Russian engine developer pushes next gen rocket fuel

NPO Energomash, a Russian and international leader in liquid-propellant rocket engine design, is seeking another grant from the Skolkovo innovation hub to develop its next gen rocket fuel.

NPO Energomash, a Russian and international leader in liquid-propellant rocket engine design, is seeking an up to $1m grant from Russia?s Skolkovo Foundation to keep developing its Acetam, a next gen fuel for Russian rockets, news agency RIA Novosti reports citing Anatoly Likhvantsev, the CEO of NPO Energomash. The Acetam is said to be an efficient and eco-friendly pure rocket fuel containing highly concentrated liquefied ammonia based acetylene solution. This will be a second grant from the Foundation to the Russian company located in the town of Khimki just outside Moscow. The first grant was approved a year ago. ?From then on, we will be funding the project ourselves and raising external investments,? Mr. Likhvantsev said. In a similar bid to develop a new type of fuel, NASA has held a tender for an alternative for highly toxic hydrazine widely used in rocket fuels. A hefty $45m grant came to a group of engineers at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, who are now expected to team up with Aerojet Corporation, a few US Air Force research labs and two NASA space centers to develop an efficient ?green? fuel within three years...