Introduction to Aerospace Propulsion

Prof. Bhaskar Roy

Prof. A.M. Pradeep
Department of Aerospace Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Module No. # 01
Lecture No. # 36
Fundamentals of Rocket Engines
We have been talking about various jet engines, over the course of many lectures. We
have also looked at various thermodynamic aspects, which were covered by Professor
Pradeep.
Now, all the jet engines so far we have been looking at and all the other IC engines that
we have looked at earlier were all of them, air breathing engines; they were using air
available in abundance in the atmosphere, as a primary working medium. The idea in all
those engines was to use air and somehow energize the air and get work out of air. So,
air was the working medium and as a result of which, all of them were generally clubbed
as air breathing engines.
We are going to talk about non-air breathing engines - the engines that do not use air as a
working medium, the engines that have to carry its own fuel and in the process, create
thrust for flying vehicles.
Now, these non-air breathing engines are rockets, missiles and the various spacecrafts
that are being used by various advanced nations for putting craft in space and sending
man to moon and even beyond.
These crafts are used for various purposes. Rockets is a generic name for all these kinds
of crafts, missiles are used normally for various military purposes and spacecrafts are
used for various missions which take man beyond the earths atmosphere and then on to
moon and to mars and various other missions, even beyond in the galaxy or in future
probably out of this galaxy.
So, obviously a large part of the travel of these crafts would have to be outside the
earths atmosphere. Even some of the missiles that we have, sometimes, travel a part of
their journey outside the earths atmosphere. As a result of which, it is required that they

havve engines which do not

n use air as workingg medium because
b
obvviously, if tthey are
deppendent on air, they woould not be able to perfform beyondd the earths atmospherre.
Som
me of thesee fundamenttal reasons prompted
p
p
people
to develop enginnes, which could
c
be
useed to take thhe craft beyoond the eartths atmosphere and these are the rockets
r
andd various
kinnds of missiles, which we
w will lookk at and thenn finally, thhe spacecraffts.
Wee will look at some off the enginees that havee been developed over the years, some of
thee rockets an
nd various crafts
c
that have been deeveloped ov
ver the yearrs and then we will
do the basic roocket sciencce that actu
ually makes these rockeets work. We
W would bee able to
finaally look att various kiinds of spacecrafts thaat are beingg used now-a-days for various
kinnds of missions.
So,, let us takee a look som
me of the rockets that people are using now
w-a-days forr various
purrposes.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T
04:20))

(Reefer Slide Time:

T
04:21))

Noow, the rock

ket started loong back. The
T history of developm
ment of rocket is indeeed rather
quiite old actuually and acccording too the historry, rockets were used by the Chhinese in
tweelfth centurry AD for repelling
r
thhe Mongol attacks froom the nortth. So, Chinnese are
norrmally crediited with thhe inventors of the rockkets, as we know
k
today. In India, thhere is a
reccord that Tippu Sultan used
u
rocketss against thee British arrmy in eightteenth centuury AD;
thaat is nearly more
m
than 200
2 years baack.
Thee modern rocket
r
sciennce have been
b
develooped by a number off people in various
couuntries andd some of the peoplee who are known as the pioneeers are Koonstantin
Tsiiolkovsky of
o Russia, Hans
H
Oberthh and Fritzz Opel of Germany,
G
Robert
R
Godddard and
Weerner Von Braun
B
of USA;
U
Wern
ner Von Braaun of courrse, is from
m Germanyy and he
swiitched to US
U after the World Waar and continnued to conntribute to the
t developpment of
roccket sciencee and enginneering in US;
U he is credited
c
witth the deveelopment off Saturn
rocckets.
So,, many of these peoplle put togeether develooped, what we call roocket sciencce today
inccluding the multistage
m
r
rockets.
Now, multistaage rockets - the credit for developping that
waas actually being
b
givenn to Konstanntin Tsiolkoovsky of Russia.
R
He developed
d
thhe basic
scieence based on which todays
t
spaccecrafts aree being launnched from all over thee world.
So,, he is creddited with tthe person who first conceived
c
t idea of multistage rockets
the

whhich can be used to takke the rockeet vehicles beyond nott only earthhs surface, beyond
earrths gravitaational field and to variious other places not on
nly moon, but
b to other planets.
p
So,, the wholee science off that was developed
d
b Konstan
by
ntin Tsiolkovsky and others
o
of
couurse, have developed various otther versionns of rock
kets. Werneer Von Braaun, for
exaample, deveeloped the German
G
V 2 rocket, which
w
were used indeedd during thee World
Waar. Some off these devellopments arre credited to
t these peoople and layying down the
t basic
fouundation of rocket sciennce and enggineering.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T
07:12))

Lett us take a look

l
at som
me of the moodern rockeets. One of the
t first thinng that youu need to
knoow is the opperation off the rocket is not depeendent on atmosphere
a
nor is it guuided by
thee forward sp
peed, which is the case of an aircraaft.
Noow, this is an
a advantagge as rockeet is the method
m
of prropelling vehicles beyyond the
earrths atmosp
phere. So, the
t atmosph
here would have been an impedim
ment, it wouuld have
beeen a resistannce to the ccraft. So, roccket is designed in a manner
m
that it has leastt amount
of rresistance and
a then it can
c fly out of the earthhs atmosphhere. Indeedd, when youu are out
in the
t atmosphhere, outsidee the atmossphere, the shape
s
of thee vehicle becomes less and less
impportant. So,, the shape that we aree familiar with
w for airccraft is no more
m
necesssary for
rocckets.

The disadvantage is that there is no air available anymore. Air was the primary working
medium for air breathing engines, which means that you have to carry the fuel and the
oxidizer. As we know the fuel and oxidizer, both are required for combustion purpose
and hence for rockets we have to carry both of them within the body of the rocket, which
means you have to carry the weight of both the fuel and the oxidizer, till they are
completely used up.
The basic rocket engine is a thermal rocket motor, which is fundamentally a heat engine.
We are familiar with the various kind of heat engines; we have done the thermodynamics
of these heat engines; we have done the various cycle analysis; we shall see that rocket
engines do not quite conform to those cycles, but it still remains a heat engine which
means fundamentally chemical energy is converted to heat by burning of propellant and
oxidizer and that is fundamental of all heat engines that chemical energy is released by
burning into heat and then this heat is converted to useful work.
So, that is the fundamental of heat engine. So, in that sense, a rocket remains a heat
engine and then this high energy burnt gas is accelerated through various nozzles; these
nozzles have to be shaped properly and we shall be looking into the nozzle science later
on, also - how these nozzles are created and shaped. If you do that properly, if you create
enough energy and if you have a properly shaped nozzle, then the large momentum of
exhaust gas that is created when it comes out of the nozzle body by the reaction force as
per Newtons laws of motion, creates thrust.
So, thrust is created through various physics: first is release of heat, second is expansion
of the gas or acceleration of the gas through a properly designed nozzle and if you do
that properly, the exhaust gas then gives a reaction and then the Newtons laws of motion
apply and you have thrust that is created by this exhaust gas.
This thrust is what we use for propelling the rocket, first through the atmosphere as it has
to be launched from earths surface and then through various other rarified medium
outside the atmosphere and then out into the space, where there is no atmosphere at all.
So, this is the basic mechanism by which a rocket normally works.

(Reefer Slide Time:

T
11:20))

Wee will take a look at som

me of the more
m
famouss rockets thaat have been
n used in thhe recent
passt. Some of the rocketss that we can
n immediattely refer to are the verry successfuul Indian
sateellite prograam, which is
i launchedd by our ISR
RO - Indiann Space Ressearch Orgaanization
andd they have been buildding these roockets for quite
q
some time.
t
Somee of the rockkets that
aree shown herre are calledd Satellite Launch
L
Vehhicles or SL
LVs; prior to
t these, theere were
sm
maller rocketts which weere used for various purrposes.
Theese are the successful launch vehicles that haave been laaunched in the
t last manny years
now
w. It startedd with a SLV
V. These pictures are rooughly in proportion to
o their size. So, you
cann see that the
t initial SLV
S
that was
w used was indeed rather
r
small and then we had
auggmented SL
LV and thiis augmenteed SLV haad, as you can see more
m
than 1 rocket.
Actually, heree there was only 1 roccket housedd within thee body of SLV
S
and heere, you
havve more thaan 1 rocket, at least 2 ro
ockets surroounding the body of thee SLV.
Yoou could haave upto 4 rockets
r
surrrounding thhe body of the SLV and
a then wee have a
Pollar SLV - Polar
P
Satelllite Launch Vehicle, which
w
takes the craft to
o the polar altitude
andd this is mucch bigger, as
a you can see.
s
It carries
c
at thhe tip of thee rocket, whhat is known as payloaad which is all the insttruments
thaat are used for
f the crafft when it iss rotating arround the earth.
e
So, alll those insttruments
aree housed insside it varioous communication annd other insttruments th
he PSLV is also the
kinnd of craft, we
w are probbably likely to use to beegin with foor our moonn mission.

It has,
h as you can see herre, a numbeer of rocketts not only the big rock
ket inside the
t main
boddy, but som
me of the sm
maller rocketts outside thhe main boddy which allso help in ccarrying
thiss big vehiclle up througgh the atmossphere into the earths orbit.
GS
SLV or Geo
osynchronouus Satellite Launch Vehicle is eveen bigger an
nd it goes innto what
is known
k
as geeosynchronnous orbit an
nd this is thhe kind of roocket which
h carries again a lot
of ppayload and
d a modern version of that
t is GSLV
V 8, which has gone thhrough 5, 6,, 7 and 8
andd is beingg continuoously deveeloped for various purposes.
p
These alsoo carry
com
mmunicatioon satellitess, which go
o around thhe earths orbit
o
and allow
a
us to stay in
com
mmunicatioon with eachh other all thhe time.
So,, these are the kind off launch veh
hicles or what
w
is know
wn as satelllite launch vehicles
thaat put satelllites on earths
e
orbiit for varioous purposses; some of which are for
com
mmunicatioon purposess, some of which are for other social purpposes and ssome of
whhich sometim
mes may bee for militaary purposess. So, thesee are the Inndian rocketts which
havve been veryy successfuul rockets that have beenn used overr last many years.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T
14:53))

