Space propulsion

Course guarantor:

Jan Klesa

Lecturer:

Jan Klesa, Jaroslav Kousal

Tutor:

Ondřej Hladík, Jiří Teichman

Supervisor:

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Synopsis:

The course is focused on reactive engines of space vehicles. The course introduces student to theory, design and operation of chemical and non-chemical spacecraft propulsion.

Requirements:

Syllabus of lectures:

1. Thermodynamics of rocket engines, internal and external aerodynamics, exhaust velocity, categorization

2. Solid-propellant engine, combustion dynamics, hybrid engines

3. Liquid-propellant engine, thermodynamic cycle, fuel supply, tanks, (turbo)pumps

4. Fuels, oxidizers and their properties, catalysts

5. Injectors, combustion chamber, combustion stability, nozzles, rocket engine ignition

6. Engine integration, thrust control, thrust vector control, higher stage engines, reusability

7. Overview of rocket engine types, rocket engines in aeronautics, unconventional rocket engines, materials

8. Non-chemical propulsion specifics, integration with other subsystems

9. Gas thruster, nuclear thermal engine, multimodal engines

10. Electrothermal propulsion without/with the use of chemical energy

11. Electrostatic propulsion, grided ion thrusters and Hall effect thrusters, modern variants

12. Plasma propulsion, solar sails, conceptual propulsion

13. Advanced reaction engines, propulsion in the upper atmosphere, testing of spacecraft propulsion systems

Syllabus of tutorials:

Seminars are focused on basic calculation of rocket engines, its external and internal aerothermodynamics, its operational parameters and basics of non-chemical, especially electrostatic thrusters.

Study Objective:

Study materials:

• Heister, S. D., et al: Rocket propulsion, Cambridge University Press, 2019

• Sutton, G. P., Biblarz, O.: Rocket propulsion elements, 9th ed., Wiley, 2016

• Goebel, D. M., Katz I.: Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion: Ion and Hall Thrusters, Wiley/JPL/NASA, 2008

• Holste, K., et al.: Ion thrusters for electric propulsion, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 91(061101), 2020

Note:

Time-table for winter semester 2024/2025:

Time-table is not available yet

Time-table for summer semester 2024/2025:

	06:00–08:0008:00–10:0010:00–12:0012:00–14:0014:00–16:0016:00–18:0018:00–20:0020:00–22:0022:00–24:00
Mon
Tue
Wed	roomKN:A-213 Klesa J. Kousal J. 09:45–11:30 (lecture parallel1) Karlovo nám. roomKN:A-213 Teichman J. Hladík O. 14:15–15:45 EVEN WEEK (parallel nr.1) Karlovo nám.
Thu
Fri

The course is a part of the following study plans: