By developing new rocket technology on the land scientists hope to help aid in safer space travel. It sounds counter intuitive, however the group making the bid for the land speed record thinks it could lead to a breakthrough in safer space travel.
So says Daniel Jubb, who is the founder of military rocket motor company Falcon Project Limited (FPL), based in Mojave, California, and chief rocket engineer for the Bloodhound SuperSonic Car, which aims to reach a speed of 1600 kilometres per hour (1000 miles per hour) on the salt flats in Hakskeen Pan, South Africa, sometime in 2013. The current record is 1227 km/h, and was set in 1997 by the Bloodhound team's driver Andy Green, in a car called Thrust SSC.
Link
It has been evaluated as an oxidizer for rocket engines before in the past; a poor safety record is one of the reasons HTP is not used as rocket propellant today.
HTP in torpedoes have been implicated in the loss of more than one submarine.