Thiis is a PSLV
V, which iss being launnched from the Indian launch basee at Sriharikkota and
youu need a huuge structurre to initiallly hold thee rocket verrtically and once the rocket
r
is
fireed, it slowly
y goes up. When it is going up, it is still held
h
firm annd then at a certain
poiint of time, this fixturee is released
d and the roocket goes up
u in the atm
mosphere by
b virtue
of tthe huge gaas that is released and thhe thrust thhat is createdd which is directly
d
verttical and

com
mpletely liffts the whoole rocket body
b
up froom the laun
nch base, which
w
is a big
b base
creeated over here.
h
So, thee thrust thatt creates has to compleetely balancce the weighht of the
enttire rocket body
b
and heence, it is quite
q
often known as liftoff;
l
it liffts the entirre rocket
from the launcch base up in the atmossphere.
T
15:54))
(Reefer Slide Time:

Thiis is a Protton rocket, a modern rocket usedd by the Russians

R
forr launching various
sateellites to the atmospheere. As you can see, it has
h a number of rockett bodies outtside the
maain rocket body and thoose are the ones that create
c
additional thrustts especiallyy during
lifttoff. As youu can well imagine that the weigght of this could
c
be qu
uite heavy and you
neeed maximum
m thrust durring the lifto
off.
So,, maximum
m thrust creaation capabiility has to be built in and some of these inddeed are
muultistage rocckets so thatt some of th
hese would actually
a
falll off after thhe whole roocket has
gonne to a veryy high altittude. Then the so calleed, second stage will take over and
a then
afteer a certain while, the second stagge will also fall off andd then the thhird stage will
w take
oveer and afterr sometime even the third
t
stage would fall off, leavingg only the payload
whhich is the main
m satellitee to go on too its orbit or go on to itts mission.
Noow, this is Apollo
A
spaccecraft for the
t moon mission
m
usedd by USA. It was pow
wered by
Satturn rocket. Now, Satuurn rocket iss somethingg very simillar to this Proton
P
rocket; so, it
woould look soomething veery similar and of couurse, very big.
b (Refer Slide Timee: 17:20)
Thiis is the craaft that wouuld be houssed right onn top over here.
h
So, what
w
you seee on top

oveer here is siimply calledd technicallly payload. Now, this is

i the paylo
oad and thiss is what
woould be carriied by this big
b rocket from
f
the earrths surfacee and once it goes to veery high
altiitude, rest of the stagges fall offf leaving onnly this, which
w
is alsso often caalled the
com
mmand moddule, from which
w
a smaaller craft would
w
probaably land onn the moon.
So,, this is whaat goes arouund the earrths orbit or
o beyond, as
a you can see
s there iss a small
roccket actually fitted beehind it. Du
uring its vaarious motiions in thee space verry much
outtside the earths atmossphere, if it requires to create som
me small mo
otions, it caan create
thaat with the help
h
of thesse small rocckets. So, thhis is what you
y have riight on top of a big
roccket.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T
18:25))

Wee can see thhat in our Inndian rockeets also thatt it has num
mber of stagges. This is the first
stagge; this is thhe second stage;
s
this iss the third sstage. Someetimes, you have 4 stagges. This
couuld actually
y be a fourthh stage and then you hhave the pay
yload on top
p of it, whicch is the
sateellite. This is called saatellite launcch vehicle. So, the whoole of it is a launch veehicle on
topp of it is the satellite, which is usedd for various purposes.

(Reefer Slide Time:

T
18:50))

So,, people haave been ussing these for

f various purposes. USA used it to send man to
mooon. Russianns have alsoo done that and they also
a send vaarious satelllites to the orbit
o
for
varrious purposses, just likee our Indiann program.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T
19:07))

Thiis is the Spaace Shuttle Columbia launch

l
and here, you can
c see thatt there is a huge
h
big
roccket which is the Satuurn rocket and
a strappeed on that, is the Colu
umbia whicch is the
reuusable launcch vehicle. So,
S rest of the
t launch vvehicle actuually is not reusable.
r
Tyypically,
a roocket once it
i is launcheed and it go
oes up most of it falls off
o and is noot reusable; they are

com
mpletely buurnt off andd dispensed with. Now
w, this spacee shuttle whhich is strappped on
thiss big Saturnn rocket actually goes to space and
a it comes back and it comes back
b
and
lannds like an aircraft.
a
So, that is why
y this is shaaped like ann aircraft, bu
ut it cannot take off
on its own and
d go to spacce so it is strapped on to a big Saaturn rocket and then once
o
it is
higgh up in thhe altitude actually soomewhat ouutside the earths
e
atm
mosphere, thhe space
shuuttle gets reeleased from
m the main
n rocket boddy and then
n it can go around thee earths
orbbit on its ow
wn. As I meentioned, thee shape in that
t
kind off orbit does not matter. It could
be shaped likee an aircraftt or it could be shaped like anythinng and it woould still goo around
thee earths orb
bit as there iis no air resiistance invoolved.
Hoowever, wheen this spacee shuttle tries to come back to the earth, it haas to again nnegotiate
thee atmospherre. So, it hass to come baack throughh the atmospphere into thhe earths orbit
o
and
theere the shapee of this spaace shuttle shaped like an aircraft again is useeful because then it
cann behave likke an aircraaft, it can bee controlledd like an airrcraft and th
hen it can laand on a
airsstrip like an
n aircraft.
So,, it actually does so. It actually lan
nds on a runnway just liike an aircraaft does, aftter it has
gonne around the
t earth inn space. So, that is whhy it is called a spacee shuttle beecause it
com
mes back annd it is reusaable; it can be launchedd again withh the help of
o another roocket.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T
21:30))

Lett us look att various kinnds of misssiles. Missilles are typiccally used for
f various military
purrposes and hence,
h
som
me of their various
v
conffigurations may
m be guaarded secrett, but we

can take a look at all kinds of missiles that are normally used and each of them is
designed for the particular purpose.
Now, missiles are used for certain targets. So, you have certain target to which the
missile is launched and it has to hit that target. It could be an air-to-air missile, which
means it is launched from air maybe, from an aircraft and it is to hit another target which
is also in air - could be another aircraft.
It could be an air-to-surface missile, which means it is launched from an aircraft and it is
to hit something on the surface of the earth. It could be antiballistic missile which means
we will see the ballistic missiles and this missile is supposed to go and hit that ballistic
missile. So, to counter a ballistic missile and hence it is called antiballistic missile. So, it
has to intercept a missile, while that missile is moving on the atmosphere, intercept the
missile and hit that missile. So, it has a purpose of hitting something on the motion in the
earths atmosphere.
Then we have anti-satellite weapon, where you can send a missile to hit a satellite which
may be going around the earths surface. So, that is anti-satellite missile and then you
have anti-ship missile, which could be launched from air or from surface and it is
supposed to hit a ship, which is moving on the sea. So, a ship which is mobile and
moving on the sea can be hit with this kind of missile.
Then we have land-attack missile, which is ground to ground missile. We have anti-tank
guided missile which is used for hitting or targeting tanks on the surface of the earth.
Tanks as you know are armoured bodies and so you need strong missiles to hit them.
Then you have surface-to-air missile, which are often used to be called simply antiaircraft missiles, where you can send the missile from earth to aircraft that are moving
around which could be considered dangerous and hence, you can send missiles from
surface to counter those aircrafts.
Then there is surface-to-surface missile, which is the original missile. So, send a missile
from one point of earth to another point of earth for some target and we could have wireguided missile, where the guidance system is wired and these are missiles which are used
for various kinds of purposes; the purpose is normally some military purpose.

(Reefer Slide Time:

T
24:36))

Cruuise missilees normally have a long

g cruise fligght very muuch like an aircraft.
a
Thaat means
it ssort of fliess at a consttant altitudee, for a largge part of itts flight. Most
M
of the missiles
acttually have parabolic or
o some curvved trajectoory, which actually
a
meeans that it ddoes not
cruuise, but this cruise miissile is onee of a kind which cruises for a loong time in its path
whhich could be hundreds of kilometeers and thenn lands at a particular predetermin
p
ed place
at a target. Thhat is why, they
t
are callled cruise missiles.
m
Thhey are designed to cruuise at a
connstant altitude, over a loong period of its actuall flight.
Noow, the balliistic missilees are the aiim and shoot kind of missiles,
m
wh
hich are useed again
forr various military
m
purpposes. The purpose is built into the nomencclature or nname of
theese missiless and they are called tactical baallistic misssiles, the shhort-range ballistic
misssiles, theattre ballistic missiles ussed in specific kind of war situatioon, could be on the
topp of a mouuntain or inn a very diffficult terraain. So, thoose are callled theatre ballistic
misssiles.
Theen you hav
ve the meddium-range ballistic missiles whicch can prob
bably go over
o
100
kiloometers or so and thenn you have intermediatte-range ballistic missiile which go on for
maay be few 10
00 kilometeers and hit a target. Thhen you hav
ve the interccontinental ballistic
misssiles, whicch are expeected to traavel over thhousands of
o kilometerrs to hit frrom one
conntinent to another.
a
So,, it goes froom one conntinent to annother; hennce, they arre called
inteercontinentaal ballistic missiles
m
andd these obviiously go foor a very lonng distance.

Theen you havve the subm

marine launnch. Submarrines, as yo
ou know, are
a under thhe water
ships and they
y can be lauunched from
m under thee water so thhat you can
nnot even seee when
d ballistic missiles arre again
theey are beinng launchedd and thesse submarinne-launched
esppecially dessigned to be
b launched
d from undder the wateer and thenn we have the airlauunched balliistic missilees which aree launched from aircraaft and havee the characcteristics
of bballistic misssile for hittting a targett as soon ass they are lauunched.
So,, these are the
t various kinds of missiles
m
and as you can
n see, they are
a named after
a
the
parrticular misssion for which, they arre designed and these are
a all variouus kinds of rockets.
So,, they are all covered bby the rock
ket science that
t
we willl be talkingg about, but each of
theese rockets is
i designed for a particcular missioon. So, the way
w you deesign them, the way
youu design thee nozzle, itss guidance system everrything finaally makes a particularr kind of
misssile and as a result of which,
w
theyy have been given varioous kinds off nomenclatture.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T
27:46))

Thiis is a old German

G
V-2 missile. The
T reason I am showiing this old
d missile is because
moost of the other
o
missilees are guarrded secretss. They are secret techhnology, whhich are
norrmally not available
a
too the generaal public annd hence, we
w can look at somewhhat older
misssile, which
h were actuaally used du
uring the Woorld War 2.
As you can seee here, the missile hou
uses numbeer of compo
onents. Righht on top, you
y have
thee unit that iss often called payload or in simple rocket teerms we calll it payloadd, but in
casse of a military applicattion, it wou
uld be calledd a warheadd.

