Sublimation Rocket Engine
Sublimation Rocket Engine
a rocket engine in which the working substance consists of gaseous products formed by the sublimation of a solid fuel, such as ammonium hydrosulfide. Sublimation is initiated by heating the fuel storage tank. At normal temperatures, the working pressure of the gas reaches several tens of kilonewtons per sq m (1 kgf/cm2 equals approximately 100 kilonewtons per sq m), and the engine’s specific impulse may reach approximately 0.8 kilonewton sec per kg. Sublimation rocket engines are used as microthrusters in the attitude-control and stabilizing systems of spacecraft.