BURSZTYN and PIAST – powered by HTP

During the seminar, which took place on September 8, 2021 at Targi Kielce, the development direction of the recoverable BURSZTYN rocket was presented. During the meeting, the topic was presented by dr inż. Adam Okniński, head of the Department of Space Technologies at the Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation. BURSZTYN is a rocket with a length of 4.6 m, capable of reaching speeds of 1.3 km / s. According to the announcements, it is to be able to lift loads weighing up to 10 kg to a height of nearly 100 km (at the same time, it will be possible to achieve a higher apogee with a correspondingly smaller load). BURSZTYN consists of three engines: one main and two auxiliary rockets. The side engines are designed to work for at least 6 seconds – using solid propellant for this purpose, they generate a total thrust of 32 kN. The hybrid main engine, on the other hand, is powered by polyethylene burnt in the presence of the above-mentioned 98% hydrogen peroxide. Generates 4 kN of thrust for 40 seconds of operation. As emphasized, it is the use of highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant that makes the project unique. H2O2 is an ecological substance, structurally similar to water. It is an oxidant with properties similar to liquid oxygen, although unlike liquid oxygen, it can be stored in a liquid state at room temperature and has better parameters in terms of flight performance. Due to these properties, H2O2 can be stored in the tank for longer periods.

Going a bit beyond the AMBER rocket itself, but staying on the topic of engines using highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide, it is worth recalling the words of Dr. Okniński that it would be possible to equip satellites with Polish propulsion solutions based on H2O2. It is expected that the first Polish satellites to use a hydrogen peroxide engine would be Polish ImAging SATelites (PIAST), the recipients of which are the Polish Armed Forces.

The full article is here.