This book presents an intermediate treatment of the principles of rocketry. It addresses the next phase in advancement of theoretical understanding and practice beyond model and "high-power" rocketry. It is written for high-school and undergraduate college students, teachers, technicians and rocket hobbyists who are familiar with model rocket technology and want a better theoretical understanding of how liquid-propellant amateur and low-cost commercial rockets are designed and work.

The goal of this book is to "jump-start" readers by providing specific technical knowledge of rockets for a transition from hobbyist to engineering literature. At the end of this book is a list of resources for further study.

The contents of this book are taken largely from two developments. The first is the Huron rocket design of the Great Lakes Rocket Society. It is a liquid-propellant sounding rocket, designed to give club members experience in the design, construction, test and launch of an approximately 1000-pound thrust vehicle with an estimated achievable altitude of about 32 miles (20 km). The second development is the product line of the author’s technology-driven laboratory, Innovatia. Commercial products include rocket subsystems that are used in the Huron design: an electrically-actuated ball-valve controller and the Huron flight-control computer. Innovatia also produces pyrotechnic pulse generators for exciting igniters in an accurate and repeatable way.

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1.1 Rocket History

1.2 Rocketeers

1.3 Rocket Types

1.4 Rocket Subsystems

2.1 Laws of Motion

2.2 Ballistics Equations

2.3 Flight Dynamics

2.4 The Ideal Rocket Equation

2.5 Burnout Speed and Apogee

2.6 Drag and Lift

2.7 Vehicle Flight Stability

2.8 Flight Dynamics Model

2.9 Staging

2.10 Flight Trajectories

flight1 program

flight2 program

3.1 Chemical to Kinetic Energy Conversion

3.2 Thermodynamics: Heat and Work

3.3 Thermodynamic States and Processes

3.4 Reversible Processes

3.5 Flow Work and Control Volumes

3.6 Enthalpy

3.7 Specific Heats

3.8 Specific Heat Ratio and Gases

3.9 Gibbs Free Energy

3.10 Combustion Chemistry

3.11 Stoichiometry

3.12 Multicomponent Systems

3.13 First and Second Laws for Reactions

3.14 Speed of Sound and Mach Number

3.15 Nozzle Shape

3.16 Nozzle Thermodynamics

3.17 Choked Flow and Shock Waves

3.18 Injectors and Manifolds

3.19 Engine Cooling

3.20 Engine Performance

4.1 Airframes

4.2 Fins and Descent Stabilization

4.3 Recovery Systems

4.4 Staging Mechanisms

4.5 Plumbing

4.6 Materials

4.7 Mechanics of Materials

4.8 Tank Design

4.9 Airframe Design

5.1 Control Systems

5.2 Data Acquisition

5.3 Sensors

5.4 Acquisition and Processing Strategy

5.5 Valve Controllers

5.6 Igniters and Pyrotechnic Actuators

5.7 Guidance

5.8 Flight Control Computer

5.9 Differential Thrust Vector Control

6.1 Static Test Stands

6.2 Launch Facility

6.3 Mission Control

6.4 Rocket Umbilical Connections

7.1 Mission Planning

7.2 Recovery

7.3 Safety

7.4 Regulations