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03 Jun 16. Nammo passes a new milestone after successfully conducting a full-scale test firing of the flight-weight hybrid rocket motor.
On Thursday 19th May, Nammo completed the first hot firing of the Flight-Weight Unitary Motor (FWUM) at its Green Propulsion test facility for rocket motors in Raufoss, Norway.
The innovative design of this hybrid rocket motor, which is safe, controllable, low-cost and green, reflects the progress and superiority of Nammo’s hybrid rocket motor technology, and places Nammo as a global leader in this area.
Unlimited restarts The test firing was a great success, as Onno Verberne, Vice President at Nammo Space comments: “The test firing demonstrated – through a first firing and then shortly after, a second firing of the same motor – the re-start capability of Nammo’s hybrid technology at large scale”. During the first firing, the engine burned for the duration of 5 seconds, until it was terminated in a controlled manner by closing the main oxidizer valve.
2 hours and 35 minutes after the first pulse, the engine was restarted simply by opening the main oxidizer valve, and burned flawlessly for 10 more seconds.
Ignition was performed by catalytic reaction of the oxidizer, which enables an unlimited number of restarts. During both pulses, the engine delivered stable high-performance combustion and a thrust level of 30 kN (3 tons).
Nammo’s next steps The hybrid motor test fired now is built according to flight standards, meaning the FWUM is ready to be integrated with the fuel tanks and the payload into a complete rocket. The complete rocket – the Nucleus – is a scientific sounding rocket designed especially to demonstrate Nammo’s cutting-edge hybrid motor during a flight demonstration into space.
The FWUM is a 14 in (356 mm) hybrid motor with a full burn time capability of over 35 seconds. The complete Nucleus rocket will be approximately 9 m long, 800 kg in mass, and will reach space with a maximum altitude over 100 km.
In the coming weeks, Nammo will continue the hybrid test campaign, which will end when the full motor burn has been achieved repeatedly.
Cooperation with ESA This project is being carried out under a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA), and with the support of the Norwegian Space Center (NRS).
Nammo’s work fits perfectly within ESA’s Future Launcher Preparatory Programme (FLPP) which is fostering promising new technologies for future European launchers and initiatives to include green propulsion solutions in their existing systems. (Source: Yahoo!/GLOBE NEWSWIRE)
02 Jun 16. Russia, India May Develop Prototype BrahMos Hypersonic Missile In 2024. R&D work on the hypersonic version of the Russian-Indian BrahMos missile will start approximately in 2022, Marketing Director of the Russian-Indian BrahMos Aerospace Company Praveen Pathak told TASS on Thursday. A prototype of the BrahMos hypersonic missile is expected to be manufactured in 2024, the marketing director added.
“This will be another missile with a speed of about 6 Mach,” Pathak said at the KADEX 2016 arms exhibition in Astana in Kazakhstan.
According to the marketing director, the speed of the existing BrahMos supersonic missile is planned to be increased to 4 Mach within the coming three-four years. As Pathak said, a preliminary design of the missile is currently being worked out. Russia and India are simultaneously considering various designs of the future missile. According to the marketing director, this stage will take “at least five-six years.” R&D work is expected to start approximately in 2022 and the first prototype of the missile is planned to be manufactured two years later. Pathak said that the future missile was expected to have the same weight and size as the existing BrahMos missile so that it can be used with the same platforms and