It has a pungent, sweetish smell. Both fluids are highly toxic, and are handled under the most stringent safety conditions. Hypergolic propellants are used in the core liquid propellant stages of the Titan family of launch vehicles, and on the second stage of the Delta. The higher efficiency of the OMS system is attributed to higher expansion ratios in the nozzles and higher pressures in the combustion chambers. The solid-propellant motor is the oldest and simplest of all forms of rocketry, dating back to the ancient Chinese.
Solids require no turbopumps or complex propellant-feed systems.
A simple squib device at the top of the motor directs a high-temperature flame along the surface of the propellant grain, igniting it instantaneously. Solid propellants are stable and easily storable. Once ignited, it will burn until all the propellant is exhausted. Solids have a variety of uses for space operations. Small solids often power the final stage of a launch vehicle, or attach to payload elements to boost satellites and spacecraft to higher orbits.