hypergolic
/ˌhʌɪpəˈɡɒlɪk
/adjective
(Of a rocket propellant) igniting spontaneously on mixing with another substance.The Titan uses Aerojet-General LR87 and LR91 engines burning liquid hypergolic propellants that ignite spontaneously on contact....
- Other onboard power sources serve as latent explosion triggers, including batteries, other pressurized systems, fuel cells and hypergolic fuels.
- The testing of the hypergolic performance of the formulations can be achieved without gelling.
Origin
1940s: from German Hypergol, probably from hyper- 'beyond' + Greek ergon 'work' + -ol.