Sounding Rocket Performances Analysis

Author: Burke, James Donahue

Year: 1949

Degree: Engineer's thesis

Advisors: Nagamatsu, Henry T.; Millikan, Clark Blanchard

Committee Member: Unknown, Unknown

Option: Aeronautics

DOI: 10.7907/XW5Q-1Y06

Abstract

An investigation of the effects of basic design parameters on the performance of a single-stage sounding rocket was made. The tail area required for static stability at various supersonic flight Mach numbers was determined, and the drag coefficient for various configurations was calculated. The general equations of motion for flight in vacuum were integrated for several cases to show the effect of varying specific impulse of fuel, propellant weight ratio, and burning time. An approximate solution of the equations for trajectories in air was obtained by the method of stepwise numerical integration.

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