1. Rockets and Launch Vehicles

2. Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Rocket Science
How Rockets Work
Thrust
Impulse and Velocity Change
Rockets
Propulsion Systems
Elements of Propulsion Systems
Propellant Management
Thermodynamic Rockets
Electrodynamic Rockets
System Selection and Testing
Exotic Propulsion Methods
Launch Vehicles
Understanding Launch Vehicles
Launch-vehicle Subsystems
Staging
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

3. Rocket Science Rockets and Launch vehicles Get spacecraft into space
Move them around after they get there
Change their attitude (the direction they’re pointing)
Rocket Functions
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles SECTION 12.1

4. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
How a Rocket Works
A rocket is a system that takes mass plus energy and converts them into a force to move a vehicle.
The mass a rocket uses is up usually is called propellant.
The force a rocket produces is called thrust.
The Simplest Version of a Rocket System
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

5. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Thrust
Thrust is the force a rocket produces.
A rocket ejects mass at high speed in one direction so a vehicle can go in the other.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

6. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Thrust (cont’d)
The simplest example of this is a balloon.
Blow up a toy balloon and let go the stem to watch it fly wildly around the room. What makes the balloon go?
When you blow into a balloon, you force air into it, making the rubber skin tighten, increasing the internal air pressure, and storing energy like a spring.
When you let go of the stem, the air pressure has an escape route, so the skin releases, forcing the air out under pressure.
An Inflatable Rocket
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

7. Rocket Science and Newton
Newton’s Third Law of Motion tells us what’s happening here:
For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction.
As the air, which has mass, is forced out in one direction (the action), an equal force pushes the balloon in the opposite direction (the reaction).
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

8. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Rockets and Wagons
Let’s consider another example: a scientist perched in a wagon armed with a load of rocks (Figure 12-4).
He’s initially at rest and begins to throw the rocks in one direction. Following Newton’s Third Law, an equal but opposite force will move him (and the wagonload of rocks) in the opposite direction.
To throw the rocks, the scientist has to apply a force to them. This force is the same in size, but opposite in direction to the force applied to the scientist and the wagon.
A One-person Rocket
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

9. Rockets and Wagons (cont’d)
The mass of rocks leaves at a rate we call the mass flow rate, represented by “mdot” and measured in kilograms per second.
Mass flow rate is the amount of matter that leaves a rocket engine in a unit of time.
Linear momentum is always conserved.
As the momentum of the ejected mass (rocks) goes in one direction, the momentum of the rocket (wagon) goes in the other direction.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

10. Rockets and Wagons (cont’d)
A rocket puts out energy to eject mass out one end at high velocity, pushing it in the opposite direction.
Momentum change has the same units as force.
Effective exhaust velocity tells us how fast the propellant (rocks) is leaving the rocket.
The thrust a rocket produces depends only on the velocity of the propellant ejected (effective exhaust velocity) and how much mass is ejected in a given time (mass flow rate, or mdot).
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

11. Rockets and Wagons (cont’d)
This relationship should make sense from our wagon example. The scientist can increase the thrust on the wagon either by increasing the rate at which he throws the rocks (higher mdot) or by throwing the rocks faster (higher velocity). Or he could do both.
For example, if he threw bowling balls, he could produce a high thrust (mdot) but with lower velocity than if he were throwing small pebbles.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

12. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Power
We define power as the rate at which work is done, expressed as the amount of work (energy) per unit time.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

13. Impulse and Velocity Change
A rocket produces thrust that pushes on a vehicle. Then what happens?
If you push on a door, it opens.
If you hit a ball with a bat, it flies to the outfield.
Returning to our scientist in the wagon, he has to apply a force to the rocks over some length of time to give them velocity.
Force applied to an object over time produces an impulse.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

14. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Impulse and Baseball
When your bat hits that fast ball speeding over home plate, the impact seems instant, but the bat actually contacts the ball for a fraction of a second, applying its force to the ball during that time.
To change momentum, we can apply a large force acting over a short time (like a bat hitting a ball) or a smaller force acting over a longer time (like an ant moving a bread crumb).
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

15. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Total Impulse
We define total impulse to be the result of applying a large force on an object for some length of time.
This result is the same as the object’s change in momentum.
Think about the bat hitting the ball. The muscles in your arms produce the force that you apply on the ball for a short time. This applied force produces a total impulse on the ball, changing its momentum, and drives it out over the fence.
Impulse works the same way for rockets as it does for baseballs.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

16. Total Impulse (cont’d)
Although total impulse is useful for telling us the total effect of rocket thrust, it doesn’t give us much insight into the rocket’s efficiency.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

17. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Specific Impulse
To compare the performance of different types of rockets, we need something new called specific impulse, one of the most useful terms in rocket science.
Specific impulse tells us the cost, in terms of the propellant mass, needed to produce a given thrust on a rocket.
In other words, specific impulse tells us "bang for the buck" for a given rocket. The higher the better in terms of overall rocket efficiency.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

