The LOUZEIRO Propulsion System transitions the oxidiser — not the hardware. A catalytic high-test-peroxide continuum hands over smoothly to captured atmospheric air as Mach number rises, burning a hydrocarbon fuel throughout, inside a single perimeter-optimised combustor.
Wide-envelope flight is normally handled by combined-cycle engines that switch between operating modes — paying for breadth with thrust discontinuities, extra moving parts and a mass penalty. The LOUZEIRO Propulsion System asks a different question: what if the transition happened in the oxidiser rather than in the hardware?
High-test peroxide is decomposed catalytically to supply an oxygen-rich hot gas at rest. The share of oxidiser drawn from that source is then reduced smoothly — following a transition function χ(M) — as captured air takes over with rising Mach. No discrete mode switch; one continuous curve.
An oblate cross-section adopted for integration reasons rather than propulsive ones: it accommodates a radial catalytic gradient, regenerative cooling channels and a continuous chamber-to-nozzle transition. The earlier claim of a more uniform stress distribution was withdrawn in version 3 of the framework paper. The geometry is a means to integration, not a performance claim.
What is described publicly is qualitative: the mathematical character of χ(M) and qualitative CFD outcomes. The calibrations that turn the concept into a built object are retained as protected industrial know-how.
This work is offered as a contribution of positioning. It places a dated, citable public record in the technical space left open after Reaction Engines, and invites qualified scrutiny from the propulsion community before experimental work begins.
Wide-envelope air-breathing propulsion is an active field with public programmes underway across Europe. A single-chamber concept that removes the discrete mode switch addresses a recognised pain point in combined-cycle architectures — and does so with a storable, green oxidiser rather than cryogenic hydrogen.
The conceptual framework is registered as industrial intellectual property. Selected quantitative parameters are retained as protected industrial know-how and are not disclosed.
Mário Pedro Louzeiro e Rodrigues is an independent researcher based in Lisbon, Portugal, and sole inventor of the LOUZEIRO Propulsion System. His work brings together a long service career in military aviation with an analytical approach to propulsion architecture.
The framework is developed independently and presented here for qualified technical scrutiny, ahead of any experimental programme.