Introduction Basics of Rockets & Missiles

Module – 1

INTRODUCTION
Syllabus:
Introduction: Space launch Vehicles and military missiles, function, types, role,
mission, mission profile, thrust profile, propulsion system, payload, staging, control and
guidance requirements, performance measures, design, construction, operation,
similarities and differences. Some famous space launch vehicles and strategic missiles.

1.1 Definitions

1.1.1 Rocket and Missile

• A rocket is a self-contained, self-propelled projectile that carries its own supplies

of fuel and oxygen.
• The word applies equally to projectiles for military use (bombardment) and civilian
use (signaling, lifesaving, fireworks).
• It has, since World War II, been applied only to self-propelled projectiles without
onboard guidance systems.
• A rocket designed to be installed in a vehicle (car, aircraft, and spacecraft) as a
propulsion system is, technically, a “rocket motor” or a “rocket engine.”
• The word “missile” (for centuries, just a synonym for “projectile”) now refers
exclusively to a self-contained, self-propelled projectile with some form of
guidance system.
• Missiles are usually powered by rocket motors, but they need not be.

1.1.2 Space Launch Vehicle

• A launch vehicle is a rocket-powered vehicle used to lift satellites and spacecraft

into orbit around the Earth.
• A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket propelled vehicle used to carry a
payload from Earth's surface to space, usually to Earth orbit or beyond.
• A launch system includes the launch vehicle, launch pad, vehicle assembly and
fueling systems, range safety, and other related infrastructure.

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• Most of the launch vehicles used since the beginning of the Space Age in 1957 have
been adapted from military missiles, but the term “launch vehicle” also applies to
manned cargo carrying spacecraft like the space shuttle.
• The term “booster rocket” is often used by the public and the mainstream press to
describe unmanned launch vehicles.
• Professionals tend to avoid it, however, because “booster” also refers to a self-
contained, solid-propellant rocket motor used to enhance the thrust of a launch
vehicle or missile for specific missions.

1.1.3 Spacecraft

• A spacecraft is a vehicle (with or without a human crew) capable of operating

beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
• It may leave Earth under its own power (like the space shuttle) or be carried into
space by a launch vehicle (like the Soyuz).
• It is different from a satellite because it can be steered by a human pilot or
controllers on the ground.
• Spacecraft need not, in theory, use rocket propulsion. Plans exist for spacecraft
propelled by ground-based lasers or “solar sails” designed to catch the streams of
charged particles given off by the Sun.
• So far, however, every spacecraft to travel beyond Earth’s atmosphere has done so
under rocket power.

1.2 Rocket Propulsion System

• Reaction propulsion/rocket propulsion, wherein both the fuel and the oxidizer,
generating the hot gases expended through a nozzle, are carried as part of the rocket
engine.
• Rocket propulsion is a class of jet propulsion that produces thrust by ejecting stored
matter, called the propellant.
• Rocket propulsion systems can be classified according to
➢ The type of energy source (chemical, nuclear, or solar).
➢ The basic function (booster stage, sustainer, attitude control, orbit station keeping,
etc.).
➢ The type of vehicle (aircraft, missile, assisted take-off, space vehicle, etc.).
➢ Size.

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➢ Type of propellant.
➢ Type of construction.
➢ Number of rocket propulsion units used in a given vehicle.
• Another way is to classify by the method of producing thrust.
• A thermodynamic expansion of a gas is used in the majority of practical rocket
propulsion concepts.
• The internal energy of the gas is converted into the kinetic energy of the exhaust flow
and the thrust is produced by the gas pressure on the surfaces exposed to the gas.

1.2.1 Chemical Rocket Propulsion

• The energy from a high-pressure combustion reaction of propellant chemicals, usually

a fuel and an oxidizing chemical, permits the heating of reaction product gases to very
high temperatures (2500 to 4100°C).
• These gases subsequently are expanded in a nozzle and accelerated to high velocities
(1800 to 4300 m/sec). Since these gas temperatures are about twice the melting point

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of steel, it is necessary to cool or insulate all the surfaces that are exposed to the hot
gases.
• According to the physical state of the propellant, there are several different classes of
chemical rocket propulsion devices.

1.2.1.1 Liquid Propellant Rocket

• Liquid propellant rocket engines use liquid propellants that are fed under pressure from
tanks into a thrust chamber.
• The liquid bipropellant consists of a liquid oxidizer (e.g., liquid oxygen) and a liquid
fuel (e.g., kerosene).
• A monopropellant is a single liquid that contains both oxidizing and fuel species; it
decomposes into hot gas when properly catalyzed.
• Gas pressure feed systems are used mostly on low thrust, low total energy propulsion
systems, such as those used for attitude control of flying vehicles, often with more than
one thrust chamber per engine.
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• Pump-fed liquid rocket systems are used typically in applications with larger amounts
of propellants and higher thrusts, such as in space launch vehicles.
• Some liquid rocket engines permit repetitive operation and can be started and shut off
at will.
• If the thrust chamber is provided with adequate cooling capacity, it is possible to run
liquid rockets for periods exceeding 1 hour, dependent only on the propellant supply.
• A liquid rocket propulsion system requires several precision valves and a complex feed
mechanism which includes propellant pumps, turbines, or a propellant-pressurizing
device, and a relatively intricate combustion or thrust chamber.

1.2.1.2 Solid Propellant Rocket Motors

• In solid propellant rocket motors the propellant to be burned is contained within the
combustion chamber or case.
• The solid propellant charge is called the grain and it contains all the chemical elements
for complete burning.
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• Once ignited, it usually burns smoothly at a predetermined rate on all the exposed
internal surfaces of the grain.
• Initial burning takes place at the internal surfaces of the cylinder perforation and the
four slots.
• The internal cavity grows as propellant is burned and consumed.
• The resulting hot gas flows through the supersonic nozzle to impart thrust.
• Once ignited, the motor combustion proceeds in an orderly manner until essentially all
the propellant has been consumed.
• There are no feed systems or valves combustion or thrust chamber.

