Questions tagged [solid-fuel]
Questions about solid fuels. The rockets that use them, the fuels that are burned, and the vendors that make them.
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How are solid rocket propellants stored?
Unlike Liquid Propellants, solid propellants are already mixed with each other. I've always wondered, does that propellant ever go "bad"? and if it does, how do they prevent it from doing so?...
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What should be the fuel mass of a hypersonic (Mach 7) rocket using APCP fuel that would deliver a 50 gram payload?
Well, I used this rocket calculator besides asking ChatGPT and BingGPT and both gave me similar answers where the amount of fuel would be around 300 to 4000 grams of APCP fuel. And 30 to 100 grams for ...
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Computing Flight Characteristics for Different Propellant Grain Geometries?
Consider the following image:
I am interested in mathematically accounting for some of these different geometries but have had little success so far in finding how this can be done. The first thought ...
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What is the A in the mass flow rate formula for solid rocket propellants? How do I get the chamber pressure? [closed]
I believe the mass flow rate formula for solid rocket motors is:$$\dot{m}=p_pA_br$$ What is $A_b$ in this case. Is it the cross-sectional area of the hole in the grain? What is there is a nozzle? What ...
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How do you find the propellant mass needed to reach an specified altitude? (altitude at end of burn plus altitude during coast)
This question is basically entirely explained in the title, but I'll explain it more so this question doesn't get shut down. Basically, does anyone have an equation to find the propellant mass(solid) ...
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Can Solid Rockets (Aluminum-Ice) have an advantage when designing light space-tug for LEO?
This is a new subject for Space Industry – heavy spacecraft (1200-ton) in LEO that have to burn hundreds of tons of propellant to get going to their destination.
It looks inefficient to launch 7+ fuel ...
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SLS SRB sound suppression system
The Shuttle, in addition to the water deluge system, used a series of red nylon bags filled with water at the base of each SRB for additional sound suppression. Does the SLS, whose boosters produce ~...
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For Shuttle SRB solid fuel perforations, what is the shape of the double-truncated-cone?
I understand the 11-point star perforations in the solid fuel in the top-most SRB section. Several articles say that the remaining sections had a double-truncated-cone perforation.
Is my illustration ...
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How do spin-stabilized rockets conduct gravity turns?
I was reading this NTRS document about a spin-stabilized solids-only small launcher. The paper mentions that the proposed design (called 428A) will be spin-stabilized during launch and gravity turn. ...
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Why was a solid fuel rocket chosen as the 3rd stage for the Europa Clipper launch?
According to Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_48#Use_on_New_Horizons a solid fuel Star 48 “kick stage” was chosen as the 3rd stage in the launch of Europa Clipper.
Solid fuel rockets have ...
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"Semi" hybrid rocket? Throttleable solid fuel rocket?
Are there any published examples of "hybrid" rockets that used a propellant grain of mixed solid fuel and oxidizer where the injected component was only needed to sustain the burn without ...
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Thrust to weight of large solid fuel boosters
I have been looking at examples of large solid fuel rocket boosters or first stages used for space launch, such as P80, the Space Shuttle SRB, the various versions of Graphite-Epoxy-Motor, the solid ...
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Why do the walls of a solid rocket booster not glow red hot?
After ignition the walls of the SRB are separated from the "reaction chamber" by solid rocket fuel. But as the burn progresses, more and more fuel is used up and so the isolation from the ...
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What is the most powerful solid rocket fuel (highest isp) and it's combustion temperature
I wanted to know what the most power full solid rocket fuel is. I do not mean theoretical once like metallic hydrogen.
Are solid rocket fuel mixtures prepared in a non-ideal mixture? In other words, ...
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Paraffin wax in solid motors
Paraffin wax is often used in (at least hypothetical) hybrid motors, mostly with N2O or HTP. Could it not, however, be used in a conventional configuration? Running at O/F of 12.4, 60 bar chamber ...
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What is the difference between the solid fuel Boosters of the Shuttle and Artemis?
The Shuttle boosters had 4 segments and Artemis has 5. What are the differences in total mass, thrust and burn time? Is the thrust profile (thrust over time) the same?
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Is there a purpose in developing a 5 kg kick stage (Star 5A)?
