Barbarella was the designation of the first

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

hybrid rocket A hybrid-propellant rocket is a rocket with a rocket motor that uses rocket propellants in two different phases: one solid and the other either gas or liquid. The hybrid rocket concept can be traced back to the early 1930s. Hybrid rockets avo ...

. It was developed under the management of R. Schmucker and W. Schauer at the beginning of the 1970s by students of the

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

technical university and launched on March 12, 1974 from the drilling platform "Barbara" in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

. The Barbarella had a thrust of 370 N and used as fuel a

toluidine There are three isomers of toluidine, which are organic compounds. These isomers are ''o''-toluidine, ''m''-toluidine, and ''p''-toluidine, with the prefixed letter abbreviating, respectively, ''ortho''; ''meta''; and ''para''. All three are ary ...

aminophenol Aminophenol may refer to any of three isomeric chemical compounds: * 2-Aminophenol * 3-Aminophenol * 4-Aminophenol They are simultaneously an aniline and a phenol Phenol (also called carbolic acid) is an aromatic organic compound with ...

mixture and

nitric acid Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available nitri ...

. The Barbarella is today displayed in the

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...

in Munich. The rocket was named "Barbarella" after the movie of the same name, Barbarella, to differentiate it from other more grandiosely named rockets. Its lettering was a pop art style, atypical from the more scientific lettering commonly used on rockets.Radio interview Robert Schmucker - Bayern 3 Mensch Otto! - Mensch Theile!, September 6, 2017 1pm

References

External links

History of hybrid rockets

Rockets and missiles {{Rocket-stub