(or)

1.2.1.3 Gaseous propellant rocket engines

• Gaseous propellant rocket engines use a stored high-pressure gas, such as air, nitrogen,
or helium, as their working fluid or propellant.
• The stored gas requires relatively heavy tanks.
• These cold gas engines have been used on many early space vehicles as attitude control
systems and some are still used today.

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• Heating the gas by electrical energy or by combustion of certain monopropellants

improves the performance and this has often been called warm gas propellant rocket
propulsion.

1.2.1.4 Hybrid Propellant Rocket Propulsion Systems

• Hybrid propellant rocket propulsion systems use both a liquid and a solid propellant.
• For example, if a liquid oxidizing agent is injected into a combustion chamber filled
with solid carbonaceous fuel grain, the chemical reaction produces hot combustion
gases.

1.2.1.5 Combinations of Ducted Jet Engines and Rocket Engines

• The Tomahawk surface-to-surface missile uses two stages of propulsion in sequence.

The solid propellant rocket booster lifts the missile away from its launch platform and
is discarded after its operation. A small turbojet engine sustains the low level flight at
nearly constant speed toward the target.
• A ducted rocket, sometimes called an air-augmented rocket, combines the principles of
rocket and ramjet engines; it gives higher performance (specific impulse) than a
chemical rocket engine, while operating within the earth's atmosphere.
• The principles of the rocket and ramjet can be combined so that the two propulsion
systems operate in sequence and in tandem and yet utilize a common combustion
chamber volume.
• A solid fuel ramjet uses a grain of solid fuel that gasifies or ablates and reacts with air.
Good combustion efficiencies have been achieved with a patented boron-containing
solid fuel fabricated into a grain similar to a solid propellant and burning in a manner
similar to a hybrid rocket propulsion system.

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1.2.2 Non-Chemical Rocket Propulsion

1.2.2.1 Nuclear Rocket Engines

• Three different types of nuclear energy sources have been investigated for
delivering heat to a working fluid, usually liquid hydrogen, which subsequently can
be expanded in a nozzle and thus accelerated to high ejection velocities (6000 to
10,000 m/sec).
• However, none can be considered fully developed today and none have flown.
• They are the fission reactor, the radioactive isotope decay source, and the fusion
reactor.
• All three types are basically extensions of liquid propellant rocket engines. The
heating of the gas is accomplished by energy derived from transformations within
the nuclei of atoms. In chemical rockets the energy is obtained from within the
propellants, but in nuclear rockets the power source is usually separate from the
propellant.

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Fission:

• In the nuclear fission reactor rocket, heat can be generated by the fission of uranium
in the solid reactor material and subsequently transferred to the working fluid.
• The nuclear fission rocket is primarily a high-thrust engine (above 40,000 N) with
specific impulse values up to 900 sec.
• Fission rockets were designed and tested in the 1960s. Ground tests with hydrogen
as a working fluid culminated in a thrust of 980,000 N at a graphite core nuclear
reactor level of 4100 MW with an equivalent altitude-specific impulse of 848 sec
and a hydrogen temperature of about 2500 K.
• There were concerns with the endurance of the materials at the high temperature
(above 2600 K) and intense radiations, power level control, cooling a reactor after
operation, moderating the high energy neutrons, and designing lightweight
radiation shields for a manned space vehicle.

Isotope Decay Engine:

• In the isotope decay engine a radioactive material gives off radiation, which is readily
converted into heat.
• Isotope decay sources have been used successfully for generating electrical power in
space vehicles and some have been flown as a power supply for satellites and deep
space probes.
• The released energy can be used to raise the temperature of a propulsive working fluid
such as hydrogen or perhaps drive an electric propulsion system.
• It provides usually a lower thrust and lower temperature than the other types of nuclear
rocket.
• As yet, isotope decay rocket engines have not been developed or flown.

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Fusion:

• Fusion is the third nuclear method of creating nuclear energy that can heat a working
fluid.
• A number of different concepts have been studied. To date none have been tested and
many concepts are not yet feasible or practical.
• Concerns about an accident with the inadvertent spreading of radioactive materials in
the earth environment and the high cost of development programs have to date
prevented a renewed experimental development of a large nuclear rocket engine.
• Unless there are some new findings and a change in world attitude, it is unlikely that a
nuclear rocket engine will be developed or flown in the next few decades.

1.2.2.2 Electric Rocket Propulsion

• In all electric propulsion the source of the electric power (nuclear, solar radiation
receivers, or batteries) is physically separate from the mechanism that produces the
thrust.
• This type of propulsion has been handicapped by heavy and inefficient power sources.
• The thrust usually is low, typically 0.005 to 1 N.
• In order to allow a significant increase in the vehicle velocity, it is necessary to apply
the low thrust and thus a small acceleration for a long time (weeks or months).
• Three types:
➢ Electrothermal rocket propulsion – thermodynamic expansion.
➢ Electrostatic or Ion propulsion engine – Non-thermodynamic expansion - works in
vacuum.
➢ Electromagnetic or Magnetoplasma engine - Non-thermodynamic expansion –
works in vacuum.

