High-test peroxide

High-test peroxide or HTP is a high (85 to 98 percent)-concentration solution of hydrogen peroxide, with the remainder predominantly made up of water. In contact with a catalyst, it decomposes into a high-temperature mixture of steam and oxygen, with no remaining liquid water. It was used as a propellant of HTP rockets and torpedoes, and has been used for high-performance vernier engines.

When used with a suitable catalyst, HTP can be used as a monopropellant, or with a separate fuel as a bipropellant.

HTP has been used safely and successfully in many applications, beginning with German usage during World War II, and continues to the present day. During World War II, high-test peroxide was used as an oxidizer in some German bipropellant rocket designs, such as the Walter HWK 509A rocket engine that powered the Messerschmitt Me 163 point defense interceptor fighter late in World War II, comprising 80% of the standardized mixture T-Stoff, and also in the German Type XVII submarine.

Some significant United States programs include the reaction control thrusters on the X-15 program, and the Bell Rocket Belt. The NASA Lunar Lander Research Vehicle used it for rocket thrust to simulate a lunar lander.

The Royal Navy experimented with HTP as the oxidiser in the experimental high-speed target/training submarines Explorer and Excalibur between 1958 and 1969.

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