propulsion A remote camera captures a close-up view of a Space Shuttle Main Engine during a test firing at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County Mississippi Spacecraft propulsion is used to change the velocity of spacecraft and artificial satellites or in short to provide delta-v. !here are many different methods. Each method has draw"acks and advantages and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. Most spacecraft today are propelled "y heating the reaction mass and allowing it to flow out the "ack of the vehicle. !his sort of engine is called a rocket engine. All current spacecraft use chemical rocket engines #"ipropellant or solid-fuel$ for launch though some #such as the %egasus rocket and SpaceShip&ne$ have used air- "reathing engines on their first stage. Most satellites have simple relia"le chemical rockets #often monopropellant rockets$ or resisto'et rockets to keep their station although some use momentum wheels for attitude control. (ewer geo-or"iting spacecraft are starting to use electric propulsion for north-south stationkeeping. )nterplanetary vehicles mostly use chemical rockets as well although a few have e*perimentally used ion thrusters with some success #a form of electric propulsion$. The necessity for propulsion systems Artificial satellites must "e launched into or"it and once there they must accelerate to circulari+e their or"it. &nce in the desired or"it they often need some form of attitude control so that they are correctly pointed with respect to the Earth the Sun and possi"ly some astronomical o"'ect of interest. !hey are also su"'ect to drag from the thin atmosphere so that to stay in or"it for a long period of time some form of propulsion is occasionally necessary to make small corrections #or"ital stationkeeping$. Many satellites need to "e moved from one or"it to another from time to time and this also re,uires propulsion. -hen a satellite has e*hausted its a"ility to ad'ust its or"it its useful life is over. Spacecraft designed to travel further also need propulsion methods. !hey need to "e launched out of the Earth.s atmosphere 'ust as do satellites. &nce there they need to leave or"it and move around. /or interplanetary travel a spacecraft must use its engines to leave Earth or"it. &nce it has done so it must somehow make its way to its destination. Current interplanetary spacecraft do this with a series of short-term or"ital ad'ustments. )n "etween these ad'ustments the spacecraft simply falls freely along its or"it. !he simplest fuel- efficient means to move from one circular or"it to another is with a Hohmann transfer or"it0 the spacecraft "egins in a roughly circular or"it around the Sun. A short period of thrust in the direction of motion accelerates or decelerates the spacecraft into an elliptical or"it around the Sun which is tangential to its previous or"it and also to the or"it of its destination. !he spacecraft falls freely along this elliptical or"it until it reaches its destination where another short period of thrust accelerates or decelerates it to match the or"it of its destination. Special methods such as aero"raking are sometimes used for this final or"ital ad'ustment. Artist.s conception of a solar sail Some spacecraft propulsion methods such as solar sails provide very low "ut ine*hausti"le thrust1 an interplanetary vehicle using one of these methods would follow a rather different tra'ectory either constantly thrusting against its direction of motion in order to decrease its distance from the Sun or constantly thrusting along its direction of motion to increase its distance from the Sun. Spacecraft for interstellar travel also need propulsion methods. (o such spacecraft has yet "een "uilt "ut many designs have "een discussed. Since interstellar distances are very great a tremendous velocity is needed to get a spacecraft to its destination in a reasona"le amount of time. Ac,uiring such a velocity on launch and getting rid of it on arrival will "e a formida"le challenge for spacecraft designers. Effectiveness of propulsion systems -hen in space the purpose of a propulsion system is to change the velocity v of a spacecraft. Since this is more difficult for more massive spacecraft designers generally discuss momentum mv. !he amount of change in momentum is called impulse. So the goal of a propulsion method in space is to create an impulse. -hen launching a spacecraft from the Earth a propulsion method must overcome the Earth.s gravitational pull in addition to providing acceleration. !he rate of change of velocity is called acceleration and the rate of change of momentum is called force. !o reach a given velocity one can apply a small acceleration over a long period of time or one can apply a large acceleration over a short time. Similarly one can achieve a given impulse with a large force over a short time or a small force over a long time. !his means that for maneuvering in space a propulsion method that produces tiny accelerations "ut runs for a long time can produce the same impulse as a propulsion method that produces large accelerations for a short time. -hen launching from a