1.

A rocket of having structural mass of 1450 kg and propellant mass of 2200 Kg is used
to send a payload mass of 50 kg. The propellant is consumed at a constant rate of 120
kg/s. The specific impulse of the rocket is 1750 N-s/kg. Assume vertical flight and no
variations in the gravitational field. Find the acceleration of the rocket at lift-off, 10 s
after lift-off, and just before burnt out.
[Ans: accn at lift-off = 46.9 m/s2; accn at 10s = 74.19 m/s2; accn at burnout = 130.19
m/s2]—Check the calculation.

2. A solid propellant is formulated to generate hot gases at a temperature of 3100 K, a

molecular mass 23 kg/kmol and a specific heat ratio of 1.34. The combustion chamber
pressure is 7 MPa. The gases are expanded in the nozzle to the ambient pressure of 0.1
MPa. You can assume the C* efficiency as 0.97 and the thrust correction coefficient
as 0.92. Determine the following:
(i) Characteristic velocity (C*)
(ii) Optimum thrust coefficient (CF0)
(iii) Actual thrust coefficient of the rocket (CF)
(iv) Ideal Specific Impulse in (Ns/Kg) and (s)

𝛶𝛶−1
𝛶𝛶+1
2 2
0
Useful formula: 𝐶𝐶𝐹𝐹 = �𝛶𝛶−1 𝛶𝛶 �𝛶𝛶+1� 2(𝛶𝛶−1) ��1 − �𝑃𝑃𝑒𝑒 � 𝛶𝛶
�
𝑃𝑃 𝑐𝑐

[Ans: C*ideal = 1570 m/s, C* actual =calculate using C* efficiency; CF0 =1.54, CF actual
= 1.417; Isp ideal = 2420 NS/Kg or covert it in s by deviding by g]-- Check the calculation

3. A satellite of 60 Kg mass is placed in orbit using a four stage rocket. The mass of
structure including inert, mass of the propellant, and the specific impulse of each stage
are given below:
STAGE Mass of structure including inert Mass of Specific impulse
(Kg) propellant (Kg) (Ns/kg)

First stage 1500 10000 2500

Second stage 600 4000 2400

Third stage 250 1800 2500

Fourth stage 50 260 2800

Determine:
(i) The payload mass fraction of the total rocket
(ii) Structural mass fraction of each stage
(iii) The ideal ∆V contributed by each stage and the total vehicle
 (iv) If the first stage fires for a period of 40 seconds and the rate of mass depletion can
be used to be constant, what would be the acceleration of the rocket at take off?

[Ans—Follow the steps discussed in class and calculate]