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Low Temperature Propellant Tests
Photograph Number 6-8

It was 1943 and JPL was at the beginning stages of rocket motor research and development.  Over the next decades, JPL would design and test rocket motors with a variety of sizes and propellants.  This small (50 pound thrust) liquid propellant jet unit was immersed in a bath of ice and salt in order to test the ignition properties of the propellants at temperatures near 0°F.  To see additional photos of this test setup, before it was covered with ice, see the Section 6 photo album online.  (JPL internal only.  Log in with JPL user name and password to view.)

For more information about the history of JPL, contact the JPL Archives for assistance.  [Archival sources: Facilities and Equipment of the Air Corps Jet Propulsion Research Project, GALCIT Project No. 1, Progress Report No. 4, May 28, 1943; Investigation of New Liquid Fuels for Jet Propulsion, GALCIT Project No. 1, Progress Report No. 10, November 16, 1943; Publications of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1938-1960, 39-1.]

CL#11-1910