Alternative Fuel Rocket Roars to Life in Test

SPG's successfully test-fired its 22-inch hybrid rocket motor
The Space Propulsion Group, Inc. successfully test-fired a 22-inch hybrid rocket motor on June 29, 2012. The motor uses liquid oxygen and paraffin as propellants. (Image credit: Space Propulsion Group, Inc.)

A new hybrid rocket motor fired up Friday (June 29), demonstrating technology that its builders say could lead to efficient, alternative-fuel launch vehicles down the road.

California-based Space Propulsion Group, Inc. (SPG) test-fired the 22-inch-wide (56-centimeter) liquid oxygen/paraffin motor for about 20 seconds Friday, blasting a streak of bright flame into the air at the company's testing facility in Butte, Mont.

The trial was the fifth for this particular motor, SPG officials said, and it demonstrated a flight-weight version of the design.

The company says future propulsion systems using the motor's hybrid technology have the potential to be five to 10 times cheaper than existing rockets. And the paraffin fuel has the added benefit of being non-toxic, officials said.

"We believe propulsion drives the cost of access to space and that complexity generally drives propulsion system cost," SPG president and chief technical officer Arif Karabeyoglu said in a statement after the test-fire. "By using a commercially available paraffin-based fuel, we have created an economically viable alternative that could significantly reduce the price of space accessibility, as well as help preserve the environment."

Hybrid rocket motors use propellants that are in two different states of matter, as opposed to purely liquid or solid rockets.

Proponents of hybrid technology claim that it combines the advantages of the other two types, offering the simplicity of solid systems and the safety of liquid rockets. (Solid rockets, such as the boosters that helped loft NASA's now-retired space shuttle, generally can't be shut off once they've been lit.)

Hybrid rockets are playing a large role in the burgeoning private spaceflight industry. Virgin Galactic's suborbital SpaceShipTwo vehicle employs hybrid motors, as does Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser, a mini-shuttle that's in the running to transport NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.