Rocket fuel from aluminum and ice

Really cool video, with great experimental footage, chronicling the development of the so-called ALICE (ALuminum and water ICE) solid rocket propellant by a team from Purdue and Penn State. The key to the process is that the metallic aluminum is present as a nano-scale powder, and its oxidation by water thus occurs over a huge surface area and therefore proceeds very quickly, releasing amazing amounts of energy. The video starts with the acoustic mixing of the nano-aluminum with water to make a gray paste which is frozen, in a mold, to make a tubular rocket motor. It then proceeds through various test-bench firings and culminates (at 4:00) in the launch of an actual rocket using the mixture.