planet tiny accelerations cannot overcome the planet.s gravitational pull and so cannot "e used. !he law of conservation of momentum means that in order for a propulsion method to change the momentum of a space craft it must change the momentum of something else as well. A few designs take advantage of things like magnetic fields or light pressure in order to change the spacecraft.s momentum "ut in free space the rocket must "ring along some mass to accelerate away in order to push itself forward. Such mass is called reaction mass. An ion engine test )n order for a rocket to work it needs two things0 reaction mass and energy. !he impulse provided "y launching a particle of reaction mass having mass m at velocity v is mv. 2ut this particle has kinetic energy mv 3 43 which must come from somewhere. )n a conventional solid fuel rocket the fuel is "urned providing the energy and the reaction products are allowed to flow out the "ack providing the reaction mass. )n an ion thruster electricity is used to accelerate ions out the "ack. Here some other source must provide the electrical energy #perhaps a solar panel or a nuclear reactor$ while the ions provide the reaction mass. -hen discussing the efficiency of a propulsion system designers often focus on the reaction mass. After all energy can in principle "e produced without much difficulty "ut the reaction mass must "e carried along with the rocket and irretrieva"ly consumed when used. A way of measuring the amount of impulse that can "e o"tained from a fi*ed amount of reaction mass is the specific impulse. !his is the impulse per unit mass in newton seconds per kilogram #(5s4kg$. !his corresponds to metres per second #m4s$ and is the effective e*haust velocity v e . A rocket with a high e*haust velocity can achieve the same impulse with less reaction mass. However the kinetic energy is proportional to the s,uare of the e*haust velocity so that more efficient engines #in the sense of having a large specific impulse$ re,uire more energy to run. A second pro"lem is that if the engine is to provide a large amount of thrust that is a large amount of impulse per second it must also provide a large amount of energy per second. So highly efficient engines re,uire enormous amounts of energy per second to produce high thrusts. As a result most high-efficiency engine designs also provide very low thrust. Calculations 2urning the entire usa"le propellant of a spacecraft through the engines in a straight line would produce a net velocity change to the vehicle- this num"er is termed .delta-v.. !he total 6v of a vehicle can "e calculated using the rocket e,uation where M is the mass of fuel % is the mass of the payload #including the rocket structure$ and I sp is the specific impulse of the rocket. !his is known as the !siolkovsky rocket e,uation0 /or a long voyage the ma'ority of the spacecraft.s mass may "e reaction mass. Since a rocket must carry all its reaction mass with it most of the first reaction mass goes towards accelerating reaction mass rather than payload. )f we have a payload of mass P the spacecraft needs to change its velocity "y 6v and the rocket engine has e*haust velocity v e then the mass M of reaction mass which is needed can "e calculated using the rocket e,uation and the formula for I sp /or 6v much smaller than v e this e,uation is roughly linear and little reaction mass is needed. )f 6v is compara"le to v e then there needs to "e a"out twice as much fuel as com"ined payload and structure #which includes engines fuel tanks and so on$. 2eyond this the growth is e*ponential1 speeds much higher than the e*haust velocity re,uire very high ratios of fuel mass to payload and structural mass. )n order to achieve this some amount of energy must go into accelerating the reaction mass. Every engine will waste some energy "ut even assuming 7889 efficiency the engine will need energy amounting to !his formula reflects the fact that even with 7889 engine efficiency certainly not all energy supplied ends up in the vehicle - some of it indeed usually most of it ends up as kinetic energy of the e*haust. /or a mission for e*ample when launching from or landing on a planet the effects of gravitational attraction and any atmospheric drag must "e overcome "y using fuel. )t is typical to com"ine the effects of these and other effects into an effective mission delta- v. /or e*ample a launch mission to low Earth or"it re,uires a"out :.;-78 km4s delta-v. !hese mission delta-vs are typically numerically integrated on a computer. Suppose we want to send a 78888 kg space pro"e to Mars. !he re,uired 6v from <E& is appro*imately ;888 m4s using a Hohmann transfer or"it. #A manned pro"e would need to take a faster route and use more fuel$. /or the sake of argument let us say that the following thrusters may "e used0 Engine Specific impulse #(5s4kg or m4s$ Specific impulse #s$ /uel mass #kg$ Energy re,uired #=J$ Solid rocket 7888 788 7:8888 :> 2ipropellant rocket >888 >88 ?388 78; )on thruster >8888 >888 @38 AA> BAS)MC ;88888 ;8888 788 D>88 &"serve that the more fuel-efficient engines can use far less fuel1 its mass is almost negligi"le #relative to the mass of the payload and the engine itself$ for some of the engines. However note also that these re,uire a large total amount of energy. At one gravity the total acceleration takes a"out ;88 s or a"out five minutes. So for it to "e possi"le for one of the high-efficiency engines to generate a gravity of thrust they would have to "e supplied with 3.