18. Specific Impulse (cont’d)
The higher the specific impulse, the more efficient a rocket is.
Specific impulse tells us the thrust produced by a given weight flow rate of propellant.
It is a measure of efficiency of the propulsion system.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

19. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Velocity Change
When you take a long trip in our car, you have to make sure you’ll have enough gas in the tank to get there.
This concern is even more important for a trip into space, with no gas stations along the way.
But how do we determine how much “gas,” or propellant, we need for a given mission?
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

20. Velocity Change (cont’d)
Determining how much propellant we need for a given mission:
Some rockets are more efficient than others. For example, one rocket may need 100 kilograms of propellant to change velocity by 100 meters per second; another may need only 50 kilograms.
To figure how much propellant we need for a given trip, we must have a relationship between the velocity change and the amount of propellant used.
We call this relationship the ideal rocket equation.
If we know how much velocity change is required and the specific impulse of our rocket, the ideal rocket equation will tell us how much propellant is needed.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

21. Velocity Change (cont’d)
The amount of propellant needed is directly related to the velocity change required and inversely related to specific impulse.
The velocity change delivered by a rocket depends on its effective exhaust velocity and the ratio of initial to final mass of the rocket. The higher the effective exhaust velocity, the more velocity change is delivered for a given mass of propellant used.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

22. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Rockets take in propellant and energy to produce a high-speed exhaust.
Saving of momentum between the exhaust and the rocket produces thrust.
A Simplified Rocket System.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

23. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Rockets (cont’d)
We can break the process a rocket uses to produce thrust into two steps:
First, energy must transfer to the propellant in some form.
Second, the energized propellant must convert to high-speed exhaust.
More Detailed View of Rockets
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

24. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Types of Rockets
Only two types of rockets are in use. Their type depends on the form of energy transferred to the propellant and converted to high-speed exhaust:
Thermodynamic rockets—These rely on thermodynamic energy (heat and and pressure).
Electrodynamic rockets—These rely on electrodynamic energy (electric charge and electric and magnetic fields).
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

25. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Thermodynamic Energy
Thermodynamic energy is in the form of heat and pressure.
A covered pot of water on the stove reaches high temperature and produces high-pressure steam.
The thermodynamic energy in steam drives trains or produces electricity in power plants.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

26. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Thermodynamic Rocket
In a thermodynamic rocket, thermodynamic energy transfers to the propellant in the form of heat and pressure.
A propellant can produce heat through a chemical reaction or from external sources such as electrical, solar, or nuclear energy.
Propellants in gas or liquid form are delivered to the rocket under pressure, supplying extra thermodynamic energy.
Once energy transfers to the propellant, we have a high-temperature, high-pressure gas – a gas with lots of thermodynamic energy.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

27. Electrodynamic Rockets and Electrodynamic Energy
Electrodynamic rockets rely on electrodynamic energy, which related to the energy available from charged particles moving in electric and magnetic fields.
Charge is a basic property of matter, like mass, and can be either positive or negative.
Like charges repel each other and opposite charges attract.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

28. Electrodynamic Rockets and Electrodynamic Energy (cont’d)
A molecule of propellant usually has the same number of protons and electrons, making it electrically neutral.
If one or more electrons can be “stripped of”, the resulting molecule will have a net positive charge.
This makes it an ion as shown in Figure 12-7.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

29. Electrodynamic Energy (cont’d)
The form of energy transferred to the propellant determines how it can convert to high-speed exhaust in one of two ways:
Thermodynamic expansion – using nozzles
Electrodynamic acceleration – using electric and magnetic fields
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

30. Thermodynamic Expansion—Nozzles
By far, the most commonly used types of rockets rely on nozzles.
Nozzles convert the thermal energy produced by chemical, nuclear, or electrical sources into kinetic energy through thermodynamic expansion.
Saturn V main engine’s nozzle
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

31. Thermodynamic Expansion—Nozzles (cont’d)
Hot gases produced from burning propellants in the combustion chamber move into a narrow section called the throat.
Past the throat the exhaust expands until it exits the nozzle.
Nozzles can convert the thermal energy of the hot gases in the combustion chamber into the kinetic energy of the exhaust.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

32. Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles
Nozzles and Thrust
A standard thermodynamic rocket has two main parts—a combustion chamber (where energy transfers to a propellant) and the nozzle (where high-energy combustion products convert to high-velocity exhaust).
The Bernoulli Principle tells us that low-velocity gasses move into the nozzle’s converging section, called the throat. They go faster and faster until they reach the speed of sound at the throat’s narrowest part.
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles

33. Nozzles and Thrust (cont’d)
As the gasses expand past the throat (where the nozzle’s area increases), the velocity keeps increasing to supersonic speeds.
The high-speed exhaust produces thrust.
Standard Combustion Chamber and Nozzle configuration
Unit 3, Chapter 12, Lesson 12: Rockets and Launch Vehicles