A follow up to Why does the Star-5A have such a bad mass ratio? A comment left by @RussellBorogove says
...the Star-5A is extremely small, at 4.6kg. At that size, the usual observed scaling ...
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Why does the Star-5A have such a bad mass ratio?
I went over the KSP-RO's Discord research notes and found this PDF about the Star kick motors. The OP wrote that the Star-5A had a mass ratio of 0.493, which seems extremely low from a solid motor ...
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Restartable Solid Rocket Motors Through Expanding Throats?
I recall seeing diagrams on a solid rocket motor that could "blow" itself out through suddenly expanding its nozzle, leading to the propellant no long burning or producing any thrust.
First ...
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How exactly does depressurization work in a solid rocket motor?
How does the extinction process actually work in a solid rocket motor?
Most people initially always read that once a solid rocket fuel is ignited there is no way to actually stop its operation until ...
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Why does this sounding rocket have black sooty exhaust with mach-diamond-like oscillations? Is this unusual?
File footage of a sounding rocket with a dark, non-luminescent, sooty exhaust with mach-diamond-like oscillations is shown in the video 1957-1959 IBM 704 Computer - Vanguard Satellite Program "...
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What is the benefit of an inverted rocket stage?
For example the Chinese rocket Jielong 1 has an inverted 4th (final) stage. So the payload sits between 3rd and 4th stage. When 3rd stage separates it has to do a 180 degree turn before igniting the ...
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What limits pressure buildup in SRB's?
According to st. Robert's Law, propellant burn rates increase with pressure.
When an SRB is ignited, propellant starts to burn, making the pressure rise in the combustion chamber.
The flow through the ...
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What is this black smoke coming from an all solid fueled Epsilon rocket?
I saw a clip of a recent (Nov. 5th, 2021) JAXA Epsilon launch on Instagram (link). Shown differently here in a YouTube video @~0:23s:
It's an entirely solid fueled ...
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Solid metal fuel for nano satellite thrusters
A South African company is developing a solid metal fuel thruster that was initially researched by NASA but was not further developed,
an electric reaction could be used to vaporise solid metal fuel, ...
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Rocket equation with Drag factor
For the
avg Thrust of 2 kN,
burn time = 3.5 s,
burn rate= 1.4,
over the time diff of
dt = 0.1 sec
Isp = 140 sec
Cd for the Ogive nose cone C-section = 0.75
Cross-sec Area of the ogive nose cone = 0....
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Calculating the projectile of rocket using RCS to tilt the flight path
If I have main solid rocket with 800 N Thrust, 9 kg in total and has RCS thrusters 0.5 m from the center mass. Mid flight the RCS with 1 N force is activated for 2 sec. How does it affect the flight ...
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The thrust in the calculation of specific impulse
In calculating the specific impulse using the thrust generated as one of the parameters, do we take the total thrust generated or the average thrust over the period of the burn?
$I_{sp} = \frac{F_{...
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Tilted exhaust gases from the rocket nozzle after sonic boom [closed]
Our solid propellant rocket, on test, produces sonic boom. Right after, the plume of exhaust tilts sideways. This will definitely have a gimbal effect during flight. The propellant chamber has one ...
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Why are my empirical and theoretical value of mass flow rate in solid propellant rockets not similar?
For a rocket of:
fuel mass $m_f$ = 6 kg,
Thrust = 3.1 kN, (vs 4k using reducing catalyst to delay burn time)
total powered burn time, $t_b$ = 3.5 s, (using reducing catalyst vs 1.8 sec)
This ...
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What is the max height I can achieve with my solid prop rocket?
For a rocket of:
mass, $m$ = 25kg,
dry mass $m_f$ = 19 kg,
Thrust = 2.1 KN,
total powered burn time, $t_b$ = 3.5 s,
$I_{sp}$ = 129
I get powered burn height = 549 m and total time to max ht of 5506 ...
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Which burning of Solid Propellant is best axial burning or radial Burning?
Which Burning is Better Axial or Radial of Solid Propellant grain used in Solid Rocket Motors?
How Someone Determines which to choose according to the Mission requirements ?
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What are the temperature constraints on various solid rocket boosters?
What are the temperature constraints on various solid boosters/launchers; what are the lowest and highest temperatures they can tolerate? (One answer per booster/launcher/stage)
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Has there ever been a completely solid fuelled orbital rocket? [duplicate]
Engines and fuel management are very expensive to develop, and for smaller launch providers and space agencies this could prevent them from entering the market. My question is, would the cost savings ...
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Can liquid rocket engines have the same thrust as solid rocket engines?
Take the Vega rocket launcher for example. Its first three stages are solid rocket engines and burn at a relatively short time. If I were to change its first stage into a liquid rocket engine, can ...
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What is the effect of calorific value of fuel on the specific impulse of a rocket engine?
What is the effect of calorific value of a fuel on the specific impulse of a rocket engine? Other things remaining the same, and if it is possible to use both, will the same fuel provide the same ...
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Aerospike with solid fuel
I was scrolling in youtube and I saw this awesome video
and I think, if we put an aerospike nozzle in a sounding rocket,or even a small orbital rocket, as a first stage solid booster, this type of ...
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Could one actually make a grain silo rocket?
Watching the recent SpaceX Starship tests got me to thinking:
Could you actually make a rocket using grain as the propellant?
Image from https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-sn5-second-hop-plans/...
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Could the SS520 be used to return a payload from Mars to Earth?
The Japanese SS520-5 nanosat launcher has a payload of 5kg or so to LEO on an all solid fuel rocket with a total mass of about 2.6 tons. To reach LEO its delta-V totalled over all three stages must be ...
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Could HIBEX propellant be used for amateur rockets?
The HIBEX rocket was a precursor to the Sprint missile system deployed briefly back in the 1970s. The rocket was only 18 feet long but had extraordinary performance(an acceleration of 100 G's!). But I ...
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How is solid rocket fuel sourced?
I know that Orbital ATK builds solid rocket boosters, but where do they get the bulk material from? Is there a single supplier or multiple suppliers of solid rocket fuel or do motor manufacturers ...
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Is there any practical application of trinitramide N(NO2)3 in rocket propellants
In 2010 researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden announced the discovery of new compound, trinitramide N(NO2)3, which could revolutionize production of solid rocket propellants....
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Are more details about the fatal rocket motor accident at Cape Canaveral in April 1964 available?
The 1966 book The Life and Death of a Satellite by Alfred Bester contains an account of a accidental ignition of a third-stage solid rocket motor in a Delta rocket spin test facility at the Cape which ...
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What are the advantages of solid iodine propellant and how is it used for ion propulsion?
I was reading about different sources of propellant for ion thrusters, Xenon being the most common. However, in more recent articles I've found more and more mentions of Solid Iodine being used as ion ...
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Are solid-fueled launch vehicles faster to orbit than liquid-fueled ones?
The (relatively) new Kuaizhou family of launch vehicles is described as "quick-reaction", and is based on ASAT and ICBM heritage.
Solid-fueled rockets have been, historically, cheaper to launch on, ...
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Does this Soyuz vehicle burn coal or oil? What is its official name?
This tweet shows the image below and says:
Soyuz rocket on its way to the launch pad (on a train of course).
Question: Does this Soyuz vehicle (a train engine) burn coal or oil? Does it have an ...
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Was there a history of segmented solid rockets prior to the Shuttle?
The Shuttle famously (perhaps infamously) had its solid rocket boosters built in segments, which were transported to KSC and then joined together. The SLS will similarly have segmented SRBs.
Were ...
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What is the requirement of spacer rings in solid rocket motors in sounding rockets?
I saw this report SOLID ROCKET MOTOR DESIGN L-CLASS, here as shown in FIGURE-8, they have charged the motor with grain segments with spacer rings in between. Can`t we charge the motor without any ...
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Why did the nozzles on the SRB's igniter initiator point toward the grain of the main igniter while the main igniter's nozzle pointed straight down?
How did the shuttle designers make those decisions? What made it a better decision to point the exhaust of the igniter initiator toward the main igniter's grain at an angle? What made it a better ...
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Why doesn't Rocket Lab use a solid stage?
I was just reading about the Scout, an all-solid rocket, and thought of Rocket Lab's Electron, which seems to have a similar mission of deploying small payloads to orbit. I understand the engines to ...
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