A Seminar on

NON-CONVENTIONAL ROCKET PROPULSIONS (Part- I)

Presented By MD. AQUEEL AKHTAR 09CR6012 M.Tech (CR)

At

CRYOGENIC ENGINEERING CENTRE, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, KHARAGPUR-721302

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION
1. INTRODUCTION 2. TYPES OF ROCKET PROPULSIONS 3. NON-CONVENTIONAL ROCKET PROPULSIONS 4. NUCLEAR ROCKET PROPULSION
VARIOUS TYPES

5. FUTURE PROSPECTS 6. REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

A Rocket can be a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust by the reaction of the rocket to the ejection of a jet of fast moving fluid exhaust from a rocket engine. A Propulsion is a mechanism which provides a force that moves bodies that are initially at rest, changes a velocity, or overcomes retarding forces when a body is propelled through a medium. Rocket propulsion is the essential transportation technology for this rapid growth in human communication and exploration.

Development of Rocketry Hero of Alexandria(c. 67 A.D.) is credited with inventing the rocket principle who devised many machines using water, air pressure and steam, including a fire engine and a fountain. The real inventor of the rocket was certainly Chinese, and is sometimes said to be one Feng Jishen, who lived around 970 AD. Chinese were familiar with the practical results of experiments with gunpowder and bamboo tubes as fireworks. Later , the rocket was also used as a weapon of oriental war by Mongol hordes, the Arabs and Indian emperors also. It was used by Britishers during Napoleonic wars with developed version as military rocket which was capable of carrying small payloads.

Pioneers of Rocketry
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Robert Goddard Herman Oberth Werner Von Braun K.E. Tsiolkovsky Sergey Korolyov Robert Goddard Herman Oberth Werner Von Braun Sergey Korolyov

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky produced more theoretical applications towards space travel in 1903, with his writings on The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices .

Robert Goddard was much more practical than Tsiolkovsky and by 1915 Goddard had carried out his first experiments involving solid-fuelled rockets. Goddard launched the first liquid-fuelled rocket in 1926 and by the time he died in 1945 he had been granted many patents on various component rocket parts, including combustion chambers, nozzles, propellant feed systems and multistage launchers.

In 1930 the Hermann Oberth successfully tested a liquid-fuelled engine and by 1932 The German Society for Space Travel were regularly flying rockets. In his book The Rocket into Interplanetary Space described, amongst other things, a space station and liquid-fuelled rocket designs.

Werner von Braun developed the first modern ballistic missile, the liquidfueled V-2 rocket, for the German army. He then assisted the United States by developing a family of ballistic missiles for their army and later a family of powerful space launch vehicles for NASA.

The Russian rocket engineer, Sergei Korolev converted a powerful Soviet ICBM, called the R- 7, into a space launch vehicle, and then placed the worlds first artificial satellite Sputnik -1 into orbit.

FOR EVERY ACTION THERE IS AN EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION

ROCKET A rocket works by forcing high-speed combustion gases out through an opening in the rocket chamber, which generates forward thrust. The thrust from a rocket can be calculated by:

Assuming the exit velocity and pressure can be measured or calculated. By applying Newton s second law with the equation for thrust to a single-stage rocket, we can show: Note that m = m(t) because the weight of the rocket decreases as it expends fuel. Specifically, m(t) = Mo me x t, where Mo is the initial gross rocket mass. The aerodynamic drag force was also neglected.

Terminologies Related to Performance of Rocket Specific Impulse (Isp) It is a performance index for rocket propellants. It is defined as the thrust produced by propellant combustion divided by the propellant mass flow rate. Isp = thrust / mass flow rate Thrust (F) It is the reaction experienced by rocket structure due tothe ejection of matter at high velocity.
.

F ! m v  ( pe  pa ) An

Exhaust velocity (veff) It is the average equivalent velocity at which propellant is ejected from the vehicle.
.

veff ! v  ( pe  pa ) An / m

TYPES OF ROCKET PROPULSIONS

Rocket Propulsion

Conventional Non Conventional Solid Propellants Based

Liquid Propellants Based Mono propellant Based Hybrid Propellants Based

NON-CONVENTIONAL ROCKET PROPULSIONS

Nuclear Propulsion

NonConventional Rocket Propulsions

Solar Propulsion Electric Propulsion

NUCLEAR ROCKET PROPULSION Nuclear propulsion includes a wide variety of propulsion methods that use some form of nuclear reaction as their primary power source.

VARIOUS TYPES OF NUCLEAR PROPULSION

Nuclear Thermal Rocket Bussard Ramjet Fission Fragment Rocket Fusion Rocket Gas Core Reactor Rocket Nuclear Photonic Rocket Nuclear Pulse Propulsion Radioisotope Rocket

Nuclear Thermal Rocket

In a nuclear thermal rocket a working fluid, usually hydrogen, is heated in a high temperature nuclear reactor, and then expands through a rocket nozzle to create thrust. Due to the higher energy density of the nuclear fuel compared to chemical ones, about 107 times, the resulting efficiency of the engine is at least twice as good as chemical engines even considering the weight of the reactor, and even higher for advanced designs. The major components of this system are: 1) Energy conversion system--solid core nuclear reactor 2) Propellant feed system--pump and turbine 3) Acceleratornozzle The reactor contains : (a)moderator, (b)reflector, (c)shielding, (d)coolant, and (e)control mechanisms

The NERVA Nuclear Rocket Engine America's nuclear rocket engine, NERVA - it stands 25 feet high. The reactor is in the middle and fuel tanks at the top.

