Development of Kabila rocket: A radioisotope heated thermionic plasma rocket engine

The Blacklight Rocket Engine

Executive Summary This report summarizes the final project results for the period of May 1, 2002 through November 30, 2002 for the NIAC CP 01-02 Phase I study, "The BlackLight Rocket Engine". The objective of the Phase I study was to assess the potential of low pressure, mixed gas hydrogen plasmas (i.e. the BlackLight Process) toward the development of high performance space propulsion systems.

A Reusable Rocket Engine Intelligent Control

Development of Advanced Rocket Engine Technology for Precision Guided Missiles

The Army is developing hypergolic, liquid and gelled bipropellants for a small, selectable-thrust, liquid rocket engine (LRE) that can power tactical missiles for both current and future combat systems. The use of gel propellants brings the advantages of selectable thrust and the promise of small engine size but also introduces new challenges in combustion control. One of these challenges is th...

Hybrid Rocket Propulsion Technology for Sounding Rocket Development

Hybrid combustion technology has recently been employed in the sounding rocket developments to support the science experiments of academic applications and the establishment of a viable flight test platform for space components development. Due to its safety nature in material handling and combustion processes, hybrid rockets are suitable for university and research institute environments for a...

Electric Rocket Engine System R&D

1. Pulsed Plasma Thruster Pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs) are expected to be used as a thruster for a small satellite. The PPT has some features superior to other kinds of electric propulsion. It has no sealing part, simple structure and high reliability, which are benefits of using a solid propellant, mainly Teflon (poly-tetrafluoroethylene: PTFE). However, performances of PPTs are generally lo...