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N2O/Solid

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It is difficult to find a rocket motor safer than one using rubber/plastic and laughing gas. It is non-explosive. The rubber / LOX combination has been rated by the Vandenberg range as a 0 lb of TNT equivalent (i.e. non-explosive), and N2O is even safer (it is used as a pressurant for whipped cream). The fuel has to be vaporized in the presence of an atomized oxidizer with a high temperature igniter in order for it to burn. Even in failure mode, it's safe. Flow oxidizer without vaporized fuel and nothing happens. Vaporize fuel without oxidizer and nothing happens. Ignition only occurs when fuel is vaporized in the presence of an atomized oxidizer with a high temperature igniter. Principal uses are as an anesthetic in short-duration surgical operations (prolonged inhalation can cause death) and as a propellant for food aerosols. It is most commonly produced by decomposition of ammonium nitrate.

Tier One Burt Rutan's Tier One was the second manned reusable suborbital launch system (after the B-52/X-15). But it was developed privately at a small fraction of the cost, and won the X-Prize in 2004 as the first privately-developed reusable manned suborbital spacecraft. The design was greatly enlarged to produce SpaceShipTwo, the first commercial spaceplane.

Tier Two American manned spaceplane. Development of the much larger SpaceShipTwo suborbital commercial manned spacecraft was announced in July 2005.