:
http://www.astronautix.com/props/loxlh2.htm
There is another monopropellant that's not on that list, and that's Otto
fuel II as used in Navy torpedoes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_fuel_II
You can get a isp of near 260 with that:
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/52...scription.html
Unfortunately, the exhaust is going to contain hydrogen cyanide gas, so
it's not a friendly thing in the area near the launch site, although the
gas is lighter than air and will float off, as the French found out in
WW I when they tried to use it to attack the Germans. ;-)


Pat