Where can you find propellant grade, phase stabilized AN for $1.00/pound? We
use it in gas generators and it runs closer to $20~$25/pound. It’s a
specialized product, much different than fertilizer or explosives grade
material.
I’m not sure how accurate the shuttle SRM cost is or where in its life cycle it
comes from. Maybe it’s the economics of scale or the low cost claimed by its
reusability. I don’t have any experience with anything that large. In my
experience, the cost of the oxidizer is typically less than 10% of the price of
a complete, single use, commercial solid rocket motor. Less than that if you
use motor mafia procurement pricing. The latter will typically charge what the
market will bear.
Since most of the major solid programs have wrapped up, the price of domestic
AP has gone to the moon so to speak. It’s a combination of fixed overheads and
a monopoly issue. There is only one U.S. manufacturer now and 2018 delivery
prices are currently in excess of $20/pound. Some motor manufacturers have gone
abroad for supply but lobbying is pushing to have US manufactured only AP for
government contracts legislated.
Anthony J. Cesaroni
President/CEO
Cesaroni Technology/Cesaroni Aerospace
<http://www.cesaronitech.com/> http://www.cesaronitech.com/
(941) 360-3100 x101 Sarasota
(905) 887-2370 x222 Toronto
From: arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of
David Summers
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2018 12:51 PM
To: arocket <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [AR] Re: Cheap Solids? Amonium Nitrate: catalysis vs sensitization
OK, as an example, take the space shuttle:
Solid rocket booster unit cost: 13 MN thrust for $23 M
Solid propellant cost (using AP, as designed): 1 million lbs of propellant,
~$10 M just for the AP
So about half the solid rocket cost is propellant cost.
SSME unit cost: 2 MN thrust for $40M
liquid propellant cost:
0.2 million lbs of hydrogen, $400 K
1.4 million lbs of liquid oxygen: $100 K
So for liquid engines the primary cost is the design and fabrication, while for
solids it is the propellant.
If you replace the solid propellant with AN rather than AP, the propellant cost
falls to one tenth its former cost. So the shuttle srb would cost about half
as much. The problem is that it would not have the needed performance anymore.
It is probably possible to design an srb that would do the same job using AN,
but it would be heavier and larger. It could very well cost less, though.
Thanks!
-David Summers