Electrothermal Rocket Propulsion:

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• Electrothermal rocket propulsion most resembles the previously mentioned chemical

rocket units; propellant is heated electrically (by heated resistors or electric arcs) and
the hot gas is then thermodynamically expanded and accelerated to supersonic velocity
through an exhaust nozzle.
• These electrothermal units typically have thrust ranges of 0.01 to 0.5 N, with exhaust
velocities of 1000 to 5000 m/sec, and ammonium, hydrogen, nitrogen, or hydrazine
decomposition product gases have been used as propellants.

Ion Rocket (Non-Thermal Rocket Propulsion):

• In an ion rocket a working fluid (typically, xenon) is ionized (by stripping off electrons)
and then the electrically charged heavy ions are accelerated to very high velocities
(2000 to 60,000 m/sec) by means of electrostatic fields.
• The ions are subsequently electrically neutralized; they are combined with electrons to
prevent the buildup of a space charge on the vehicle.

Magnetoplasma Rocket (Non-Thermal Rocket Propulsion):

• In the magnetoplasma rocket an electrical plasma (an energized hot gas containing ions,
electrons, and neutral particles) is accelerated by the interaction between electric
currents and magnetic fields and ejected at high velocity (1000 to 50,000 m/sec).

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• There are many different types and geometries. A simple pulsed (not continuously
operating) unit with a solid propellant is shown in above figure.
• This type has had a good flight record as a spacecraft attitude control engine.

1.2.2.3 Solar Rocket

• Several technologies exist for harnessing solar energy to provide the power for
spacecraft and also to propel spacecraft using electrical propulsion.
• Solar cells generate electric power from the sun's radiation. They are well developed
and have been successful for several decades.
• Most electric propulsion systems have used solar cells for their power supply.

Solar Thermal Rocket:

• An attractive concept, the solar thermal rocket, has large diameter optics to concentrate
the sun's radiation (e.g., by lightweight precise parabolic mirrors or Fresnel lenses) onto
a receiver or optical cavity.

• The receiver is made of high temperature metal (such as tungsten or rhenium) and has
a cooling jacket or heat exchanger.
• It heats a working fluid, usually liquid hydrogen, up to perhaps 2500°C and the hot gas
is controlled by hot gas valves and exhausted through one or more nozzles.
• The large mirror has to be pointed toward the sun and this requires the mirror to be
adjustable in its orientation.
• Performance can be two to three times higher than that of a chemical rocket and thrust
levels in most studies are low (1 to 10 N).
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Solar Sail:

• The solar sail is another concept. It is basically a big photon reflector surface.
• The power source for the solar sail is the sun and it is external to the vehicle.
• Approaches using nuclear explosions and pulsed nuclear fusion have been analyzed,
but are not yet feasible.
• Concepts for transmitting radiation energy (by lasers or microwaves) from earth
stations to satellites have been proposed, but are not yet developed.

1.3 Applications of Rockets

• Space Launch Vehicles or space boosters

• Spacecraft
• Missiles
• Primary engines for research airplanes
• Assist-take-off rockets for airplanes
• Ejection of crew escape capsules and stores
• Personnel "propulsion belts”
• Propulsion for target drones
• Weather sounding rockets
• Signal rockets
• Decoy rockets
• Spin rockets
• Vernier rockets
• Underwater rockets for torpedoes and missiles
• The throwing of lifelines to ships, and "Fourth of July" rockets

1.4 Definitions and Fundamentals/Performance Parameters

• Rocket propulsion is an exact but not a fundamental subject, and there are no basic
scientific laws of nature peculiar to propulsion. The basic principles are essentially
those of mechanics, thermodynamics, and chemistry.
• Propulsion is achieved by applying a force to a vehicle that is, accelerating the vehicle
or, alternatively, maintaining a given velocity against a resisting force. This propulsive
force is obtained by ejecting propellant at high velocity.

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1.4.1 Thrust

The thrust is the force produced by a rocket propulsion system acting upon
a vehicle. In a simplified way, it is the reaction experienced by its structure due to the
ejection of matter at high velocity.

Rocket propulsion differs from these devices primarily in the relative

magnitude of the accelerated masses and velocities. In rocket propulsion relatively
small masses are involved which are carried within the vehicle and ejected at high
velocities.

The thrust, due to a change in momentum, is given below. The thrust and
the mass flow are constant and the gas exit velocity is uniform and axial. This force
represents the total propulsion force when the nozzle exit pressure equals the ambient
pressure.

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The pressure of the surrounding fluid (i.e., the local atmosphere) gives rise
to the second contribution that influences the thrust. Figure 2-1 shows schematically
the external pressure acting uniformly on the outer surface of a rocket chamber and the
gas pressures on the inside of a typical thermal rocket engine.

The size of the arrows indicates the relative magnitude of the pressure
forces. The axial thrust can be determined by integrating all the pressures acting on
areas that can be projected on a plane normal to the nozzle axis. The forces acting
radially outward are appreciable, but do not contribute to the axial thrust because a
rocket is typically an axially symmetric chamber. The conditions prior to entering the
nozzle are essentially stagnation conditions. Because of a fixed nozzle geometry and
changes in ambient pressure due to variations in altitude, there can be an imbalance of
the external environment or atmospheric pressure P3 and the local pressure P2 of the hot
gas jet at the exit plane of the nozzle. Thus, for a steadily operating rocket propulsion
system moving through a homogeneous atmosphere, the total thrust is equal to

The first term from above equation is the momentum thrust represented by
the product of the propellant mass flow rate and its exhaust velocity relative to the
vehicle. The second term represents the pressure thrust consisting of the product of the
cross-sectional area at the nozzle exit A2 (where the exhaust jet leaves the vehicle) and
the difference between the exhaust gas pressure at the exit and the ambient fluid
pressure.

