Technology & Engineering
Rocket Propulsion
Rocket propulsion is the process of propelling a rocket by expelling exhaust at high speeds. This is achieved through the principle of action and reaction, as described by Newton's third law of motion. The exhaust is expelled from the rocket engine, generating thrust that propels the rocket forward.
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11 Key excerpts on "Rocket Propulsion"
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Learning Press(Publisher)
________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ Chapter- 1 Spacecraft Propulsion A remote camera captures a close-up view of a Space Shuttle Main Engine during a test firing at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi ________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. There are many different methods. Each method has drawbacks and advan-tages, and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. However, most spacecraft today are propelled by forcing a gas from the back/rear of the vehicle at very high speed through a supersonic de Laval nozzle. This sort of engine is called a rocket engine. All current spacecraft use chemical rockets (bipropellant or solid-fuel) for launch, though some (such as the Pegasus rocket and SpaceShipOne) have used air-breathing engines on their first stage. Most satellites have simple reliable chemical thrusters (often mono-propellant rockets) or resistojet rockets for orbital station-keeping and some use momentum wheels for attitude control. Soviet bloc satellites have used electric propulsion for decades, and newer Western geo-orbiting spacecraft are starting to use them for north-south stationkeeping. Interplanetary vehicles mostly use chemical rockets as well, although a few have used ion thrusters and Hall effect thrusters (two different types of electric propulsion) to great success. Need Artificial satellites must be launched into orbit, and once there they must be placed in their nominal orbit. Once in the desired orbit, they often need some form of attitude control so that they are correctly pointed with respect to the Earth, the Sun, and possibly some astronomical object of interest.
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- White Word Publications(Publisher)
____________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ____________________ Chapter- 1 Introduction to Spacecraft Propulsion ____________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ____________________ A remote camera captures a close-up view of a Space Shuttle Main Engine during a test firing at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. There are many different methods. Each method has drawbacks and advantages, and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. However, most spacecraft today are propelled by forcing a gas from the back/rear of the vehicle at very high speed through a supersonic de Laval nozzle. This sort of engine is called a rocket engine. All current spacecraft use chemical rockets (bipropellant or solid-fuel) for launch, though some (such as the Pegasus rocket and SpaceShipOne) have used air-breathing engines on their first stage. Most satellites have simple reliable chemical thrusters (often monopropellant rockets) or resistojet rockets for orbital station-keeping and some use momentum wheels for attitude control. Soviet bloc satellites have used electric propulsion for decades, and newer Western geo-orbiting spacecraft are starting to use them for north-south stationkeeping. Interplanetary vehicles mostly use chemical rockets as well, although a few have used ion thrusters and Hall effect thrusters (two different types of electric propulsion) to great success. Need Artificial satellites must be launched into orbit, and once there they must be placed in their nominal orbit. Once in the desired orbit, they often need some form of attitude control so that they are correctly pointed with respect to the Earth, the Sun, and possibly some astronomical object of interest.
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- College Publishing House(Publisher)
________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ Chapter 1 Introduction to Spacecraft Propulsion A remote camera captures a close-up view of a Space Shuttle Main Engine during a test firing at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. There are many different methods. Each method has drawbacks and advantages, and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. However, most spacecraft today are propelled by forcing a gas from the back/rear of the vehicle at very high speed through a supersonic de Laval nozzle. This sort of engine is called a rocket engine. ________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ All current spacecraft use chemical rockets (bipropellant or solid-fuel) for launch, though some (such as the Pegasus rocket and SpaceShipOne) have used air-breathing engines on their first stage. Most satellites have simple reliable chemical thrusters (often monopro-pellant rockets) or resistojet rockets for orbital station-keeping and some use momentum wheels for attitude control. Soviet bloc satellites have used electric propulsion for decades, and newer Western geo-orbiting spacecraft are starting to use them for north-south stationkeeping. Interplanetary vehicles mostly use chemical rockets as well, although a few have used ion thrusters and Hall effect thrusters (two different types of electric propulsion) to great success. Need Artificial satellites must be launched into orbit, and once there they must be placed in their nominal orbit. Once in the desired orbit, they often need some form of attitude control so that they are correctly pointed with respect to the Earth, the Sun, and possibly some astronomical object of interest.