Nuclear thermal rocket propulsion (NTR) is an attractive space propulsion option: Reduced mass requirements in orbit from which to stage high (V missions Reasonable interplanetary trip times Potential for usage of in situ propellant resources Increased spacecraft longevity Increased range and propulsion power

Exhaust velocity advantage

Tc Ve ~ Wc
Wc = 16 Wc = 2

H2 - O2 Tc= 5,500oK Nuclear Tc= 2,800oK

Ve ,chemical
Advantage

Ve ,nuclear

1 ! 2

Propellant CO2 CH4 H2 NH3 H2O

Source Martian atmosphere, Martian frost, Earth Asteroids, Phobos/Deimos, Earth, Outer planets Lunar polar ice, Lunar Silane, NEO asteroids Earth, Outer planets Earth, Outer planets Lunar ice, Martian ice, Planetary moons

Isp potential (s) 160-380 460-670 800-1200 350-700 160-240

Future Projects: Project Prometheus Established in 2003 by NASA for long-duration space missions. Targeted for Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter Project Timberwind Under the aegis of the Space Thermal Nuclear Propulsion (STNP) program. Project Pluto To study the feasibility of applying heat from a compact nuclear reactor to operate a ramjet engine.

Bussard Ramjet
The Bussard Ramjet method of spacecraft propulsion was proposed in 1960 by the physicist Robert W. Bussard. He proposed a ramjet variant of a nuclear rocket capable of fast interstellar spaceflight. It would use an enormous electro-magnetic field as a ram scoop to collect and compress hydrogen from the interstellar medium. High speed forces the reactive mass into a progressively constricted magnetic field, compressing it until thermonuclear fusion occurs. The magnetic field then directs the energy as rocket exhaust opposite to the intended direction of travel, thereby accelerating the vessel. Possible nuclear fusion reactions. 2H + 2H 3He + 1n0 + 18 MeV, Or 2H + 3H 4He + 1n0 + 20 MeV.

The top speed of a ramjet-driven spaceship depends on five things: 1. Rate of mass collection from space by the ion scoop. 2. Ramjet's exhaust velocity, and net thrust level obtained from the exhaust jet. 3. Drag produced by collecting the interstellar medium. 4. The thrust to mass ratio of the ramjet. 5. Period that ramjet able to remain under thrust before it breaks down.

Limiting exhaust velocity 100 km/s Energy source could 500 kW nuclear fusion reactor

Fission Fragment Rocket

The fission-fragment rocket is a rocket engine design that directly harnesses hot nuclear fission products for thrust, as opposed to using a separate fluid as working mass. In the fission-fragment design, the individual atoms fission that are used to provide thrust, by extracting them from the rest of the fuel as quickly as possible before their energy is spread out into the surrounding fuel mass. The fission fragments are in ionized state due to the high temperatures of the reaction, they can then be handled magnetically and channelled to produce thrust. With exhaust velocities of 3-5% the speed of light and efficiencies up to 90%, the rocket should be able to achieve over 1,000,000 sec ISP.

A fission fragments ejected for propulsion B reactor C fission fragments decelerated for power generation d moderator (BeO or LiH) e containment field generator f RF induction coil

Nanoparticles of fissionable fuel are kept in a vacuum chamber subject to an axial magnetic field and an external electric field.  As the nanoparticles ionize as fission occurs, the dust becomes suspended within the chamber. The axial magnetic field is strong enough to channel the fragments into a beam which can be decelerated for power or allowed to be emitted for thrust.
a fissionable filaments b revolving disks c reactor core d fragments exhaust

Project undergoing at: Idaho National Engineering Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Fusion Rocket
A fusion rocket is a rocket that is driven by fusion power obtain from controlled fusion reactor. Techniques: Inertial confinement fusion A small pellet of fusion fuel would be ignited by an electron beam or a laser. To produce direct thrust, a magnetic field would form the pusher plate. Projects: -- Orion drive and Project Daedalus.

Inertial electrostatic confinement Slowly heat a magnetically confined plasma, the fusor injects high temperature ions directly into a reaction chamber. Difficulties: Energy losses through bremsstrahlung radiation Maintaining a non-Maxwellian ion energy distribution

VASIMR is a radio frequency (RF)-driven device where the ionization of the propellant is done by a helicon type discharge.

Performance parameters as functions of Isp for various propellants. The system efficiency , The RF booster power partition f are dimensionless, The thrust F has units of Newtons.

Gas Core Reactor Rocket

Gas core reactor rockets are conceptual type of rocket that is propelled by the exhausted coolant of a gaseous (vapor, gas, or plasma)fission reactor.