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If the exhaust pressure is less than the surrounding fluid pressure, the
pressure thrust is negative. Because this condition gives a low thrust and is undesirable,
the rocket nozzle is usually so designed that the exhaust pressure is equal or slightly
higher than the ambient fluid pressure. When the ambient atmosphere pressure is equal
to the exhaust pressure, the pressure term is zero and the thrust is the same as:

.
In the vacuum of space P3 = 0 and the thrust becomes:

The pressure condition in which the exhaust pressure is exactly matched to

the surrounding fluid pressure (P2 = P3) is referred to as the rocket nozzle with optimum
expansion ratio.

1.4.2 Exhaust Velocity

The effective exhaust velocity is applies to all rockets that

thermodynamically expand hot gas in a nozzle and, indeed, to all mass expulsion systems.
From thrust equation and for constant propellant mass flow this can be modified to:

When P2 = P3, the effective exhaust velocity c is equal to the average actual exhaust
velocity of the propellant gases v2. When P2 ≠ P3 then c ≠ v2. The second term of the right
hand side from above equation is usually small in relation to v2; thus the effective exhaust
velocity is usually close in value to the actual exhaust velocity. When c = v2 the thrust can
be rewritten as:

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The characteristic velocity has been used frequently in the rocket propulsion
literature. Its symbol c*, pronounced "cee-star," is defined as:

The characteristic velocity c* is used in comparing the relative performance of

different chemical rocket propulsion system designs and propellants.

1.4.3 Example Problems

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1.5 Multistage/Multistep/Multistate Rocket

• A multistage or multistep rocket is a series of individual vehicles or stages each with

its own structure, tanks and engines.

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• The stages are so connected that each operates in turn accelerating the remaining stages
and the payload before being detached from them.
• Multistage rocket vehicles permit higher vehicle velocities, more payloads for space
vehicle and ballistic missile.
• After the useful propellant is fully consumed in a particular stage, the remaining empty
mass of that expanded stage is dropped from the vehicle and the operation of the
propulsion system of the near step or stage is started.
• The last at top stage which is usually the smallest carries the payload.
• The empty mass of expanded stage or step is separated from the remainder of the
vehicle, because it avoids the expenditure of additional energy for faster accelerating a
useless mass.
• The first or lowest stage, often called a booster stage is the longest and it requires the
largest thrust and largest total impulse.
• The thrust usually become smaller with each subsequent stage also known as upper
stage or sustainer stage.
• The spacecraft is that part of a launch vehicle that carries the payload. It is the only part
of the vehicle that goes into orbit or deep space.

1.5.1 Types of Multistage Rockets

1.5.1.1 Serial Staging

• Small, second stage rocket that is placed on top of a larger first stage rocket.
• The first stage is ignited at launch and burns through the powered ascent until its
propellants are exhausted.
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• The first stage engine is then extinguished, the second stage separates from the first
stage, and the second stage engine is ignited.
• The payload is carried a top the second stage into orbit.

1.5.1.2 Clustered Rocket

• A popular method for producing a large first stage has been cluster several rockets
together to provide greater combined thrust without actually having to build a large
rocket.
• To form high thrust first stages by strapping or attaching them together.

1.5.1.3 Parallel Staging

• Several small first stages are strapped onto to a central sustainer rocket.
• At launch, all of the engines are ignited.

• When the propellants in the strap-on’s are extinguished, the strap-on rockets are
discarded.
• The sustainer engine continues a top the sustainer rocket into orbit.
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• Used on the space shuttle.

• The discarded solid rocket boosters are retrieved from the ocean, re-filled with
propellant, and used again on the shuttle.

1.5.2 Advantages of Staging

• Once the fuel is exhausted, the space and structure which contained it and the
motors themselves itself are dropped being no longer useful. Thus rocket lightens
itself.
• The thrust of next stages is able to provide more acceleration than if the earlier stage
were till affected.
• Rocket performance is improved by eliminating dead weight.
• The capability of rocket to reduce thrust in midflight thus avoids severe acceleration
from both men and instruments.

1.5.3 Disadvantages of Staging

• Staging requires the vehicle to lift motors which are not yet being used; this means
that the first stages must produce higher thrusts than they supposed to do.
• Staging also makes the entire rocket more complex and harder to build.
• Each staging event is a significant point of failure during a launch, with a possibility
of separation failure, ignition failure and stage collision.

1.6 Propulsion System Criteria for Selection

Many criteria used in selecting a particular rocket propulsion system are peculiar to
the particular mission or vehicle application. For a spacecraft that contains optical
instruments (e.g., telescope, horizon seeker, star tracker, or infrared radiation seeker) the
exhaust plume must be free of possible contaminants that may deposit or condense on
photovoltaic cells, radiators, optical windows, mirrors, or lenses and degrade their
performance, and free of particulates that could scatter sunlight into the instrument
aperture, which could cause erroneous signals. Conventional composite solid propellants
and pulsing storable bipropellants are usually not satisfactory, but cold or heated clean gas
jets (H2, Ar, N2, etc.) and monopropellant hydrazine reaction gases are usually acceptable.
Another example is an emphasis on smokeless propellant exhaust plumes, so as to make
visual detection of a smoke or vapor trail very difficult. This applies particularly to tactical

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missile applications. Only a few solid propellants and several liquid propellants would be
truly smokeless and free of a vapor trail under all weather conditions.

Typical criteria used in the selection of a particular rocket propulsion system:

Mission Definition:

Purpose, function, and final objective of the mission of an overall system are well
defined and their implications well understood. There is an expressed need for the mission,
and the benefits are evident. The mission requirements are well defined. The payload, flight
regime, vehicle, launch environment, and operating conditions are established. The risks,
as perceived, appear acceptable. The project implementing the mission must have political,
economic, and institutional support with assured funding. The propulsion system
requirements, which are derived from mission definition, must be reasonable and must
result in a viable propulsion system.