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- The English Press(Publisher)
________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ Chapter- 4 Spacecraft Propulsion A remote camera captures a close-up view of a Space Shuttle Main Engine during a test firing at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi ________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites.There are many different methods. Each method has drawbacks and advan-tages, and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. However, most spacecraft today are propelled by forcing a gas from the back/rear of the vehicle at very high speed through a supersonic de Laval nozzle. This sort of engine is called a rocket engine. All current spacecraft use chemical rockets (bipropellant or solid-fuel) for launch, though some (such as the Pegasus rocket and SpaceShipOne) have used air-breathing engines on their first stage. Most satellites have simple reliable chemical thrusters (often mono-propellant rockets) or resistojet rockets for orbital station-keeping and some use mome-ntum wheels for attitude control. Soviet bloc satellites have used electric propulsion for decades, and newer Western geo-orbiting spacecraft are starting to use them for north-south stationkeeping. Interplanetary vehicles mostly use chemical rockets as well, although a few have used ion thrusters and Hall effect thrusters (two different types of electric propulsion) to great success. Need Artificial satellites must be launched into orbit, and once there they must be placed in their nominal orbit. Once in the desired orbit, they often need some form of attitude con-trol so that they are correctly pointed with respect to the Earth, the Sun, and possibly some astronomical object of interest.
eBook - ePub- DP Mishra(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
CHAPTER 3Elements of Rocket Propulsion
It all looked so easy when you did it on paper—where valves never froze, gyros never drifted, and rocket motors did not blow up in your face. Milton W. Rosen, Rocket Engineer3.1Introduction
We learnt in Chapter 1 that both air-breathing and non-air-breathing (rocket) engines work on the principle of jet propulsion, but the air-breathing engine is different from the rocket engine in the sense that it carries both fuel and oxidizer during its flight. As a result, it can fly beyond the earth’s atmosphere even to the deep-space region. In order to understand the basic principles of Rocket Propulsion, the fundamentals of thermodynamics, chemistry, and gas dynamics are reviewed in Chapter 2 . In this chapter, the elements of Rocket Propulsion are discussed in detail. As the processes involved in rocket engine are quite complex, certain assumptions are made for an ideal engine. Subsequently, thrust equation for rocket engine is derived. The performance parameters, namely, specific impulse, impulse to weight ratio, specific propellant flow rate, mass flow coefficient, thrust coefficient, characteristic velocity, and propulsive efficiencies are defined and discussed, which are useful in characterizing rocket engines.3.2Ideal Rocket Engine
We know that the processes involved during the operations of the chemical rocket engine are quite complex in nature. The flow is inherently three-dimensional in nature. Besides, flow is likely to be unsteady and highly turbulent, but the fluctuations in propellant supply line may vary from 1% to 4% of average value. Of course, if combustion instability occurs in the combustion chamber, there might be higher levels of fluctuation in the rocket engine. Generally, the combustion instability should be avoided at any cost as it may lead to failure of the entire rocket engine system itself. As a large amount of heat is released during the combustion of solid/liquid at a very fast rate, heat transfer does take place through the walls of the combustion chamber and nozzle. The total loss of heat from a typical rocket engine varies only between 1% and 2%. As solid/liquid propellants are used in the chemical rocket engine, it is more likely that two-/three-phase flow can occur in the combustion chamber and nozzle itself. Besides, shock and expansion waves are likely to occur during expansion of gas in the exhaust nozzle. There will be interactions between shock/expansion wave and boundary layers during its operation. Hence, it can be concluded that it is quite complex to deal with such a complex flow conditions in the rocket engine. In order to make these complex problems tractable, certain simplifying assumptions can be made for obtaining a general understanding of the main features in the chemical rocket engine. Although the theory developed under the following assumptions for the ideal rocket engine may not depict the complex features in an actual chemical rocket engine, it is good enough to arrive at certain solutions that can handle the majority of chemical rocket engine systems. This is because the difference between the performance parameters obtained by the idealized model and actual measurements lies only between 1% and 5%. In this idealized model, rocket flow is essentially considered as steady quasi-one-dimensional and isentropic in nature with the following assumptions [1 ,2
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Library Press(Publisher)
____________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ____________________ Chapter- 4 Rocket Engine RS-68 being tested at NASA's Stennis Space Center. The nearly transparent exhaust is due to this engine's exhaust being mostly superheated steam (water vapor from its propellants, hydrogen and oxygen) ____________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ____________________ Viking 5C rocket engine A rocket engine , or simply rocket, is a jet engine that uses only propellant mass for forming its high speed propulsive jet. Rocket engines are reaction engines and obtain thrust in accordance with Newton's third law. Since they need no external material to form their jet, rocket engines can be used for spacecraft propulsion as well as terrestrial uses, such as missiles. Most rocket engines are internal combustion engines, although non combusting forms also exist. Rocket engines as a group have the highest exhaust velocities, are by far the lightest, and are the most energy efficient (at least at very high speed) of all types of jet engines. However, for the thrust they give, due to the high exhaust velocity and relatively low specific energy of rocket propellant, they consume propellant very rapidly. ____________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ____________________ Terminology Chemical rockets are rockets powered by exothermic chemical reactions of the propellant. Rocket motor (or solid-propellant rocket motor ) is a synonymous term with rocket engine that usually refers to solid rocket engines. Liquid rockets (or liquid-propellant rocket engine ) use one or more liquid propellants that are held in tanks prior to burning. Hybrid rockets have a solid propellant in the combustion chamber and a second liquid or gas propellant is added to permit it to burn. Thermal rockets are rockets where the propellant is inert, but is heated by a power source such as solar or nuclear power or beamed energy. Principle of operation How rocket engines work
eBook - ePubDemystifying Explosives