Then you have the various control systems, which controls the craft and finally, the
warhead on to the target. So, this is the control or gyro control, as it used to be known
earlier, which guides the warhead or the payload onto the target and then you have
various other systems, the radio system and so on, which are housed over here, for it to
be communicated with the ground system so that the ground control can be operated to
guide this system onto its target.
The various other systems are there - the rocket body as you can see here, houses all the
other system; you have the liquid oxygen that is stored over here and you have the
hydrogen peroxide tank which is stored over here and then you have the nozzle, which is
at the end through which the high velocity jet finally, comes out and creates a thrust.
So, these are the various kinds of systems that are normally housed inside a typical
rocket body - in this case, a particular missile, which have the control system, the
navigation system, the fuels and the oxidizers which are stored in tanks, as I mentioned
they have to be carried within the body and most of the body of a rocket is typically
occupied by the fuels and that is the various kinds of oxidizers and the propellants; they
have to be carried in the tanks and they actually occupy most of the space. Then you
have the pumps, which pumps these fuel into the rocket chamber or the combustion
chamber of the rocket engine and then it goes out through the nozzle. So, the rocket
chamber is of this size which is much smaller than the body of the main rocket and a
nozzle is at the lower edge of the rocket from which, the high velocity gas comes out.
So this is typically, the body of a rocket, which could be of a missile or any other kind of
a craft. They all have certain common features and these are the common features of any
kind of rocket that you may like to look at.

(Reefer Slide Time:

T
31:03))

Lett us try to take

t
a lookk at the variious fundam
mental sciennce that is contributorry to the
opeeration of ro
ocket.
Noow, if we look at the fundamenttal physics of what iss happeningg, you havee rocket
chaamber, whiich is oftenn called a combustionn chamber, in which the combuustion is
inittiated and we
w shall see what all kinnds of combbustion is done
d
in a few
w minutes.
Whhat it createes is, it creaates a very strong
s
presssure field in
nside the co
ombustion chamber
c
andd then this high pressuure gas is reeleased andd it continuees to createe this pressuure field
beffore it goes out througgh the nozzlle. When it goes out, it
i creates thhe thrust. Now,
N
this
preessure field, as it is seenn is inside the
t whole roocket chamb
mber. If you consider thee nozzle
andd combustio
on chambeer together, they may be called the rocket chamber and
a this
preessure field inside the rocket
r
cham
mber is actinng on the innner surface of the entirre rocket
chaamber.
Onn the outer surface, you
y
have a external pressure
p
fieeld which may be att earths
atm
mosphere or it may be
b a no prressure fieldd - that means,
m
theree may not be any
atm
mosphere att all and thee differentiaal of the tw
wo when integrated actuually gives you the
nett thrust. So,, this pressuure field diifferentiatedd over the entire
e
area would
w
finallly, give
youu the net thrrust in this direction; thhat is, in the direction which is th
he axis of thhe rocket
chaamber.

If you
y consideer this cham
mber to be an
n axis symm
metric bodyy, the radial componentts of this
preessure field would actuually, nullify
fy all aroundd that mean
ns they counnter each otther and
theere is no nett componennt acting in any
a directioon as we aree looking att an axis sym
mmetric
boddy. Hence, the
t only com
mponent thaat would bee active is thhe horizontaal componennt or the
com
mponent paarallel to thee axis of thiss craft or this rocket ch
hamber and that net com
mponent
is tthe thrust. So,
S this is how,
h
one cann say that the
t thrust iss created. So
o, this is onne of the
meethods by wh
hich, you caan use the basic
b
physiccs to understtand how th
he thrust is created.
c
(Reefer Slide Time:
T
33:38))

Lett us look at how the basic heat enggine is conceived.

Noow, we havee looked att various kiinds of jet engines. Thhe jet engin
ne cycles you
y have
donne and the jet
j engine cycle
c
works in a cycle;; it comes from
fr
atmospphere, goes through
com
mpression, goes througgh the proccess of com
mbustion annd expansioon and finallly, gets
releeased into th
he atmosphhere. So, it acts
a in a cyccle.
In a rocket, wee do not havve earths attmosphere. We do not have air, which
w
meanss that the
woorking mediuum has to start
s
on its own,
o
come out through
h a process of combustion and
theen come ouut through a process off expansionn and there is no returrn path; theere is no
cyccle. So, at best
b one cann say it woorks in a haalf cycle, buut we are not
n using a medium
whhich goes baack to its oorigin. So, it
i works thrrough a proocess of com
mbustion, which
w
is
appproximately
y a constannt pressure process annd then com
mes out thrrough a proocess of
exppansion.