Affordability (Cost):

Life cycle costs are low. They are the sum of R&D costs, production costs, facility
costs, operating costs, and decommissioning costs, from inception to the retirement of the
system. Benefits of achieving the mission should appear to justify costs. Investment in new
facilities should be low. Few, if any, components should require expensive materials. For
commercial applications, such as communications satellites, the return on investment must
look attractive. No need to hire new, inexperienced personnel, who need to be trained and
are more likely to make expensive errors.

System Performance:

The propulsion system is designed to optimize vehicle and system performance,

using the most appropriate and proven technology. Inert mass is reduced to a practical
minimum, using improved materials and better understanding of loads and stresses.
Residual (unused) propellant is minimal. Propellants have the highest practical specific
impulse without undue hazards, without excessive inert propulsion system mass, and with
simple loading, storing, and handling. Thrust-time profiles and number of restarts must be
selected to optimize the vehicle mission. Vehicles must operate with adequate performance
for all the possible conditions (pulsing, throttling, temperature excursions, etc.). Vehicles
should be storable over a specified lifetime. Will meet or exceed operational life.
Performance parameters (e.g., chamber pressure, ignition time, or nozzle area ratio) should
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be near optimum for the selected mission. Vehicle should have adequate TVC. Plume
characteristics are satisfactory.

Survivability (Safety):

All hazards are well understood and known in detail. If failure occurs, the risk of
personnel injury, damage to equipment, facilities, or the environment is minimal. Certain
mishaps or failures will result in a change in the operating condition or the safe shutdown
of the propulsion system. Applicable safety standards must be obeyed. Inadvertent energy
input to the propulsion system (e.g., bullet impact, external fire) should not result in a
detonation. The probability for any such drastic failures should be very low. Safety
monitoring and inspections must have proven effective in identifying and preventing a
significant share of possible incipient failures. Adequate safety factors must be included in
the design. Spilled liquid propellants should cause no undue hazards. All systems and
procedures must conform to the safety standards. Launch test range has accepted the system
as being safe enough to launch.

Reliability:

Statistical analyses of test results indicate a satisfactory high-reliability level.

Technical risks, manufacturing risks, and failure risks are very low, well understood, and
the impact on the overall system is known. There are few complex components. Adequate
storage and operating life of components (including propellants) have been demonstrated.
Proven ability to check out major part of propulsion system prior to use or launch. If certain
likely failures occur, the system must shut down safely. Redundancy of key components
should be provided, where effective. High probability that all propulsion functions must be
performed within the desired tolerances. Risk of combustion vibration or mechanical
vibration should be minimal.

Controllability:

Thrust buildup and decay are within specified limits. Combustion process is stable.
The time responses to control or command signals are within acceptable tolerances.
Controls need to be foolproof and not inadvertently create a hazardous condition. Thrust
vector control response must be satisfactory. Mixture ratio control must assure nearly
simultaneous emptying of the fuel and oxidizer tanks. Thrust from and duration of
afterburning should be negligible. Accurate thrust termination feature must allow selection

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of final velocity of flight. Changing to an alternate mission profile should be feasible.

Liquid propellant sloshing and pipe oscillations need to be adequately controlled. In a zero-
gravity environment, a propellant tank should be essentially fully emptied.

Maintainability:

Simple servicing, foolproof adjustments, easy parts replacement, and fast, reliable
diagnosis of internal failures or problems. Minimal hazard to service personnel. There must
be easy access to all components that need to be checked, inspected, or replaced. Trained
maintenance personnel are available. Good access to items which need maintenance.

Geometric Constraints:

Propulsion system fits into vehicle, can meet available volume, specified length, or
vehicle diameter. There is usually an advantage for the propulsion system that has the
smallest volume or the highest average density. If the travel of the center of gravity has to
be controlled, as is necessary in some missions, the propulsion system that can do so with
minimum weight and complexity will be preferred.

Prior Related Experience:

There is a favorable history and valid, available, relevant data of similar propulsion
systems supporting the practicality of the technologies, manufacturability, performance,
and reliability. Experience and data validating computer simulation programs are available.
Experienced, skilled personnel are available.

Operability:

Simple to operate. Validated operating manuals exist. Procedures for loading

propellants, arming the power supply, launching, igniter checkout, and so on, must be
simple. If applicable, a reliable automatic status monitoring and check-out system should
be available. Crew training needs to be minimal. Should be able to ship the loaded vehicle
on public roads or railroads without need for environmental permits and without the need
for a decontamination unit and crew to accompany the shipment. Supply of spare parts must
be assured. Should be able to operate under certain emergency and overload conditions.

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Producibility:

Easy to manufacture, inspect, and assemble. All key manufacturing processes are
well understood. All materials are well characterized, critical material properties are well
known, and the system can be readily inspected. Proven vendors for key components have
been qualified. Uses standard manufacturing machinery and relatively simple tooling.
Hardware quality and propellant properties must be repeatable. Scrap should be minimal.
Designs must make good use of standard materials, parts, common fasteners, and off-the-
shelf components. There should be maximum use of existing manufacturing facilities and
equipment. Excellent reproducibility, i.e., minimal operational variation between identical
propulsion units. Validated specifications should be available for major manufacturing
processes, inspection, parts fabrication, and assembly.

Schedule:

The overall mission can be accomplished on a time schedule that allows the system
benefits to be realized. R&D, qualification, flight testing, and/or initial operating capability
are completed on a preplanned schedule. No unforeseen delays. Critical materials and
qualified suppliers must be readily available.

Environmental Acceptability:

No unacceptable damage to personnel, equipment, or the surrounding countryside.

