Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to a rocket propellant consisting of fuel and an oxidizer that ignite spontaneously on contact.
  • adjective Using such a fuel.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of fuel or propellant, igniting spontaneously on contact with an oxidiser.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From German Hypergol, a hypergolic fluid propellant : from hyper-, extreme (from Greek huper-; see hyper–) + Greek ergon, work; see erg.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

German, probably from Greek υπέρ + έργον ("work").

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Examples

  • The new fuel is hypergolic, meaning that it needs no ignition source, but burns when exposed to an oxidizer.

    DailyTech Main News Feed 2009

  • The new fuel is hypergolic, meaning that it needs no ignition source, but burns when exposed to an oxidizer.

    DailyTech News Feed 2009

  • The fuels are hypergolic, meaning they require no ignition source but ignite spontaneously when mixed with an oxidizer.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2009

  • I don't know how well the math works but if the propulsion needs are light enough, or if the mission module could carry some simple hypergolic fuelled trusters, but maybe you could use the "mission module" with a cheaper, LEO optimized capsule like Dragon or even Soyuz.

    Minor Damage Seen on Atlantis - NASA Watch 2009

  • This should include hypergolic refuelling for both the landers and the Earth-to-EML Orion crew shuttles (~2030-35).

    Trying To Spin The Facts - NASA Watch 2009

  • - Non-toxic hypergolic fuels should be an abiding goal.

    Dear Mr. Augustine - NASA Watch 2009

  • Higher silanes + H2O2 are expected to be a dense, space storable and hypergolic propellant combination with better Isp and lower toxicity than MMH/NTO.

    Why Some Say the Moon? - NASA Watch 2009

  • Scale back the two stage partly cryogenic, partly hypergolic Altair to a single stage, all hypergolic, refuelable and reusable cis-lunar shuttle with 2-3 km/s total delta-v.

    Why Some Say the Moon? - NASA Watch 2009

  • Gemini/Titan didn't require more than ejection easts since the propellants didn't detonate (being hypergolic).

    Black Zones - NASA Watch 2008

  • The leather gloved hands that work the lathe are stilled in their quest for the perfect receiver *; the monocle * drops from the eye studying hypergolic fuels *; even the simple pleasures of human sexual acts are confounded when the tranquility of classical rhythm is confounded with the squawk of some seagull.

    Archive 2007-10-01 2007

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