1.

MECHANICS OF ROCKET PROPULSION

The Rocket in Gravity-Free Space

Let m be the mass of a rocket at any instant t , and v the

velocity at that instant. The mass m includes unexpended propel-

lant. Relative to a stationary coordinate system, the momentum of

the rocket is mv • Let a mass of propellant 6-m be ejected oppo-

p
site to the direction of velocity of the rocket.

L1mp
-~of------;0 t+L1f
c-v--AII"

There are no external forces acting on the system, since gravity and

drag are neglected; hence, the total momentum of rocket and propel-

lant is the same after ejection as before. At time t + 6-t , the rocket

of mass m- 6-m
p
has velocity v + 6-v , and the ejected mass 6-m
p
has velocity c- v- 6-v in the opposite direction, as shown in the fig-

ure.

The equation of conservation of momentum is

(m-6-m )(v+6.v ) - 6-m (c-v-6-v)

p p
= mv ,

which can be simplified to

m.6v = c6.m
p
 -2-

This equation is exact; that is, does not require that .6.m or .6.v be
p
small. Howe ver, in conventional rockets, the ejection of propellant
dv dm
is continuous, so .6.v is replaced by dt dt and .6.mp by - dt dt in

the finite difference equation above, which becomes

dv dm
m dt = - c ""dt = F . ( 1. 1)

dv
Here, F is defined as the rocket thrust, since m dt is the force re-

quired to give an acceleration dv/dt to the mass m.

This equation is of fundamental importance, and it is worth

while to derive it in a different way. Suppose that a force F acts on

the mass .6.m

p
between times t and i + .6.t separating the mass of

propellant and accelerating it relative to the rocket. The total im-

. t+.6.t _
pulse applied to .6.mp 1s tj1 Fdt = F.6.t, say, where F is the

average force. The propellant, initially with velocity v , is ejected

backward with velocity c-.6.v relative to the rocket, so the change of

'"""'"""'-------10

momentum is .6.:..n (c-.6.v) , and equating to the total impulse

p
.6.m (c-.6.v)
p
= F.6.t •

From Newton's Law, the force on the rocket is an equal and opposite

reaction, and equating the momentum gain of the rocket of mass

m - .6.m to the total impulse

p
(m-.6.m )C:.v = FC:.t
p
and hence

ml::.v = c.6.m
p
= F.6.t + .6.mp .6.v •

The equality on the left is the same as that derived previously; the
 -3-

force F reduces to the thrust F defined in Eq. (1. 1) when the in-

crements are infinitesimal so that the second order term ~m · D.v

p
can be neglected in comparison with the other terms.

Equation ( l. l) can be written in the form

dm
dv = - c -m-

and integrated to give the velocity increment

m
0
r dm
v - v = e-- ( 1. 2)
0 J m
m

where m is the initial mass and v the initial velocity. If the

0 0

rocket starts from rest (v

0
= 0) and the mass at burnout is mb , the

velocity at burnout, vb , is given by

m
0

I m
dm
e--
m
( l. 3)

For a fixed propellant mass m -mb , the burnout velocity is clearly

0

a maximum when c is as large as possible. Generally, the exhaust

velocity of a given rocket and propellant combination cannot exceed

some maximum value because of limitations of the propellant and mo-

'
tor. Equation (1. 3) shows that vb will decrease if the motor is run

so c is at any time less than this maximum value. Hence, c can be

considered a constant throughout the burning period for any particular

rocket, since this represents the operation that gives the largest

value of vb .

With the simplification that c is constant, the integral in Eq.

(l. 3) can be evaluated to give

 -4-

m w0
vb = 0
c -tn - - = c
mb
~n -w-:- ( 1. 4)
b

where W /Wb is the "weight ratio" replacing the mass ratio. It is

0

convenient to introduce a weight breakdown for discussion of Eq. (1. 4).

D.3fine

w
0
= initial gross weight

w
p = propellant weight
( 1. 5)
w
s = structural weight

wl = payload weight

The structural weight W includes the rocket motor, propellant

s
tanks, controls, and all supporting structure; that is, everything re-

quired for the rocket operatione(cept propellant and payload. In a

two-stage rocket, the payload W includes the second rocket, with

1
associated tanks and propellant, and the second-stage payload. The

relations W
0
= Wp + W s + W 1 and W b = Ws + W 1 must hold with the

definitions above. Two dimensionless weight ratios are useful; these

are defined as

a. = W /W
1 0
, the payload weight ratio,
( 1. 6)
A
t""
= W / (W +W ) , the structural weight ratio.
s p s

From the definitions

and substituting into Eq. ( 1. 4),

1 ( 1. 7)
vb = c -tn f3 + ( 1 - M
The magnitude of the thrust does not enter into this expression for
 -5-

burnout velocity.

The Sounding Rocket

The findings in the previous section s·how that neither the time

of burning nor the magnitude of the thrust influences the burnout ve-

locity. It is clear that this cannot be true for a rocket in the gravity

field of the Earth, for instance, and it is of considerable important to

determine the deterioration of burnout velocity resulting from gravity.

The simplest quantitative demonstration of these effects can be shown

for a sounding rocket, that is, a rocket in vertical flight from the

Earth's surface. Air resistance, the decrease of acceleration of

gravity with height, and the effect of the Earth's rotation are neglected

in the first analysis.

The equation of motion of a rocket in vertical flight in a con-

stant gravity field g is

y - - ( 1. 8}

where m is the mass of the rocket at any tim·e , and y is the height

above the Earth's surface. If the exhaust velocity c is constant,

this equation can be integrated once

m
0
y = c tn -m- - gt , ( 1. 9}

where the constant of integration is evaluated from the conditions

y =0 and m -== m
0
at t =0 • Integrating again with respect to t ,
t
..., m 2
y = c J tn :: d t - !gt (1. 10}
0

w here y =0 when t =0 If ~ is the time at burnout, the burnout