Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-j4x9h Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-07T14:49:59.476Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Future for Solid Propellant Rockets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

K. W. Pearce
K. W. Pearce*
Affiliation:
Resistant Coatings Ltd., Haddenham
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Ten years ago it seemed that the solid propellant rocket engine could make only a limited contribution to rocketry. Although it was simpler and more compact than its liquid propellant rival it suffered from three serious drawbacks. The nozzle was uncooled and so the burning time had to be short, the entire propellant container was subjected to the full combustion pressure and temperature and therefore the inert weight of the engine was high and, since the specific impulse of solid propellants is in general lower than that of liquid propellants (because solids are partially reacted systems) the engine performance was consequently poor, and finally, no means were available for controlling the magnitude and duration of the rocket thrust. These facts were the foundation of the opinion, still held by some people, that solid propellant engines were only suitable as boosters or short burning time sustainers for small missiles.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 63 , Issue 580 , April 1959 , pp. 221 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1959

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

1.Neat, W. N. (1953). Some Limiting Factors of Chemical Rocket Motors. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Vol. 12, No. 6, 1953.Google Scholar
2.Baxter, A. D. ( 1956). Combustion Chambers for Rocket Engines. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Vol. 15, No. 3, 1956.Google Scholar
3. Astronautics, p. 12, Feb. 1958.Google Scholar
4.Perring, W. G. A. (1946). The Mechanism of the German Rocket Bomb V-2. Proceedings of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, 154 (1), pp. 93–98, June 1946.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Crow, , SirAlwyn, D. (1948). The Rocket as a Weapon of War in the British Forces. Proceedings of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, 158, p. 15, 1948.Google Scholar
6.Sutton, G. P. (1956). Rocket Propulsion Elements. Wiley, New York. Chapman and Hall, London. 2nd edition, pp. 312, 313, 1956.Google Scholar
7.Wiggins, J. W. (1956). The use of Solid Propellant Engines for Achievement of Super Velocities. Jet Propulsion, Vol. 26, No. 12, 1956.Google Scholar
8.Miller, Dexter, K. Jr. and Breslau, S. M. (1956). Fibreglass—Reinforced Plastic as a Rocket Structural Material. Jet Propulsion, Vol. 26, No. 12, 1956.Google Scholar
9.Cleaver, A. V. (1951). Rockets and Assisted Take-off. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Vol. 55, Feb. 1951.Google Scholar
10.Fraser, R. P., and Rowe, P. N. (1958). Supersonic Jet Deflection. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, January 1958.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Wimpress, R. N. (1950). Internal Ballistics of Solid Fuel Rockets. McGraw-Hill, 1st edition, 1950.Google Scholar
12.Hayne, Constant (1958). Pyestock's Contribution to Propulsion. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Vol. 62, Fig. 16, p. 266, April 1958.Google Scholar
13.Smith, E. T. B. (1957). Solid Propellant Rocket Motors. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Vol. 16, No. 4, 1957.Google Scholar
14.Lent, C. P. (1947). Rocketry. Pen and Ink Co., N.Y., 1947.Google Scholar
15.Hayne, Constant (1958). Pyestock's Contribution to Propulsion. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Vol. 62, Fig. 17, p. 267, April 1958.Google Scholar
16. Interavia, No. 3, p. 257, 1958.Google Scholar
17. Astronautics, p. 6, March 1958.Google Scholar
18. Astronautics, p. 5, February 1958.Google Scholar
19. Astronautics, p. 5, April 1958.Google Scholar
20. Astronautics, p. 12. February 1958.Google Scholar
21.Ritchey, H. W. (1958). Solid Propellants and the Conquest of Space. Astronautics, January 1958.Google Scholar