Rocket Propulsion
History
A "long serpent enemy breaking" fire arrow launcher
as depicted in the Wubei Zhi. It carries 32 medium
small poisoned rockets and comes with a sling to carry
on the back.
A painting
showing
the Mysorean
army fighting One of the first recorded rocket launchers is the
the British "wasp nest" fire arrow launcher produced by
forces the Ming dynasty in 1380.
with Mysorean
rockets
Rocket Equation
Moment at time t=0
Moment at time
Force is the rate of change of momentum
Rocket Staging
Types of Rocket Propulsion
Physically powered
Type Description Advantages Disadvantages
Partially filled pressurised Altitude typically limited
carbonated drinks to a few hundred feet or
Water rocket Very simple to build
container with tail and so (world record is 623
nose weighting meters, or 2,044 feet)
A non-combusting form, Non-contaminating Extremely low
Cold gas thruster
used for vernier thrusters exhaust performance
Electrically powered
High voltages at ground Low thrust, needs high
Ion propulsion system Powered by battery
and plus sides voltage
Energy is imparted to a
Efficient where electrical
usually inert fluid serving as
power is at a lower
reaction mass via Joule Requires a lot of power,
Resistojet rocket (electric premium than mass.
heating of a heating hence typically yields low
heating) Higher Isp than
element. May also be used thrust.
monopropellant alone,
to impart extra energy to a
about 40% higher.
monopropellant.
Identical to resistojet except
the heating element is
Arcjet rocket (chemical Very low thrust and high
replaced with an electrical
burning aided by electrical 1,600 seconds Isp power, performance is
arc, eliminating the physical
discharge) similar to ion drive.
requirements of the heating
element.
Nuclear Propulsion
Nuclear propulsion technology was hypothesized way back to the starting of 20th century.
In nuclear propulsion system where the heat from a nuclear reaction, often nuclear fission, replaces
the chemical energy of the propellants in a chemical rocket.
Type Description Advantages Disadvantages
Fission
Higher Highly
products are
Isp >2000, can radioactive,
Fission directly
run for longer Dangerous to
exhausted to
period of time hadle
give thrust
Temperature
Fusion is
Clean and not are exceeded
initiated using
that dangerous, above the
propellant and
Fusion High energy melting point
then exhausted
output, Less of any known
using magnetic
radioactive, metal, Hard to
nozzle
contain
Fission
In an Nuclear Thermal Rocket,
a working fluid, usually liquid
hydrogen, is heated to a high
temperature in a nuclear
reactor and then expands through
a rocket nozzle to create thrust. The
external nuclear heat source
theoretically allows a
higher effective exhaust
velocity and is expected to double
or triple payload capacity
compared to chemical propellants
that store energy internally.
Other Uses in real life
• Nuclear submarine
• Nuclear aircraft carriers
• Status-6 Nuclear powered torpedo
What is Plasma
Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter,
and was first described by chemist Irving Langmuir[2] in
the 1920s.[3] It consists of a gas of ions – atoms which
have some of their orbital electrons removed – and
free electrons.
Technically it is an ionized gas consisting of positive ions
and free electrons in proportions resulting in more or less
no overall electric charge ,typically at low pressures (as in
upper atmosphere and in fluorescent lamps) or at very
high temperatures (as in stars and nuclear fusion
reactors).
Plasma can be artificially generated by heating a neutral
gas or subjecting it to a strong electromagnetic field to
the point where an ionized gaseous substance becomes
increasingly electrically conductive. The resulting charged
ions and electrons become influenced by long-range
electromagnetic fields, making the plasma dynamics
more sensitive to these fields than a neutral gas.
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are
combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic
particles (neutrons or protons). The difference in mass between the
reactants and products is manifested as either the release or the
absorption of energy. This difference in mass arises due to the difference
in atomic binding energy between the nuclei before and after the reaction.
Fusion is the process that powers active or main sequence stars and
other high-magnitude stars, where large amounts of energy are released.
