Preliminary design of a liquid propellant engine for a reusable sounding rocket
Jenie Y.I.a, Asyary A.C.a, Poetro R.E.a
a Flight Physics Research Group, Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jawa Barat, Bandung, Indonesia
Abstract
© Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. Sounding rocket (or Roket Sonda in Indonesian), is a type of rocket that carries instruments to conduct some scientific experiments in suborbital altitudes. Since the use of sounding rockets is constantly increased, there has been an idea to make it reusable. The development of a reusable sounding rockets should includes at least six key technologies, which from those, the development of a proper liquid propellant engine, which thrust can be intermittently controlled, is mandatory. This paper aims to contribute in Indonesia’s own reusable sounding rocket (RSR) development, by presenting an example of preliminary calculation for its liquid-propellant engine. To achieve the intended launch/flight profile to a targeted 120 km maximum altitude, and return safely to the ground, several design parameter is chosen, including the total mass of propellant for the powered ascent and descent that need to be at least 8700 kg, with the mass rate of 60 kg/s, producing 189 kN force. The force is produced by four nozzles to also provide control, where the exit area can be determined to be 0.164 m 2 . Finally, from these values, a rough estimation of the geometry of the reusable sounding rocket can be determined.
Author keywords
Design parameters,Indonesians,Key technologies,Liquid propellant engine,Preliminary design,Rough estimation,Scientific experiments,Total mass
Indexed keywords
Funding details
This research is made possible by the P3MI grant in the Flight Physics Research Group, by the Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung.