According to the latest report, an Israeli company New Rocket has developed a new generation of rocket engines that use transparent solid gel fuel, which is not only low in cost but also more environmentally friendly.
The company’s rocket engines are suitable for aviation and military defense purposes and are suitable for rockets of various sizes. This fuel, called PowerGel, was developed by Professor Benny Nathan of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and is currently only licensed to this company.
The company’s CEO Harrell said, “This fuel is made of common kerosene. We add a material to the fuel to convert it into a gel, and then add other substances to create a high-performance, high-energy Density propellant.” Harrell refused to disclose the composition of these additives, explaining that the fuel can spontaneously ignite when exposed to an oxidizer.
The company is still developing this kind of rocket engine and has received a total of approximately US$6 million in investment from the Israel Space Agency and the Israel Innovation Agency. The company’s CEO Harrell said that the company is further financing to expand the research and development progress and bring products to the market as soon as possible. The company has received US$1 million in investment from the British investment agency CBG.
Some of the rockets currently in use highly toxic hydrazine (N2H4) as fuel, which is expected to be banned in Europe. Therefore, companies in related fields are committed to developing more environmentally friendly high-energy-density fuels.
Although the currently widely used liquid oxygen kerosene engine and liquid oxygen liquid hydrogen engine are very environmentally friendly, they are also highly unstable, not resistant to the storage, and difficult to start and stop at any time.
Harrell said the rocket engine developed by the company will be “fully controllable,” meaning it can be started and stopped at any time. He also said, “Our fuel is controllable, easy to store, and non-toxic. As far as I know, only we have this approach to the perfect solution.”