So,, even thoug

gh a jet enggine or a roccket, which is also a jeet engine wo
ork as heat engines,
theere is some difference in the wayy they are fundamental
fu
lly conceiveed as working heat
enggines and thhis is the fundamenta
f
l differencee that the other
o
air breathing jet engines
woork in a cyclle; the rockeets do not work
w
in a cyccle.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T
35:10))

Noow, a rockett actually, fundamenta

f
lly, right frrom the begginning has two basic kinds
k
of
fueel and oxidiizer system.. One in wh
hich the fueel and oxidiizer, both arre liquid annd hence
theey need to be
b separatelyy pumped into
i
the rockket motor or
o rocket coombustion chamber.
c
So,, you needd a pumpinng unit for each of them
t
separaately to bee pumped into the
com
mbustion ch
hamber and both of theem are liquidds.
Thee other variety is, wheere both off them are solid
s
and booth of them
m could be separate
boddies of soliids or quite often theey are mixttures; so, solids
s
are mixtures
m
annd these
mixxtures havee been usedd for many centuries now,
n
by thee Chinese and
a our Inddians for
creeating rockeets. So, the early rockeets that we know
k
of, where
w
all sollid rockets what
w
we
call today - so
olid propellaant rockets and those w
were the ro
ockets which
h were usedd by the
Chhinese and th
he Indians and
a many otther people around the earth in thee ancient eraa.
In the modernn era, thesee solid bodiies are desiigned; theree are variou
us designer shapes,
whhich we shaall look at laater on in one
o of the next
n
lecturees and we shall
s
see hoow those
shaapes actuallly contributte to the peerformance of these soolid rockets.. In both thhe cases,

oncce the proppellant and the oxidizeer are burntt, the mixtuure of gasees that is crreated is
releeased through nozzles for thrust crreation.
Thee burning process,
p
as you
y are awaare, the com
mbustion proocess wouldd have to bee done in
a chemically
c
c
correct
mannner, which
h means the solids or th
he liquids, that is the ffuel and
thee oxidizer would
w
have to
t burn in a proper propportion. If th
he solids arre in a mixtuure, they
aree to be in a proper prroportion; thhis proportiion is extreemely impoortant and they
t
are
dettermined by
y various chemical
c
annalysis. Soo, the proceess of creaating this fuel
f
and
oxiidizer fundaamentally coomes from various
v
cheemical analyyses and thaat chemical analysis
givves you the kind
k
of fuell and oxidizzer that you should be using.
u
Wee shall see that
t
there arre various kinds
k
of fuels and oxidiizers for rocckets; the choice of
fueel and oxidiizer for rockkets is very
y wide. Theere are varioous kinds unlike
u
in ann aircraft
whhere you noormally havve only onee kind of fuel.
f
The number
n
of fuels
f
and oxidizers
o
avaailable for rockets
r
are many. We shall look at some off the more popular
p
onees in the
nexxt lectures. So, this is thhe way, the rocket actuually functio
ons.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T
38:04))

Lett us look at schematic of

o two fund
damental kinnds of rockeets; one is thhe liquid, annother is
thee solid proppellant rocket. In the liiquid, you hhave the fuuels in one tank, you have
h
the
oxiidizer or oxxidant in thee other tank and they arre pumped separately
s
into
i
the com
mbustion
chaamber.

Now, this is the combustion zone, in which the combustion is to be carried out, which
means, the fuel is to be pumped, they are to be released into the combustion chamber
through injectors and these injectors do a number of jobs; that is, it atomizes the fuel,
then the fuel is released, the fuel is vaporized, fuel mixes with the oxidant and then the
mixture is burnt, that means, a flame is created and then this flame releases the energy or
the heat energy into this combustion zone and then the mixture of gases proceeds from
the combustion zone where the heating or the combustion process is to be completed - at
least 98 percent completion. Then the mixture moves in the combustion chamber forward
towards the nozzle; even as it is moving forward, the combustion process may be
completed. So, by the time it comes at the beginning of the nozzle, the combustion
process is said to be completed and now, it has very high pressure and very high
temperature.
This very high pressure, temperature gas is now released through the nozzle which is
normally convergent divergent nozzle. So, initially you have a convergent nozzle which
makes the flow go sonic. So, at the throat of the nozzle, the flow has invariably reached
sonic velocity which is Mach 1 and then it continues to expand through this nozzle to
very high velocity - normally high supersonic Mach number with which the gas comes
out and helps create thrust. So, this is the mechanism by which the rockets normally
create thrust.
In case of solid propellants, you can have a mixture of oxidizer and fuel and a body of
that is created. We shall see the various shapes that are created; those shapes are
extremely important and they are housed inside the combustion zone. Once they are
housed inside the combustion zone, a process of combustion may be initiated.

