Dr.

Andrew Ketsdever
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
aketsdever@eas.uccs.edu
http://eas.uccs.edu/aketsdever
2
 Efficiency
Weight
 Complexity
 Variability
Longevity and cost of components
 Fuels (density, rheology, stowability,
handling, combustion characteristics, cost)
 Materials
 Mission requirements (trajectory, cost, etc.)



3
4
Specific impulse
Thrust
Inert mass fraction
All three must be optimized in order to
achieve desired outcome

5
6
Temperature

Small
Space
Booster

Thrust NASP
Boost Chambers
Glide
Vehicles
•Solid Cruise
Staged Missiles Satellite
Combustion
Liquid Propulsion
Rocket Booster
Engine
Nozzles

Time, sec

7
8
Most launch vehicles are rockets, which suffer
from low specific impulse compared with air-
breathing systems (5000 sec. for turbojets vs.
500 sec. for rockets)
This degrades overall performance and
increases weight (a good reason to
investigate hybrid systems for future launch
vehicles!)

9
The need to carry so much fuel makes overall weight a
crucial design factor
The structure of the vehicle is made as light as possible to
compensate
Boosters are not strong, rigid bodies. While they are fairly
strong longitudinally, they are very weak laterally
Most rockets cannot fly at significant angles of attack
through the atmosphere or they would fall apart!
A rocket carrying satellites usually starts vertically, but must
end in a horizontal orbit trajectory
 How can you control trajectories???
 How do you keep from falling apart???

10
35,000-lb thrust class, 9-stage compressor, SFC 2.17 1/hr

11
 200
SUBSONIC TURBINE ENGINE

HIGH ALTITUDE SUPERSONIC TURBINE ENGINE

RAMJET, AIR-AUGMENTED ROCKET

150 LOW ALTITUDE SUPERSONIC TURBINE ENGINE

ALTITUDE, KFT

HYPERSONIC RAMJET

100

50

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
FLIGHT MACH NUMBER 12
Combined cycle Propulsion
 “Low speed” cycle + scramjet
 Rocket Based Combined Cycle (RBCC): Mach 0--25
air-breathing +rocket + scramjet + rocket
 Turbine Based Combined Cycle (TBCC): Mach 0--4, 5
turbine + scramjet

• Scramjet
– Supersonic combustion ramjet –
Hydrocarbon (Mach 3-8)
– Hydrogen (Mach 3-15)

13
 Vehicle and Propulsion system are totally integrated

No Moving Parts Necessary

Mach 4 and higher

Body
Fuel

Cowl

Forebody
Combustor
(Compression) Nozzle

Inlet Isolator
14
"On 16 November, 2004, NASA's unmanned Hyper-X (X-43A) aircraft reached Mach 9.6 (~7,000mph). The X-43A was
boosted to an altitude of 33,223 meters (109,000 feet) by a Pegasus rocket launched from beneath a B52-B jet aircraft.
The revolutionary 'scramjet' aircraft then burned its engine for around 10 seconds during its flight over the Pacific
Ocean."
15
 •Accelerator Turbine (Mach 0—4.3)
is combined with a duel-mode
scramjet engine (Mach 4—8)

•Transition from turbine power to Over-Under configuration

ramjet is performed at Mach 4
Accelerator Turbines
Turbine-engine inlets
•Cocooning hot turbine
engines will be a
technical challenge

•Tail rockets would likely

be added if vehicle is the
first stage of launch
system 16
 Rocket-Based Combined Cycle promises
a propulsion system that can achieve
good performance from M = 0--25

Strut &
Rockets Body

Cowl
Forebody Combust
(Compression) or
Nozzle
Inlet
& Isolator
Door
Vehicle and Propulsion system are totally integrated 17
 Air-Augmented
AIR Ejector Mode
Mach = 0—3

AIR M <1 Ramjet Mode

M = 3—6
GREEN ARROWS: FUEL INJECTION

AIR M >1 Scramjet Mode

M = 6—10

Inlet Closed
Rocket Mode
M > 10

Each mode is sub-optimized in its operating range

18
19
  Pulse Detonation Engine 
Operating Concept

2 Detonation is initiated 3 Detonation wave moves

through fuel-air mixture

1 Fuel is mixed with air 4 Resulting high pressure gas

fills detonation chamber

Typical:
5 Detonation wave exits engine 40 cycles/sec
Air drawn in by reduced pressure
20
21
Element Color
Sodium
Iron
Magnesium
Calcium
Silicon
22