Word: hybridization
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...little hydrogen is burned along with the metal and its oxidizer, the hybrid will become a "tribrid." Its specific impulse will rise into the range of the yet to be built nuclear rockets. But there will be nothing like the "nukes' " penalties in cost and danger...
...boosters blasting spacecraft into orbit, the sharper roar of solid-fuel military missiles climbing into their long trajectories, and the continuing, wordy battles between the promoters of each type. Now, back of the racket, can be heard the insistent voice of still another competitor in the rocketry race-the hybrid that manufactures its power by combining liquid oxidant with solid fuel. Detractors may scoff that the hybrid combines all the dangers and difficulties of both solids and liquids. Its champions are confident that it is better than either. "Within about one year," says Douglas Ordahl, director of hybrid development...
Fierce Fluid. A typical hybrid is a comparatively simple product of a complex science. It is basically a pressurized tank for liquid oxidizer, behind which sits a combustion chamber lined with solid fuel. The two propellants are usually hypergolic-they ignite spontaneously when they come in contact with each other. A valve permits a jet of oxidizer to squirt into the rear chamber, combustion begins, and a hot, high-temperature flame roars out of the nozzle. The oxidizer valve can be used as a throttle to reduce the thrust and the engine can be stopped and started any number...
Beautiful Flame. With so many advantages, what can be wrong with hybrids? A great deal, say their critics. Worst of all is low-combustion efficiency; the fuel and oxidizer tend to escape through the exhaust nozzle before they have reacted. They burn as a long, beautiful flame, which wastes much of its energy on empty air. When the hybrid is throttled down by partially closing the oxidizer valve, its efficiency gets worse, sometimes falling...
Looking into the future, the hybrid men see big hybrid space boosters using extremely cheap fuels: liquid oxygen and ordinary rubber. For extra performance in upper-stage rockets, they have high hopes for hybrids using fuel that is almost entirely powdered metal...