(Reefer Slide Time:

T
40:433) Let us saay at this ennd - at the further end
d of the boddies and
oncce the combbustion is created
c
in thhis isolated combustionn zone, thee gas is creaated, the
proocess of gassification haappens; thee solids once they burnn, they form
m into gas and
a then
thiss gas travells through this openinng between the 2 sides. So there may be a circular
opeening throuugh this andd the combbustion is continued an
nd then finnally, it reacches the
begginning of the
t convergent part of the
t nozzle. It also goess through a process of choking
or ggoing sonicc and then itt becomes suupersonic and
a is releassed at high velocity.
v
(Reefer Slide Time:
T
38:04))

So,, normally as you caan see the solid proppellant carrries the proopellant insside the
com
mbustion ch
hamber itseelf whereas, for liquid propellants, the liquidds have to be
b stored
sepparately in other
o
part of
o the rockett body from
m which, theey have to be
b pumped into the
roccket chambeer, which means
m
that a rocket boddy will havve to be now
w designed to store
thee fuel and thhe oxidizerr separately. They cannnot mix beffore they arre pumped into the
com
mbustion zo
one.
Theen they aree to be pum
mped separaately. You may
m requiree separate pumping
p
caapability
deppending on the pressuree at which they
t
are storred, which means
m
a liquuid rocket typically
t
woould requiree a lot of sppace for carrrying the fuel,
fu for carrrying the oxidant, for housing
thee pumps andd which meeans that a liiquid rockeet typically has
h to be quuite big, forr it to be
justified that you
y carry alll these withh you for creeation of thrrust.

So,, typically liquid proppellant or liquid propuulsion is useed only wh

hen you neeed a big
roccket, typicaally for sateellite launcch vehicles.. Most of the
t missilees tend to be
b solid
proopellant roccket, where the solids are housedd within the combustion chambeer of the
roccket.
Som
me of the bigger
b
missiles like inttercontinenttal missiless could have a combinnation of
liquuid and soliid which coould be multtistage. So, the first staage could bee liquid to carry
c
the
totaal weight off the entire rocket bodyy or the vehhicle body and
a then lateer on, once the first
stagge is releassed, the nexxt stages co
ould be solidd rockets, which
w
are liittle smallerr in size
andd hence theey can carryy the vehiccle much faarther into the
t atmosph
here or beyyond the
atm
mosphere. So,
S a combinnation of liqquid and solid rockets has been allso used forr various
kinnds of launch vehicles.
(Reefer Slide Time:
T
43:40))

Noow, let us take

t
a lookk at variouss kinds of basic rockeet science. How the thrust
t
is
gennerated? Yo
ou see the rocket
r
sciennce is based on very simple prinnciple actuaally, you
knoow the New
wtons laws of motion; you know tthat if you create
c
a largge gas energgy that is
com
ming out off a body, it will
w immediately give you
y a forwaard motion. It can be done
d
in a
verry small scaale in your laboratory. If you opeen the end of
o a balloon
n and releasse it, the
ballloon will move
m
much like
l the rockket movemeent.
So,, basically, release of the
t gas will always tennd to give you a certainn amount off motion
andd then in a typical moddern rockett, the motioon needs to be controllled. So, youu have a

guided system, you have a navigation system. All those systems are housed in the body
of the rocket. However, the main problem of the rocket is creation of the thrust.
So, much of the body of the rocket is actually used in storing the fuels, for managing the
fuels and then managing the combustion process and then releasing it through the
nozzles.
The basic rocket engine is more about its heat engine and less about the craft which is
basically, a cylindrically shaped body at the tip of which you have a payload, which goes
out for various motions. So, various purpose of the rocket is served by basic fundamental
science. Let us take a look at this fundamental science, which governs all kinds of
rockets missiles and various kinds of satellite launch vehicles.
Now, if you take a rocket thrust that is to be created, if for example, you have to use a
certain amount of mass of the rocket to be used. Now, this mass of the rocket to be used
is indeed, the fuel. So, the fuel and the oxidant are to be used let us say, over a period of
time and this expended mass of dm is expended in time dt and when it is expended, it
creates a velocity change dV of the rocket body itself, then the conservation of
momentum gives you the momentum balance.
That means, the mass with which it started, the original mass and the original velocity
finally, devolves into the final mass, the final velocity and the mass that is expended that
is, the fuel that is expelled through the nozzle and the change of velocity that has
occurred to the rocket vehicle.
So, V e-max is the velocity of the exhaust gas, which is relative to the rocket body and as
a result of which, you have the motion of the rocket. It is assumed that the nozzle is fully
expanded to the atmosphere. So, this is the basic equation of motion of the rocket body
itself.

(Reefer Slide Time:

T
46:53))

Noow, if you sllightly workk on that eqquation, we can write thhat this equuation devollves into
am
much simpller form, which
w
can bee differentiated to giv
ve you a veery simple equation
e
whhich is m dV
V dt which is equal to V e-max intoo dm dt.
Noow m dV dt is the propuulsive forcee or thrust, which
w
is m into accelerration - dV dt is the
accceleration. So,
S that givees you the propulsive
p
f
force
or the thrust that you requiree for this
boddy to be mooved and thaat is the thru
ust you needd to create.
Noow dm dt is the mass flux
fl of the fuel
f
and oxiidizer togethher. You reemember thhe rocket
carrries the fueel and oxidiizer and theere is no airr available. So, this is what
w
is com
ming out
of tthe rocket body
b
and thiis is the thruust you need to create to
t move thee entire rockket body
throough the attmosphere or
o anywheree else. So, this
t comes out of the basic
b
motioon of the
roccket body.

