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Rocket Propulsion Primer

Subramaniam Krishnan, Jeenu Raghavan

Chapter 1

History of Rockets - all with Video Answers

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Chapter Questions

Problem 1

For about 1000-2000 words, write a brief biography of Dr. Werner von Braun.

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05:12

Problem 2

Realizing that the engine exit velocity $u_e$ represents effectively the specific impulse $I_{s p}$ (Sect. 3.4), from Eq. 1.1 derive the following relations. Note that the final mass $m_f$ includes the structural mass $m_s$ comprising engine mass and other accessories, and mass of payload $m_l$.

$$
\begin{aligned}
\frac{m_0}{m_f} & =\frac{m_0}{m_s+m_l}=\exp \left(\frac{\Delta v}{I_{s p}}\right) \\
m_p & =m_0\left[1-\exp \left(\frac{-\Delta v}{I_{s p}}\right)\right] \\
m_p & =m_f\left[\exp \left(\frac{\Delta v}{I_{s p}}\right)-1\right] \\
m_l & =m_0 \exp \left(\frac{-\Delta v}{I_{s p}}\right)-m_s
\end{aligned}
$$

Khoobchandra Agrawal
Khoobchandra Agrawal
Numerade Educator

Problem 3

A spacecraft of burnout mass $m_f=1025 \mathrm{~kg}$ in a geo-transfer orbit is required to give itself a "kick"-velocity increment-of $0.425 \mathrm{~km} / \mathrm{s}$ to place itself into geosynchronous orbit. Two propulsion systems are being considered: (1) a mono-propellant hydrazine thruster of $I_{s p}=2260 \mathrm{Ns} / \mathrm{kg}$ and (2) a bi-propellant $\mathrm{N}_2 \mathrm{O}_4 / \mathrm{MMH}$ thruster of $I_{s p}=3040 \mathrm{Ns} / \mathrm{kg}$. Calculate the mass of propellants required by these two thrusters for the maneuver.

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Problem 4

The total mass of a three-stage satellite launch vehicle is $m_0=701$ ton. Its first stage is presently of LOX/RP1 engine. Including the other two stages and the actual payload, the "payload" of the first stage $m_l=252$ ton. The structural coefficient $\epsilon$ of the present LOX/RP1 first stage is 0.093 . Let us suppose that the first stage is to be replaced by a LOX/LH2 engine. The specific impulse of the LOX/LH2 engine is expected to be 1.44 times that of the LOX/RP1 engine. But, the mass of the LOX/LH2 engine is expected to be $35 \%$ heavier than that of the LOX/RP1 engine. Estimate for both the cases (1) the mass values of $m_s$ (dry stage: engine with its tank and other accessories) and $m_p$, (2) the ratio of burnout velocities between LOX/LH2 and LOX/RP1 stages. Assume for simplicity the vehicle is moving in a gravity-free vacuum.

The structural coefficient is defined as $\epsilon \equiv m_s /\left(m_s+m_p\right)$

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