Have you ever imagined that tomorrow’s spaceship and rockets could be running on gels that have the same consistency of that of the orange marmalade? Well, the US Army Research Office is working on a project and if it is successful, your might just see your imagination come true.

Food and Rocket scientists at the Purdue University in Indiana are working on the new fuels looking like gel that can promise safer and predictable liquid as well as semi-solid fuels for spaceship engines as compared to the fuels available today. Gels could be considered safer than the liquid fuels for the reason that they do not leak and they could allow the military forces to control the rockets with better accuracy that is not possible with the solid fuels. The propellants in the gel form have a little more energy than the other solid ones according to the astronautics professors.

The fuels are hypergolic, which simply means they catch fire impulsively as soon as mixed along with an oxidizer. In actuality, the fuel and the oxidizing agents will be fed into separate fuel injectors. The streams of the fuel and the oxidizer mix and they form minute drops that ignite and push the rocket forward. Food scientists are working on the project because one of the intentions is to continuously create small drops that are required for the rocket fuel.