Partially ionized plasma in the gas core can be to generate electricity magnetohydrodynamically, which will avoid the need for an additional power supply.

The fissile fuel is (a)highly enriched uranium pellets, (b)uranium containing gas or (c) uranium tetra-fluoride ;the propellant is usually hydrogen.

Heat transfer to the working fluid is by thermal radiation, mostly in the ultraviolet, at working temperature of around 25000C.

Specific impulses of 3000 - 5000 s and thrust which is enough for relatively fast interplanetary travel.

Two main variations nuclear gas core rocket (GCR)

Open Cycle (GCR) Advantages Can attain much higher temperatures. Design is simple, since no additional structure in the gas core/ hydrogen interface. External forces (magnetic forces, rocket acceleration, etc...) can be used to contain the fuel in a specific region. Disadvantage Escaping of fuel through the nozzle before significant burn-up levels. Closed Cycle (GCR) Advantages Its design virtually eliminates loss of fuel. Do not absorb a wide range of -ray energies but can withstand the radiation environment present in the reactor. Disadvantage Lower temperature in comparison to OCGCR. Future research for such an OCGCR would therefore be focussed on keeping the fuel and propellant from mixing as much as possible. Consideration of other fuels, such as plutonium, and other propellants, including helium or even helium-3

Nuclear Photonic Rocket

In a nuclear photonic rocket, a nuclear reactor would generate such high temperatures that the blackbody radiation from the reactor would provide significant thrust.

The photon radiators would be most likely be constructed using graphite or tungsten. The reflector is combined with nuclear nightbulb so that no material exhaust is required.

The disadvantage is that it takes a lot of power (300 MW/N )to generate a small amount of thrust and acceleration, and even with efficient nuclear fuel specific impulse is very low.

An antimatter-matter powered photon rocket would obtain the maximum specific impulse; for this

reason, an antimatter-matter annihilation powered photon rocket could potentially be used for interstellar spaceflight.

A laser could be used as a photon rocket engine, and would solve the reflection collimation problem, but lasers are less efficient at converting energy into light than is blackbody radiation.

To obtain even higher specific impulse solar sail can be used, since it is effectively infinite because no carried fuel is required.

Nuclear Pulse Propulsion

Nuclear pulse propulsion is a proposed method of spacecraft propulsion that uses nuclear explosions for thrust.

It was first developed as Project Orion by ARPA, after a suggestion by Stanislaw Ulam in 1957.

Reaction of

directional nuclear explosives against

large steel pusher plate

attached to the spacecraft with shock absorbers. Efficient directional explosives maximized the momentum transfer, leading to specific impulses in the range of 6,000 seconds (theoretical maximum of 100,000 seconds ). Projects :
Project Daedalus Project Longshot.

Radioisotope Rocket
The radioisotope rocket is a type of rocket engine that uses the heat generated by the decay of radioactive elements to heat a working fluid, which is then exhausted through a rocket nozzle to produce thrust. Temperatures of about 1500 to 2000C are possible in this system, allowing for specific impulses of about 700 to 800 seconds. In order to increase the power for medium-duration missions, engines would typically use fuels with a short half-life such as Po -210. Projects: Project Rover Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG)

FUTURE PROSPECTS
Magnetic Confined Fusion (MCF) Propulsion Inertial Confined Fusion (ICF) Propulsion Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) Fusion Propulsion Antiproton Catalyzed Micro-fission/Fusion Propulsion

Project Pluto, which developed an unmanned cruise missile that used a nuclear powered ramjet for propulsion. NERVA - NASA's Nuclear Energy for Rocket Vehicle Applications, a US nuclear thermal rocket programme Project Prometheus, NASA development of nuclear propulsion for long-duration spaceflight, begun in 2003 Project Orion, first engineering design study of nuclear pulse (i.e., atomic explosion) propulsion Project Daedalus, 1970s British Interplanetary Society study of a fusion rocket Project Longshot, US Naval Academy-NASA nuclear pulse propulsion design. Ford Nucleon - never realized idea for a nuclear-powered car. Nuclear aircraft - General Electric's cold war project to build a nuclear powered bomber.

REFERENCES
Joseph A. Angelo, Jr., Frontiers in Space: Rockets, Facts On File, Inc. (2006) Jack D. Mattingly, Elements of Propulsion: Gas Turbines and Rockets, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. (2006) Martin J. L. Turner, Rocket and Spacecraft Propulsion, Praxis Publishing Ltd, Chichester, UK, 2009 Dr. Lucy Rogers, It's ONLY Rocket Science, Springer Science-Business Media, LLC (2008) Franklin Chang-Diaz, Plasma propulsion for interplanetary flight, Thin Solid Films 506 507 (2006) 449 453,Elsevier Robert W. Bussard, Concepts for Future Nuclear Rocket Propulsion, Jet Propulsion, April 1958 Robert W. Bussard, The QED Engine System: Direct Electric Fusion Powered Rocket Propulsion Systems, Tenth Symposium on Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion, Volume 271, pp. 1601-1612

http://www.search.com/reference/Nuclear_propulsion

Thank you for your attention!