> or 7> =- of power - e,uivalent to a ma'or metropolitan generating station. !his would need to "e included in the 78888 kg of payload and structural weight which is clearly impractical. )nstead a much smaller less powerful generator may "e included which will take much longer to generate the total energy needed. !his lower power is only sufficient to accelerate a tiny amount of fuel per second "ut over long periods the velocity will "e finally achieved. /or e*ample. it took the Smart 7 more than a year to reach the Moon while with a chemical rocket it takes a few days. !he or"it is not a Hohmann transfer or"it. !he launched mass is often lower which can lower cost. )nterestingly for a mission delta-v there is a fi*ed I sp that minimises the overall energy used "y the rocket. !his comes to an e*haust velocity of a"out 34; of the delta-v #see also the energy computed from the rocket e,uation$. Erives such as BAS)MC and to a lesser e*tent other )on thrusters have e*haust velocities that can "e enormously higher than this ideal and thus end up powersource limited and give very low thrust. )f the vehicle performance is limited "y availa"le power e.g. if solar power is used then in the case of a large v e the possi"le acceleration is inversely proportional to it hence the time to reach a re,uired delta-v is proportional to v e . !hus the latter should not "e too large.. Propulsion methods %ropulsion methods can "e classified "ased on their means of accelerating the reaction mass. !here are also some special methods for launches planetary arrivals and landings. Rockets A FcoldF #un-ignited$ rocket engine test at (ASA A rocket engine accelerates its reaction mass "y heating it producing hot high-pressure gas or plasma. !he reaction mass is then allowed to escape from the rear of the vehicle "y passing through a no++le which dramatically accelerates the reaction mass converting thermal energy into kinetic energy. )t is this no++le which gives a rocket engine its characteristic shape. Hot fluid is re,uired "ecause it ma*imises the speed at the throat of the no++le. !he e*pansion part of the rocket no++le then accelerates "y a further factor typically "etween 7.> and D times. !he speed ratio of a rocket no++le is mostly determined "y it.s area e*pansion ratio- this is the ratio of the area of the throat to the area at the e*it. !he larger this is the more heat energy the no++le is a"le to e*tract from the com"ustion gases and the faster colder and lower pressure the e*haust "ecomes. However larger no++les are heavier. A significant complication arises when launching a vehicle from the Earth.s surface as the am"ient atmospheric pressure changes with altitude. /or ma*imum performance it turns out that the pressure of the gas leaving a rocket no++le should "e the same as am"ient pressure1 if lower the vehicle will "e slowed "y the difference in pressure "etween the top of the engine and the e*it if higher then this represents pressure that the "ell has not turned into thrust. !o achieve this ideal the diameter of the no++le would need to increase with altitude which is difficult to arrange. A compromise no++le is generally used and some percentage reduction in performance occurs. !o improve on this various e*otic no++le designs such as the plug no++le stepped no++les the e*panding no++le and the aerospike have "een proposed each having some way to adapt to changing am"ient air pressure and each allowing the gas to e*pand further against the no++le giving e*tra thrust at higher altitude. !he reaction mass.s com"ustion temperature is often far higher than the melting point of the no++le and com"ustion cham"er materials. (evertheless materials technology mostly does not place an upper limit on the e*haust temperature of chemical rockets. Cockets can use a"lative materials that erode in a controlled fashion or very high temperature materials such as graphite ceramics or certain e*otic metals. Alternatively rockets may employ cooling systems to prevent the no++le material itself "ecoming too hot. Cegenerative cooling where the propellant is passed through tu"es around the com"ustion cham"er or no++le and other techni,ues such as curtain cooling or film cooling may also "e employed to give essentially unlimited no++le life. Cockets emitting plasma can potentially carry out reactions inside a magnetic "ottle and release the plasma via a magnetic no++le so that no solid matter need come in contact with the plasma. &f course the machinery to do this is comple* "ut research into nuclear fusion has developed methods some of which have "een used in speculative propulsion systems. H-7 rocket engine <inear aerospike GCS-3388 engine Cocket engines that could "e used in space #all emit gases unless otherwise noted$0 Solid rocket #chemical