No toxic species in the exhaust plume. No serious damage (e.g., corrosion) due to
propellant spills or escaping vapors. Noise in communities close to a test or launch site
should remain within tolerable levels. Minimal risk of exposure to cancer-causing
chemicals. Hazards must be sufficiently low, so that issues on environmental impact
statements are not contentious and approvals by environmental authorities become routine.
There should be compliance with applicable laws and regulations. No unfavorable effects
from currents generated by an electromagnetic pulse, static electricity, or electromagnetic
radiation.

Reusability:

Some applications (e.g., Shuttle main engine, Shuttle solid rocket booster, or
aircraft rocket assisted altitude boost) require a reusable rocket engine. The number of
flights, serviceability, and the total cumulative firing time then become key requirements
that will need to be demonstrated. Fatigue failure and cumulative thermal stress cycles can
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be critical in some of the system components. The critical components have been properly
identified; methods, instruments, and equipment exist for careful check-out and inspection
after a flight or test (e.g., certain leak tests, inspections for cracks, bearing clearances, etc.).
Replacement and/or repair of unsatisfactory parts should be readily possible. Number of
firings before disassembly should be large, and time interval between overhauls should be
long.

Other Criteria:

Radio signal attenuation by exhaust plume to be low. A complete propulsion

system, loaded with propellants and pressurizing fluids, can be storable for a required
number of years without deterioration or subsequent performance decrease. Interface
problems are minimal. Provisions for safe packaging and shipment are available. The
system includes features that allow decommissioning (such as to deorbit a spent satellite)
or disposal (such as the safe removal and disposal of over-age propellant from a
refurbishable rocket motor).

1.7 Propulsion System Selection Process

The selection process is a part of the overall design effort for the vehicle system and
its rocket propulsion system. The selection is based on a series of criteria, which are based
on the requirements and which will be used to evaluate and compare alternate propulsion
systems. This process for determining the most suitable rocket propulsion system depends
on the application, the ability to express many of the characteristics of the propulsion
systems quantitatively, the amount of applicable data that are available, and the experience
of those responsible for making the selection, and the available time and resources to
examine the alternate propulsion systems.

All propulsion selections start with a definition of the overall system and its
mission. The mission's objectives, payload, flight regime, trajectory options, launch
scenarios, probability of mission success, and other requirements have to be defined,
usually by the organization responsible for the overall system. Next, the vehicle has to be
defined in conformance with the stated flight application. Only then can the propulsion
system requirements be derived for the specific mission and/or vehicle.
Since the total vehicle's performance, flight control, operation, or maintenance are
usually critically dependent on the performance, control, operation, or maintenance of the
rocket propulsion system (and vice versa), the process will usually go through several
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iterations in defining both the vehicle and propulsion requirements, which are then
documented. This iterative process involves both the system organization (and the
vehicle/system contractor) and one or more propulsion organizations (or rocket propulsion
contractors). Documentation can take many forms; electronic computers have expanded
their capability to network, record, and retrieve documents.

A number of competing candidate systems are usually evaluated. They may be

proposed by different rocket propulsion organizations, perhaps on the basis of
modifications of some existing rocket propulsion system, or may include some novel
technology, or may be new types of systems specifically configured to fit the vehicle or
mission needs. In making these evaluations it will be necessary to compare several
candidate propulsion systems with each other and to rank-order them (in accordance with
the selection criteria) on how well they meet each requirement. This requires analysis of
each candidate system and also, often, some additional testing. For example, statistical
analyses of the functions, failure modes, and safety factors of all key components can lead
to quantitative reliability estimates. For some criteria, such as safety or prior related
experience, it may not be possible to compare candidate systems quantitatively but only
somewhat subjectively.
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Various rocket parameters for a particular mission need to be optimized. Trade-off

studies are used to determine the number of thrust chambers, engines or motors, optimum
chamber pressure, best packaging of the propulsion system(s), optimum mixture ratio,
optimum number of stages in a multistage vehicle, best trajectory, optimum nozzle area
ratio, number of nozzles, TVC (thrust vector control) concept, optimum propellant mixture
ratio or solid propellant formulation, and so on. These trade-off studies are usually aimed
at achieving the highest performance, highest reliability, or lowest cost for a given vehicle
and mission. Some of these optimizations are needed early in the process to establish
propulsion criteria, and some are needed in evaluating competing candidate propulsion
systems.

1.8 Mission Profile

1.8.1 Mission Profile of Space Launch Vehicle

Fig: Mission profile of RLV TD (Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator)

The TDV (Technology Demonstrator Vehicle) weighing 1750 Kgs was propelled
as part of the ascent by a slow burning 11-meter long solid rocket booster that burnt out
around 90 seconds at an altitude of 33Kms. The booster and TDV continued in a combined
coast up to 44Kms altitude when the dynamic pressure has reduced enough for a safe
separation. The TDV continued on an unpowered coast after separation of the booster up
to an altitude of 65 Kms with a peak Mach number of around 5 before starting its descent.
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The descent of the space plane from that altitude had a reentry around Mach 4 that ended
with a splash down in the sea, 412 Kms from the launch pad.

Fig: Mission profile of space launch vehicle - The Shuttle Orbiter

1.8.2 Mission Profile of Strategic Missile

Fig: Mission profile of ballistic missile

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• In order to cover the defined altitudes, the each stages will be undergoing the
process of ignition and finally will reach the required altitude.
• The purpose of axial altitude control is to maintain or monitor the direction or
orientation of missile.
• The deployment of PBV (Post Boost Vehicle) burn is to give the required thrust to
the missile in order to enter the missile in to the earth atmosphere.
• With the help of Re-entry Vehicle (RV) and chaff (the inedible parts of the grain),
the missile will be reaching the targeted place.
• Once it reaches to the targeted place, the warhead begins. The warhead detonation
may occurs in air or ground.