(Reefer Slide Time:

T
48:00))

So,, the jet thru

ust that youu need to creeate can alsoo be writtenn down in teerms of the value V
e-m
max with which
w
the fuuel and oxiddant togetheer are coming out - the jet is com
ming out
andd this is thee mass flux of the fuel and oxidizzer together and that giives you the thrust.
So,, this thrustt must be eqqual to the thrust whicch is requirred for the motion
m
of the
t body
andd as a resultt of which, you
y have prroperly matcched enginee and the rocket body.
Noow, this exhhaust velocitty which is created and which wee call V e-m
max, at the moment
we are assum
ming that maximum
m
veelocity has been createed; it has worked
w
in an ideal
n
and then it is expanding into the
conndition, thee nozzle is working ass an ideal nozzle
atm
mosphere inn a completee expansionn process annd that creattes V e-max
x. We shall see later
on,, that rockett does not create V e-m
max all the time.
t
It creaates a velociity V e whicch is not
neccessarily maaximum, at all time of its operationn.
Noow, this V e-max
e
depeends on dessign of the exhaust nozzzle and on
n the local ambient
conndition of thhe flight. So, in a well-designed convergent divergent nozzle,
n
the exhaust
vellocity can be
b calculated and is knnown for fliights withinn the atmospphere. Theyy can be
calculated quiite easily, reasonably
r
a
approximat
tely for enggineering ap
pproximatioons. The
ma is deterrmined for the mass oof the gas with the help
h
of the internal
vallue of gamm
tem
mperature an
nd chemicaal compositiion of the exhaust.
e
It is normally much less than the
vallue that is used
u
for ordinary air; normally, quite
q
less really
r
at higgh temperatture and
preessure.

(Reefer Slide Time:

T
49:56))

Noow, these arre the equattions for whhich you cann calculate the V e; ass I said, V e can be
eassily calculaated. This is
i the energ
gy with whhich the gaas is flowinng out, thiis is the
tem
mperature of
o the com
mbustion ch
hamber withh which itt started annd this is the exit
tem
mperature. So,
S this is a simple gov
verning equaation of veloocity; you can
c write froom your
funndamental thhermodynam
mics that yo
ou have donne; the isenttropic flow that you haave done
andd if you deriive this, youu can coverrt the temperrature ratio to pressuree ratio.
Assuming an isentropic process
p
for the time being, an ideeal process and if youu do that
g the cycle efficiencyy, which is equal
e
to this as you
throough the noozzle and finnally, you get
havve done in your
y
thermoodynamics and for thee time being
g, if you asssume that thhe cycle
effi
ficiency is 100 percent,, that is 1, you
y get the V e-max; so,
s this is V e-max. Wee started
by trying to caalculate V e and we cann get V e-m
max by assum
ming the cyycle efficienncy to be
1 oor 100 perceent and if you
y do that, you get thee V e-max, which is fo
or the limitiing case
thaat is, in vacuuum.
So,, this is whaat you get when
w
the roccket actuallly flies in vaacuum, thatt is well outtside the
outtside the eaarths atmossphere. Othherwise in atmosphere
a
, you can calculate
c
byy earlier
stepps that are shown
s
over here.

(Reefer Slide Time:

T
51:25))

Hence, you caan see that we

w can now calculate with
w the helpp of simple physics, the Thrust
Speecific Fuel Consumpttion or wh
hich is alsoo called TS
SFC, whichh is the prropellant
connsumption really,
r
a hoouse inside the body and
a this is simply giveen by g byy V exit.
Noow, this is what
w
we caalculated inn the last sllide and g is
i gravity. So, you caan easily
calculate yourr TSFC, oncce you havee calculatedd the value of V ex an
nd the recipprocal of
mpulse, wh
hich is ofteen a figuree of merit or measuree of the
thiss is called specific im
proopulsive effi
ficiency of thhe rocket en
ngine
Yoou remembeer, this is a propulsive
p
u and it is
unit
i an enginee and its effficiency neeeds to be
meeasured. Specific impuulse is the figure of merit or thhe measure of the proopulsive
effi
ficiency andd it is simplyy the reversse or reciproocal of this TSFC and is expressed in this
maanner and it is often in most
m literatuure, it is sim
mply called I sp - Speciific impulsee
Thiis specific impulse vaalues at seaa level and at various altitude aree not same. As we
knoow, the thru
ust is goingg to be diffeerent and we shall see very soon and
a you know very
well, the valuue of g woould vary from
f
earths surface to
t various high altitudde. It is
som
mething at earths
e
surfaace which we
w use all thhe time in our
o physics, but once you go to
higgh altitude, the
t value off g changess and hence,, you have to
t use diffeerent values. Hence,
thee value of specific
s
imppulse would vary from
m earths surface at sea level to various
altiitudes, whicch the rockeets normally
y would flyy. Hence, th
hese are the various parrameters

that typically specify a rocket and a rockets operation - the TSFC, the specific impulse
and the exit velocity.
We shall continue with this in the next class and we shall introduce a number of other
parameters that typify a rocket and its operation. It also quantifies how good the rocket is
and what this rocket or what this engine could be used for, whether it could be used for a
missile, whether it could be used for a satellite or whether it could be used for any other
purpose can be actually found out from these parameters, which we are talking about.
We shall be introduced to number of other parameters pertaining to the basic rocket
science in the next lecture.