Why Nitrous Oxide?
Nitrous oxide is a good choice for a rocket motor oxidizer, as it is cheap, safe, and commonly available. At just over 30% oxygen, there are better liquid oxidizers to be sure, but the serious upside to nitrous oxide is that it remains a liquid and still extremely pressurized at temperatures between 50 and 80 degrees. This pressurization allows N20 to be fed into a combustion chamber of a hybrid rocket motor at great pressures, without the use of pumps or other pressurants. This is something that other, better performing liquid oxidizers just can’t do.
