farrellj's Journal: Hybrid fuel powers Rutan's Spaceship One

One of the big problems with current space launch systems is the volatility of the fuels. They may be exotic chemicals, or simply kerosene and liquid Oxygen, they tend to blow up at the slightest provocation. Since there are huge amounts needed to put payloads into space, this means that launches need to have a huge safety perimeter around the lauch sites.

One of the innovations of Rutan's Spaceship is the use of what is known as a hybrid fuel that conists of basically rubber and nitrious oxide. Both are easy to obtain, don't need massive refriguration units to keep them liquid, and are pretty much know quantities in terms of their behaviour.Although the "bang for the buck" is not as good as many more exotic fuels, it makes up for it in terms of weight savings and reduced complexity. Both are important aspects to commercial space flight.

CNN has an article taken from a Space.com article that talks about this.

ttyl
          Farrell