energy$ Hy"rid rocket #chemical energy$ Monopropellant rocket #chemical energy$ 2ipropellant rocket #chemical energy$ !ripropellant rocket #chemical energy$ Eual mode propulsion rocket #chemical energy$ Cesisto'et rocket #electric heating$ Arc'et rocket #chemical "urning aided "y electrical discharge$ %ulsed plasma thruster #electric arc heating1 emits plasma$ Baria"le specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket #electromagnetic heating1 emits plasma$ Solar thermal rocket #solar energy$ (uclear thermal rocket #nuclear fission energy$ Cadioisotope rocket 4%oodle thruster #radioactive decay energy$ Antimatter cataly+ed nuclear pulse propulsion #fission and4or fusion energy$ =aseous fission reactor #nuclear fission energy$ /ission-fragment rocket #nuclear fission energy$ /ission sail #nuclear fission energy$ (uclear salt-water rocket #nuclear fission energy$ (uclear pulse propulsion #e*ploding fission4fusion "om"s$ /usion rocket #nuclear fusion energy$ Antimatter rocket #annihilation energy$ -orm-Hole rotating ring #=ravity energy$ &n the other hand engines have "een proposed that take advantage of the air in some way #as do 'et engines and other air-"reathing engines$0 ram'ets Air-augmented rocket <i,uid air cycle engine SA2CE Scram'ets Electromagnetic acceleration of reaction mass !his test engine accelerates ions using electrostatic forces Cather than relying on high temperature and fluid dynamics to accelerate the reaction mass to high speeds there are a variety of methods that use electrostatic or electromagnetic forces to accelerate the reaction mass directly. Hsually the reaction mass is a stream of ions. Such an engine re,uires electric power to run and high e*haust velocities re,uire large amounts of energy. )t turns out that to a reasona"le appro*imation for these drives that fuel use energetic efficiency and thrust are all inversely proportional to e*haust velocity. !heir very high e*haust velocity means they re,uire huge amounts of energy and provide low thrust "ut use hardly any fuel. /or some missions solar energy may "e sufficient "ut for others nuclear energy will "e necessary1 engines drawing their power from a nuclear source are called nuclear electric rockets. -ith any current source of power the ma*imum amount of power that can "e generated limits the ma*imum amount of thrust that can "e produced to a very small value. %ower generation also often adds significant mass to the spacecraft. Some electromagnetic methods0 )on thruster o Electrostatic ion thruster o Hall effect thruster o /ield Emission Electric %ropulsion o %ulsed inductive thruster Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster Baria"le specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket Mass drivers #for propulsion$ !he 2iefeld-2rown effect is a somewhat e*otic electrical effect. )n air a voltage applied across a particular kind of capacitor produces a thrust. !here have "een claims that this also happens in a vacuum due to some sort of coupling "etween the electromagnetic field and gravity "ut recent e*periments show no evidence of this hypothesis. Systems without reaction mass (ASA study of a solar sail. !he sail would "e half a kilometer wide. !he law of conservation of momentum states that any engine which uses no reaction mass cannot move the center of mass of a spaceship #changing orientation on the other hand is possi"le$. 2ut space is not empty especially space inside the Solar Systems1 there is a magnetic field and a solar wind. Barious propulsion methods try to take advantage of this1 since all these things are very diffuse propulsion structures need to "e large. Space drives that need no #or little$ reaction mass0 !ether propulsion Solar sails Magnetic sails Mini-magnetospheric plasma propulsion /or changing the orientation of a satellite or other space vehicle conservation of angular momentum does not pose a similar constraint. !hus many satellites use momentum wheels to control their orientations. !hese cannot "e the only system for controlling satellite orientation as frictional losses eventually re,uire the momentum to "e F"led offF using a secondary system. Launch mechanisms High thrust is of vital importance for launch the thrust per unit mass has to "e well a"ove g see also gravity drag. Many of the propulsion methods a"ove do not provide that much thrust especially if solar power is used. /or a solar-powered launch at the very least the mass of the solar panel would have to "e less than 38 grams per kilowatt of power and even less if the specific impulse is higher or lower than the optimum value which would "e in the order of magnitude of 78 km4s1 also the engine would have to "e very light and energy-efficient. E*haust to*icity or other side effects can also have detrimental effects on the environment the spacecraft is launching from ruling out other propulsion methods. !herefore all current spacecraft use chemical rocket engines #"ipropellant or solid- fuel$ for launch. &ne advantage that spacecraft have in launch is the availa"ility of infrastructure on the ground to assist them. %roposed ground-assisted launch mechanisms