Concepts in High Energy Materials
- Sethuramasharma Venugopalan(Author)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Elsevier(Publisher)
The Chinese are credited to have invented rockets several centuries back. Gunpowder-filled paper tubes sealed at one end with a wick on the other were known to propel themselves on ignition, soaring toward the sky against gravity. What started as a part of firework display in the early stages found its application in modern missiles and space missions during the last century. Today, the load carried by a rocket(commonly known as the “payload”) can be either a warhead—conventional or nuclear—or a satellite that needs to be “injected” into a particular orbit of the Earth for communication purposes. Thus, rockets have become part and parcel of modern life for various applications such as entertainment or war or space research. Although long-range missiles with nuclear warheads threaten the very existence of mankind today, global space research programs hold great promise for advancement in various fields such as communication, weather prediction, and tapping the resources from Earth. When the famous U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong created history by becoming the first human to set foot on the lunar soil on July 21, 1969(“ A small step for me but a giant leap for mankind”), his ecstasy and excitement were shared by several millions on Earth. Thus, the field of rocketry has become an inalienable part of today's science and technology. The aim of this chapter is just to introduce the basic principles of Rocket Propulsion and the role played by high-energy materials(HEMs) in the form of rocket propellants toward propulsion performance.6.2. Basic Principles of Rocket Propulsion
A rocket motor basically consists of two parts: a propellant combustion chamber and a nozzle(see Figure 6.1 ). The chamber is a metallic tube sealed at one end and the rocket propellant(in the case of solid rocket propellants) is loaded through the open end. The propellant grain may be of varying shapes and sizes depending on the type of performance expected from the rocket. For example, it can be a solid cylinder or a tubular propellant grain, as shown in Figure 6.1 . The annular space in the tubular propellant grain is called the “port.” The loaded rocket chamber is then screwed onto a nozzle, which in most of cases is a convergent-divergent(CD) nozzle, as shown in Figure 6.1
eBook - ePub- George P. Sutton, Oscar Biblarz(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
The “systems engineering” approach is now utilized routinely, see Ref. 19–1, and engineering design has advanced considerably in recent times with computer‐aided design (CAD) now commonly used. Certain publications address specifically the design of space systems (e.g., Refs. 19–1 to 19–3) and the design of liquid propellant engines (e.g., Ref. 19–4). In our book, Sections 11.6, “System Integration and Engine Optimization,” and 15–4, “Rocket Motor Design Approach,” are preludes to this chapter and may contain some duplicate content. Systems engineering is a useful discipline for Rocket Propulsion systems selection. This topic can be defined in several ways; one being (adapted from Ref. 19–5) “a logical process of activities, analyses and engineering designs, that transforms a set of requirements arising from specific mission objectives in an optimum way. It ensures that all likely aspects of a project or engineering system have been considered and integrated into a consistent whole.” Such studies comprise all elements of a propulsion system and its ground support, all interfaces with other vehicle subsystems or ground‐based equipment, and consider safety aspects, risks, and costs, together with the orderly selection of the most suitable propulsion system. There are commonly three levels of requirements from which propulsion system requirements can be derived, (see Ref. 19–5). At each level, certain activities, studies, and/or trade‐off evaluations are involved. At the top level are mission defining requirements, such as space communications or missile defense. Here, analyses and optimizations are usually carried out by the mission responsible organizations. They define Rocket Propulsion parameters like trajectories, orbits, payloads, number of vehicles, life, and the like, and document them as mission requirements specifications. From the mission requirements document, definitions and specifications for the flight vehicle are derived
eBook - PDF- Paul G. A. Cizmas(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
In H. H. Koelle, editor, Handbook of Astronautical Engineering. McGraw-Hill, 1961. 411 S. D. Heister, W. E. Anderson, T. L. Pourpoint, and R. J. Cassady. Rocket Propulsion. Cambridge University Press, 2019. 410, 413, 419 P. Hill and C. Peterson. Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Propulsion. Addison Wesley, second edition, 1992. 410 A. Lanin. Nuclear Rocket Engine Reactor, volume 170. Springer Series in Materials Science, 2013. 421 D. Lev, R. M. Myers, K. M. Lemmer, J. Kolbeck, H. Koizumi, and K. Polzin. The technological and commercial expansion of electric propulsion. Acta Astronautica, 159:213–227, 2019. 421 E. W. Schmidt. Hydrazine and Its Derivatives: Preparation, Properties, Applications. J. Wiley, 1984. 413 J. I. Shafer. Solid Rocket Propulsion. In H. S. Seifert, editor, Space Technology. John Wiley and Sons, 1959. 411 R. A. Spores, R. Masse, S. Kimbrel, and C. McLean. GPIM AF-M315E propulsion system. In 49th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, AIAA 2013–3849. San Jose, CA, July 2013. 412 G. Story, T. Zoladz, J. Arves, D. Kearney, T. Abel, and O. Park. Hybrid propulsion demonstration program 250k hybrid motor. In 39th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, number AIAA 2003-5198, Huntsville, AL, July 2003. 419 G. P. Sutton and O. Biblarz. Rocket Propulsion Elements. Wiley, eighth edition, 2010. 421, 422 10 Chemical Rocket Performance 10.1 Thrust Equation 424 10.2 Rocket Equation 424 10.3 Design Thrust, T D 426 10.4 Characteristic Velocities 429 10.5 Thrust Coefficient, C T 431 10.6 Maximum Thrust 436 10.7 Conical Nozzle Thrust 440 10.8 Vertical Rocket Trajectory 442 In Chapter 9, the total and specific impulse were introduced since they were used in comparing different types of rocket engines. It was illustrated there that the specific impulse is an important indicator of efficiency and overall system performance.