1.9 Similarities and Differences between Space Launch Vehicles

and Missiles

1.9.1 Differences
Space Launch Vehicle Missile
Generally launch vehicle may be guided or
The missile will be the guided vehicle.
unguided depending upon the application.
Launch vehicle are rocket powered Missiles are sometimes self-powered
vehicles. rocket.
Missiles have the guidance system so that
Launch vehicles have no steering ability. it can be steered in the flight towards its
target.
Usually used for destructive or non-
Missiles are used only for the destructive
destructive purpose depending upon
purpose.
application.
The launch vehicles are used to place Missiles are always used to carry the
payload into the orbit of earth or any other warheads.
planet. Ex: bombs and explosives.
The launch vehicles are cylindrical tube
Missiles anything forcibly propelled at a
propelled by combustion in a direction
target by means of mechanical.
opposite to its thrust.
Ex: PSLV, GSLV, Space Shuttle, SpaceX Ex: AGNI, PRITHVI, BRAHMOS,
Falcon-9 AKASH, NAG, AMOGH, DHANUSH

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1.9.2 Similarities

The following are the similarities can be found between space launch vehicles and
the missile:

• Both space launch vehicle and missile carry a payload.

• In order to ignite, both the systems will use the propellants.
• The working principle for both vehicles is same. i.e., Newton’s 3rd law of motion.
• The trajectories followed by both launch vehicles and missiles will be same.
• Both the systems will have the same design criteria i.e., usually cylindrical shape.

1.10 Classification of Missiles

Missiles can be classified on the basis of:

• Point of launching and impact –

➢ Air-to-air missile (AAM)
➢ Air-to-surface missile (ASM)
➢ Air-to-underwater missile (AUM)
➢ Surface-to-surface missile (SSM)
➢ Underwater-to-underwater missile (UUM)
• Type of guidance system –
➢ Command system:
▪ The missile and the target are continuously tracked from one or more
vantage points and the necessary path for the missile to intercept the
target is computed and relayed to the missile by some means such as
radio.
➢ Beam-riding missile:
▪ It contains a guidance system to constrain it to a beam.
▪ The beam is usually a radar illuminating the target so that, if the
missile stays in the beam, it will move toward the target.
➢ Homing missile:
▪ It has a seeker, which sees the target and gives the necessary
directions to the missile to intercept the target.
▪ The homing missile can be subdivided into classes having:

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o Active class – the missile illuminates the target and receives

the reflected signals.
o Semiactive class – the missile receives reflected signals from
a target illuminated by means external to missile.
o Passive class – this type of guidance system depends on a
receiver in the missile sensitive to the radiation of the target
itself.
• Type of trajectory taken by the missile –
➢ Ballistic missile:
▪ It follows the usual ballistic trajectory of a hurled object.
➢ Glide missile:
▪ It is launched at a steep angle to an altitude depending on the range,
and the glides down on the target.
➢ Skip missile:
▪ It is launched to an altitude where the atmosphere is very rare, and
then skips along on the atmospheric shell.
• Propulsive system –
➢ These missiles fall into the categories of turbojet, ramjet, rocket, etc.,
➢ If the missile receives short burst of power that rapidly accelerates it to top
speed and then glides to its target, it is a boost-glide missile.
➢ Sometimes a missile is termed single-stage, double –stage, etc., depending
on the number of stages of its propulsive system.
• Trim and control device –
➢ Canard missile:
▪ It has a small forward lifting surface that can be used for either trim
or control similar to a tail-first airplane.
➢ Wing control missile:
▪ A missile controlled by deflecting the wing surfaces.
➢ Tail control missile:
▪ A missile controlled by deflecting the tail surfaces.
➢ Cruciform missile:
▪ These sets of controls at right angles permit the missile to turn
immediately in any plane without the necessity of its banking.
➢ Bank to turn missile:

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▪ These are like an airplane, banks into the turn to bring the normal
acceleration vector as close to the vertical plane of symmetry as
possible.

1.11 Thrust Profile

A thrust curve, sometimes known as a "performance curve" or "thrust profile" is a
graph of the thrust of an engine or motor (usually a rocket motor) with respect to time.

Most engines do not produce linear thrust (thrust which increases at a constant rate
with time). Instead, they produce a curve of some type, where thrust will slowly rise to a
peak, and then fall, or "tail off". Rocket engines, particularly solid-fuel rocket engines,
produce very consistent thrust curves, making this a useful metric for judging their
performance.

This information is vital when designing spacecraft, particularly multistage

spacecraft, since it may be advantageous to separate the engine and its associated fuel tanks
and machinery before the fuel has been fully exhausted. This is because even though the
engine is still producing thrust during the tail off phase, it may be so little that the spacecraft
would be more efficient without it.

Fig: Thrust profile curve for Solid Propellant Rocket with different geometry
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Fig: Thrust profile curve for Liquid Propellant Rocket (J-2X, RS-25, general)

1.12 Some Famous Space Launch Vehicles and Strategic

Missiles

1.12.1 India’s Space Launch Vehicles

During the 1960s and 1970s, India initiated its own launch vehicle programme
owing to geopolitical and economic considerations. In the 1960s–1970s, the country
developed a sounding rocket programme, and by the 1980s, research had yielded the
Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 and the more advanced Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle
(ASLV), complete with operational supporting infrastructure. ISRO further applied its
energies to the advancement of launch vehicle technology resulting in the creation of the
successful PSLV and GSLV vehicles.

Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV):

Status: Decommissioned
The Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV or SLV-3) was a 4-stage solid-propellant light
launcher. It was intended to reach a height of 500 kilometers and carry a payload of 40
kilograms. Its first launch took place in 1979 with two more in each subsequent year, and
the final launch in 1983. Only two of its four test flights were successful.

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Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV):

Status: Decommissioned
The Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) was a five-stage solid propellant
rocket with the capability of placing a 150 kilogram satellite into Low Earth Orbit. This
project was started during the early 1980s to develop technologies needed for a payload to
be placed into a geostationary orbit. Its design was based on Satellite Launch Vehicle. The
first launch test was held in 1987, and after that three others followed in 1988, 1992 and
1994, out of which only two were successful, before it was decommissioned.

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV):

Status: Active
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was a four-stage rocket with the
capability of placing up to 3800 kilogram satellite into various Earth Orbit. PSLV can also
launch small satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The reliability and
versatility of the PSLV is proven by the fact that it has launched, as of 2014, seventy-one
satellites/spacecraft (thirty-one Indian and forty foreign) into a variety of orbits. The
maximum number of satellites launched by the PSLV in a single launch is 104, in the
PSLV-C37 launch on 15 February 2017.

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV):

Status: Active
The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) is an expendable launch
system developed to enable India to launch its INSAT-type satellites into geostationary
orbit and to make India less dependent on foreign rockets. At present, it is ISRO's second-
heaviest launch vehicle and is capable of putting a total payload of up to 4500 kilogram to
low Earth orbit. The vehicle is built by India, originally with a cryogenic engine purchased
from Russia, while the ISRO developed its own cryogenic engine.

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III (GSLV-Mk III):

Status: Active
GSLV-Mk III is a launch vehicle capable to launch 4000 kgs of satellites into
geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) and 10000 kgs satellites into low earth orbit. GSLV-
Mk III is a three-stage vehicle with a 110-tonne (120-ton) core liquid propellant stage (L-
110) flanked by two 200-tonne (220-ton) solid propellant strap-on booster motors (S-200).
The upper stage is cryogenic with a propellant loading of 25 tonnes (C-25). The vehicle has

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a lift-off mass of about 640 tonnes and is 43.43 metres tall. It allows India to become less
dependent on foreign rockets for heavy lifting.

On 18 December 2014, ISRO conducted an experimental test-flight of GSLV MK

III carrying a crew module, to be used in future human space missions. This suborbital test
flight demonstrated the performance of GSLV Mk III in the atmosphere.

On 14 July GSLV-Mk III was supposed to launch Chandrayaan 2 but due to some
technical issues regarding the helium tank it was postpone to 22 July 2019. On 22 July 2019
the GSLV-Mk III launched India's second Moon mission, Chandrayaan-2.

1.12.2 India’s Strategic Missiles

Project Devil:

Project Devil was one of two early liquid-fuelled missile projects developed by
India, along with Project Valiant, in the 1970s. The goal of Project Devil was to produce a
short-range surface-to-surface missile. Although discontinued in 1980 without achieving
intended success, Project Devil, led to the later development of the Prithvi missile in the
1980s.

Project Valiant:

Project Valiant was one of two early liquid-fuelled missile projects developed by
India, along with Project Devil in the 1970s. The goal of Project Valiant was to produce an

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ICBM. Although discontinued in 1974 without achieving full success, Project Valiant, like
Project Devil, helped in the development of the Prithvi missile in the 1980s.

Akash:

Akash (Sanskrit: आकाश Ākāś "Sky") is a medium-range mobile surface-to-air

missile defence system developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO), Ordnance Factories Board and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) in India. The
missile system can target aircraft up to 30 km away, at altitudes up to 18,000 m.

Trishul:

Trishul is a short range surface-to-air missile developed in India. It was developed

by Defense Research and Development Organization as a part of the Integrated Guided
Missile Development Program. It can also be used as an sea skimmer anti-ship against low
flying attacking missiles.

Nag:

Nag (Sanskrit: नाग, Nāg "Cobra") is a third generation "Fire-and-forget" anti-tank

missile developed in India. It is one of five missile systems developed by the Defense
Research and Development Organization (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile
Development Program (IGMDP). Nag has been developed at a cost of ₹3 billion.

Prithvi Missile Series:

Prithvi Missiles are tactical surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missiles

(SRBM).

Agni missile series:

The Agni missile series started as a "Re-Entry Vehicle" project (later rechristened
as Agni Technology Demonstrator) in the IGMDP. The missiles in this series include:

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K Missile series:

Shaurya:

The Shaurya missile is a short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile developed

for use by the Indian Army. Capable of hypersonic speeds, it has a range of 600 km and is
capable of carrying a payload of one-tonne conventional or nuclear warhead.

BrahMos:

Mach 3 Supersonic Cruise Missile developed in collaboration with Russia. Land

Attack and Anti-ship variants in service with the Indian Army and Indian Navy. Sub-
Launched and Air Launched variants under development or testing.
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BrahMos II:

Mach 7 Hypersonic Cruise Missile in development collaboration with Russia.

Nirbhay:

Long Range Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile under development and testing. It was
successfully test fired for second time from balasore Orissa. Able to travel at speed of 0.6
mach.

Prahaar:

Prahaar (Sanskrit:प्रहार, Strike) is a solid-fuelled Surface-to-surface guided short-

range tactical ballistic missile that would be equipped with omni-directional warheads and
could be used for hitting both tactical and strategic targets.

Astra:

Astra is a 'Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile' (BVRAAM) being developed

for the Indian Air Force.

Helina:

A variant of NAG Missile to be launched from Helicopter is being developed under

the Project named HELINA (HELIcopter launched NAg). It will be structurally different
from the Nag.

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