Aircraft Engine Historical Society

Rocket Propulsion Our Key To Space

By William Hoffman Retired Aerojet Aerospace Engineer

Titan II/Gemini

Titan IV Militar

July 10, 2008

Delta II

Atlas V Commerc
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Rockets
There are 5 types of Rocket Systems Liquid propellant rockets Solid Propellant rockets Hybrid rockets Electric Rockets Nuclear Rockets Most common types are Liquid and Solid Rockets must carry all of its fuel and oxidizer for the combustion process to produce the propulsive force we call thrust. An airplane must only carry fuel since it uses the oxygen in the air as the oxidizer for combustion.
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Rocket Systems
Weight is the big design challenge. Rockets have a parameter called Mass Fraction which is the lift-off weight minus the cut-off weigh divided by the lift-off weight. Simplistically this is the propellant used divided by total weight of the vehicle. I tell students: What you want is all candy bar and no wrapper! Practical design goals are for the mass fraction are greater than 0.8 but as close to 1.0 as possible. This is one area where rocket science got its name. Everything really must be of the lightest weight and thus right on the edge of failure. My college professor emphasized mass fraction by saying: The lightest weight package we all know is the egg. Right? Well, the egg has a mass fraction of 0.72 and it is just too inefficient for rockets.
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The New GX Rocket Being Developed Between ULA* & Japan

ayload Fairing LOx/LNG Stage 2 Japan Subsystem

United Launch Alliance

Common Core Booster (CCB)

ISA Lox Tank

RP-1 Tank RD-180 Engine Atlas V Booster ULA Subsystem ISA Japan Industry Team Lox/LNG Stage II

11 PLF

RD-180 Engine

*Chart Compliments of United Launch Alliance 4

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Rocket Systems
Some major parts of a rocket and their approximate percentages are Payload 2% Satellite; Weapon; Astronauts; etc Guidance <1% Gyro platform; electronics; gimbal system; gas jets Structures 5% Payload Fairing; Interstage; Others Propulsion 90+% Engine; Tankage/Propellant; Lines; Frames Mass and gravity are the biggest enemies of rockets. Drag only occurs for a small portion of rocket flight path and impacts the design of the payload fairing the most..

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All propulsion is based upon 400 year old physics as defined by Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton 1643-1727 (84)

Newtons Three Laws of Motion

1. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. The relationship between an objects mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F=ma. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
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2.

3.
Age 46

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F=ma
Newtons 2nd law
Basic physics demands that every vehicle that requires motion must have a force to start, maintain or change that motion and every one is governed by the equation F=ma where F is the force m is the mass of the vehicle a is the acceleration What does this simple equation really mean to us? Those of us that want to go fast are most interested in how the vehicle accelerates so we rearrange the equation to a=F/m For simplistic discussion lets call m weight So if we want more acceleration to achieve more speed we need a bigger force or a lighter weight or a combination of both
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For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

Newtons 3rd Law A force in one direction produces an equal force in the opposite direction Therefore, to move our vehicle we must produce a force in the opposite direction we want to go. For an propeller airplane the propeller moves enough air backwards producing a force that moves the airplane forward For a jet airplane the engine moves air and combustion products backwards producing the force to move airplane forward For a rocket, propellants are burned in the combustion chamber and accelerated out the nozzle producing a force to propel the rocket in the desired opposite direction.
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Liquid Rocket Systems

I want to focus on liquid rockets for this presentation as they are the most common to aircraft engines but still vastly different. There are two types of liquid rocket systems; Pressure fed and pump fed. Each have their advantages and disadvantages.

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Pressure Fed Liquid Rocket Systems

Pressurant Tank Pressurant Valves

High Pressure Oxidizer Tank

High Pressure Fuel Tank

Pressure fed systems are the simplest but are limited in size. They are most common for systems that require many starts and are used Primarily for upper stages and satellite station keeping. Most common propellants for pressure fed systems are hypergolic storables. Hypergolic means the propellants chemically ignite upon contact with each other. Storable means they do not need special cooling to remain a liquid.

Propellant Valves Injector Combustion Chamber

Nozzle

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Pressure Fed Liquid Rocket Systems

RCS Apollo Space Propulsion Engine

Space Shuttle OMS

Japan N-II Second Stage Propulsion System 11

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Pump Fed Liquid Rocket Systems

Pressurant Tank Pressurant Valves

Low Pressure Oxidizer Tank Turbine Oxidizer Pump

Low Pressure Fuel Tank

Pump fed systems are the choice for all boost phase stages and several high performance upper stages. First stage engines are all high thrust ranging from the 250,000 Delta II to 1,600,000 pounds for the Sea Launch Zenit Most common propellants for pump fed systems are Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen/Kerosene (RP-1)

Fuel Pump Gas Generator Propellant Valves

Injector Combustion Chamber

Nozzle

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Todays Pump Fed Liquid Rocket Engines Are Complex

Sea Launch RD 170 Engine 1,600,000 Pound Thrust LOX/Kerosene Space Shuttle SSME Engine 400,000 Pound Thrust LOX/Hydrogen

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Thrust
F = ma Question: How do we make thrust in a rocket engine? Answer: Burn a lot of propellant quickly and expand it in a nozzle to make the gases go very fast! Simple physics but VERY difficult to do! The thrust producing component is the injector/combustion chamber/nozzle assemble and there is real rocket science here. Remember the equation F = m a Well, there are other ways to express it for the engines F = Flow Rate x Ve + (Pe Po)Aexit F= Isp x Flow Rate and
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F = Flow Rate x Ve + (Pe-Po)Ae

Outside Pressure, Po Ve

Vehicle Motion

Combustion Chamber

Thrust
Nozzle

Injector

Pe

Injector: Injects the two propellants so they will mix and burn efficiently Combustion Chamber: Propellants burn almost completely Nozzle: Expand burned propellant to achieve high exit velocity and low pressure
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Aircraft Engine Historical Society F = Isp x Flow Rate

Isp (Specific Impulse)

Specific Impulse is the effective use of the propellants potential energy or a kind of the rocket engines gas mileage. Its value is measured in seconds. You want to have the highest practical value for your mission. The theoretical equation is complex
Isp = 9.797
k Tc x x m k-1

[1 - ]
Pe Pc

k-1 k

The fraction Tc/m is key to selecting the propellants because for chemical reaction (combustion) of propellants each combination produces its own combustion temperature Tc and has its own mass m. If you could separate these two characteristics you could potentially achieve very high Isp values. This can only be done with nuclear and electric engines.
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Aircraft Engine Historical Society F = Isp x Flow Rate

Isp (Specific Impulse)

Isp = 9.797

k Tc x x m k-1

[1 - ]
Pe Pc

k-1 k

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Specific Impulse (Isp)

Isp = 9.797
k Tc x x m k-1

[1 - ]
Pe Pc

k-1 k

Here are some typical values reported by the rocket industry Solid Rockets Titan Atlas Shuttle NERVA Electric Ammonium Nitrate/HPTB & Al Aerozine 50/Nitrogen Tetroxide Liquid Oxygen/Kerosene Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Hydrogen Liquid Hydrogen & Nuclear Core Electric Ions 250+ sec 300+ sec 340 sec 453 sec 700 sec 3000+ sec
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Titan First Stage Firing at Aerojet Sacramento

Titan Second Stage Engine Firing at the USAF Altitude Test Facility in Tulahoma, Tennessee
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Aircraft Engine Historical Society The Titan Second Stage Engine

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