include0 Space elevator &r"ital airship Space fountain Hypersonic skyhook Electromagnetic catapult #rail gun coil gun$ 2allistic acceleration #%ro'ect HAC% ram accelerator$ <aser propulsion #<ightcraft$ Planetary arrival and landing A test version of the MACS %athfinder air"ag system -hen a vehicle is to enter or"it around its destination planet or when it is to land it must ad'ust its velocity. !his can "e done using all the methods listed a"ove #provided they can generate a high enough thrust$ "ut there are a few methods that can take advantage of planetary atmospheres. aero"raking "rings a pro"e into or"it parachutes can land a pro"e on a planet with an atmosphere air"ags can soften the final landing =ravitational slingshots can also "e used to carry a pro"e onward to other destinations. Methods reuiring new principles of physics )n addition a variety of hypothetical propulsion techni,ues have "een considered that would re,uire entirely new principles of physics to reali+e. Such methods would "e essential for any hope at interstellar spaceflight. !o date however such methods are currently highly speculative0 Alcu"ierre drive #-arp drive$ -ormholes Eifferential sail Eis'unction drive Eiametric drive %itch drive 2ias drive !ime machines Ta!le of methods and their specific impulse 2elow is a summary of some of the more popular proven technologies followed "y increasingly speculative methods. !hree num"ers are shown. !he first is the specific impulse0 the amount of thrust that can "e produced using a unit of fuel. !his is the most important characteristic of the propulsion method0 if the delta-v is much more than the e*haust velocity then e*or"itant amounts of fuel are necessary #see the section on calculations a"ove$ if it is much more than the delta-v then proportionally more energy is needed1 if the power is limited as with solar energy this means that the 'ourney takes a proportionally longer time !he second and third are the typical amounts of thrust and the typical "urn times of the method. &utside a gravitational potential small amounts of thrust applied over a long period will give the same effect as large amounts of thrust over a short period. !his result does not apply when the o"'ect is influenced "y gravity. %ropulsion methods Method Specific "mpulse #$%s&kg or m&s' Thrust #$' (uration Propulsion methods in current use Solid rocket 7888 - D888 78 ; - 78 A minutes Hy"rid rocket 7>88 - D388 minutes Monopropellant rocket 7888 - ;888 8.7 - 788 milliseconds - minutes Momentum wheel #attitude control only$ (4A (4A indefinite 2ipropellant rocket 7888 - DA88 8.7 - 78 A minutes !ripropellant rocket 3>88 - D>88 minutes Cesisto'et rocket 3888 - @888 78 -3 - 78 minutes Arc'et rocket D888 - 73888 78 -3 - 78 minutes Hall effect thruster #HE!$ ?888 - >8888 78 -; - 78 months Electrostatic ion thruster 7>888 - ?8888 78 -; - 78 months /ield Emission Electric %ropulsion #/EE%$ 788888 - 7;8888 78 -@ - 78 -; weeks Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster #M%E$ 38888 - 788888 788 weeks %ulsed plasma thruster #%%!$ %ulsed inductive thruster #%)!$ >8888 38 months (uclear electric rocket As electric propulsion method used !ether propulsion (4A 7 - 78 73 minutes Currently feasi!le propulsion methods Solar sails (4A : per km 3 #at 7 AH$ )ndefinite Mass drivers #for propulsion$ ;8888 - I 78 D - 78 ? months &rion %ro'ect #(ear term nuclear pulse propulsion$ 38888 - 788888 78 : - 78 73 several days Baria"le specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket #BAS)MC$ 78888 - ;88888 D8 - 7388 days - months (uclear thermal rocket :888 78 > minutes Solar thermal rocket A888 - 73888 7 - 788 weeks Cadioisotope rocket A888-?888 months Air-augmented rocket >888 - @888 seconds-minutes <i,uid air cycle engine D>88 seconds-minutes SA2CE ;88884D>88 minutes Eual mode propulsion rocket Technologies reuiring further research Magnetic sails (4A )ndefinite )ndefinite Mini-magnetospheric plasma propulsion 388888 J7 (4k- months (uclear pulse propulsion #&rion drive$ 38888 - 7888888 78 : - 78 73 half hour =aseous fission reactor 78888 - 38888 78 ; - 78 @ Antimatter cataly+ed nuclear pulse propulsion 38888 - D88888 days-weeks (uclear salt-water rocket 788888 78 ; - 78 A half hour 2eam-powered propulsion As propulsion method powered "y "eam /ission sail /ission-fragment rocket 78888888 (uclear photonic rocket ;88888888 78 -> - 7 years-decades Significantly !eyond current engineering /usion rocket 2ussard ram'et Antimatter rocket Cedshift rocket See also interplanetary travel interstellar travel specific impulse rocket !siolkovsky rocket e,uation satellite E)ternal links (ASA 2eginner.s =uide to %ropulsion #http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K- 12/airplane/bgp.html$ Advanced %ropulsion Concepts #http://www.islandone.org/APC/$ at islandone.org (ASA 2reakthrough %ropulsion %hysics pro'ect #http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/bpp/$ Cocket %ropulsion #http://www.braenig.s/space/propls.htm$ Journal of Advanced !heoretical %ropulsion #http://www.transtatorindstries.org/!"A#P.html$ Eifferent Cockets #http://www.pro$ectrho.com/roc%et/roc%et&c2.html$