A new role for solid propellant rocket motors space vehicle propulsion
- Paper ID
IAF-66-088
- author
- company
Aerojet-General Corporation
- country
U.S.A.
- year
1966
- abstract
The past decade has witnessed substantial replacement of liquid propellant propulsion systems in United States military rocket vehicles by improved propulsion systems using solid propellant rocket motors. In military applications, the advantages of solid rocket motors implicit in instant readiness, lower maintenance costs, ease of deployment, lower costs of development and production, and the reliability inherent in simplicity have been significant factors in this transition. Moreover, the performance of solid propellants in volume-limited configurations typical of military systems has been demonstrated to be superior to liquid propellant combinations of interest. In marked contrast to the trend in military rocket propulsion, liquid propellant powered rocket engines have played the dominant role in vehicles employed in the United States’ space exploration program. On the basis of demonstrated capability at the outset of the space program, the choice of liquid propellant rocket engines for the space program propulsion systems was rational because solid propellant motors capable of thrust levels and durations meeting the requirements of the then embryonic space vehicle development program had not yet been demonstrated. Furthermore, the capability of handling and transporting large solid rocket motors in the sizes of greatest interest would have been seriously doubted, even if the predictions of adequate performance and lower cost had been accepted.