eBook - ePubSpace Technology
A Compendium for Space Engineering
- Thomas F. Mütsch, Matthias B. Kowalski(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Oldenbourg(Publisher)
3Propulsion Systems All propulsion systems used for spacecraft applications follow the Law of Conservation of Momentum.actio = reactioThat means, that each satellite with an attitude and orbit control system and each launch vehicle use fuel which, by repulsion with the highest possible velocity in a certain direction, results in a force, and therefore, in an acceleration in precisely the opposite direction by means of accordingly aligned engines. The propulsion power or the dimensions of a propulsion system can be calculated by using the rocket Equation 14.61 in a first approximation. An exception to this is solar sailing, by which the propellant mass is not carried in the satellite, but supplied from the outside in the form of light particles from the Sun. By absorption and reflection at a mirror face the beam direction of the particles is changed. Some exhaust and supply velocities of different propulsion systems can be seen in Table 3.1 .Table 3.1: Exhaust velocities and supply velocities.Where
Manyrealised and potential propulsion systems may be roughly divided into the following three groups.v a is the effective exhaust velocity m a is the total mass of the propulsion system (example) tr is the amount of fuel mass (example) v e is the supply velocity –Air-breathing propulsion systems –Chemical propulsion systems –Physical propulsion systems3.1Rocket Equation
The derivation of the rocket equation was the first important theoretical step for the technical implementation of space flight. The rocket equation shall be derived from the Law of Conservation of Momentum. Thus,As the rocket may be built up of up to 90 % propellant, and therefore m 1 and m 2 change significantly during firing time of the rocket, the universal Equation 14.61 shall be derived by integration. The mass ratio m 0 / m e
eBook - PDF- Stephen D. Heister, William E. Anderson, Timothée L. Pourpoint, R. Joseph Cassady(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
C HAPTER 1 CLASSIFICATION OF Rocket Propulsion SYSTEMS AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 1 . 1 I NTRODUCTION This text is intended to provide undergraduate and fi rst-year graduate students with an introduction to the principles governing the design and performance of Rocket Propulsion systems. Readers of the text are expected to have a good working knowledge of thermodynamics and the principles of fl uid fl ow in addition to a background in chemistry at least to the college freshman level. Fundamentally, the text has been developed as a compilation of resources from two courses offered at Purdue University: AAE439, Rocket Propulsion and AAE539, Advanced Rocket Propulsion . The former course is taught at the Senior level, while the latter is targeted to Seniors and fi rst-year graduate students. The primary emphasis of the text is placed in the area of chemical Rocket Propulsion systems, the realm that includes solid rocket motors, liquid Rocket Propulsion devices, and hybrid systems that utilize one liquid propellant and one solid propellant. Electric and nuclear propulsion devices are not discussed in detail, but are highlighted brie fl y within this chapter to place them within the broad context of existing or future Rocket Propulsion devices. Speci fi cally, this book places emphasis on the propellant systems, combustion processes, and thermodynamic and fl uid fl ow processes occurring within the rocket combustion chamber and nozzle. In addition, overall system sizing is presented as well as the interaction of propulsion system performance with vehicle trajectory calculations. Control and structural aspects of a rocket are not considered in detail in this course, but structural issues and sizing considerations are discussed at a mainly conceptual level. In this introductory chapter, we will brie fl y discuss the history of rocketry and will introduce the various types of Rocket Propulsion systems in use today.
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