Analysis and Performance Reconstruction of VEGA

Solid Rocket Motors Qualication Flights

E. Cavallini

and B. Favini

Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy

A. Neri

ESA ESRIN, VEGA/IPT Via Galileo Galilei 00044 Frascati (Rome), Italy
VEGA is the launch vehicle developed by the European Space Agency, qualied with
its rst two maiden ights on February, 13rd 2012 and on May, 7th 2013 and recently
delivered to the commercial market with the third ight held on April, 30th 2014. During
the launcher development, a total of eight static ring tests have been performed for the
three solid stages, which compose the launcher: the rst stage P80, the second stage Zero
23 and the third stage Z9. In this work, the analysis and performance reconstruction of
the solid rocket motors of the VEGA launch vehicle for the two qualication ights is
carried out with a post-ring reconstruction model, developed for the purpose. The aim
is to use the measures acquired during the ights and the experience gained from the
static ring tests analysis, in order to evaluate the actual behavior of the VEGA solid
stages, through the non-ideal parameters: combustion eciency, thrust eciency, hump,
scale factor and nozzle throat erosion law, which dene the actual performance parameters
of the solid rocket motors. The purpose of the work is to assess the SRMs performance
parameters from the ight data, comparing the outcomes of the ight data analysis with
the ones provided by the static ring test data analysis. The nal aim is to consolidate
the methodology for the analysis and reconstruction of the solid stage ight data, in order
to dene/characterize the scattering of the motor performance, reducing the uncertainties
for the prediction methodologies in the upcoming and following VEGA ights.
Nomenclature

p non-dimensional average pressure

p experimental pressure, bar
a parameter of the de Saint Robert law, m/s
A
t
nozzle throat area, m
2
a
ref
parameter of the de Saint Robert law, m/s
A
tf
nal nozzle throat area, m
2
A
ti
initial nozzle throat area, m
2
c

characteristic velocity, m/s

c
F
thrust coecient
F thrust, N
h hump parameter
h
c
heat transfer coecient, W/(m
2
K)
k
ab
nozzle throat erosion coecient, m
3
/(W s)
M
p
propellant mass, kg
n parameter of the de Saint Robert law
p pressure, bar
R universal gas constant, J/(kg K)
r
b
burning rate, m/s
S
b
burning surface, m
2
SF scale factor
t time, s
t
b
burn-out time, s
T
f
combustion products temperature, K
T
i
propellant grain initial temperature, K
T
throat
oweld temperature at throat section, K
T
wall
wall temperature at throat section, K
web web variable, m
Symbols

c
combustion eciency

c
F
thrust eciency
Vandekerkoven function
specic heat ratio
M combustion products molecular weight,
kg/kmol

p
propellant grain density, kg/m
3

Ph.D., Research Fellow, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Email: enrico.cavallini@uniroma1.it

Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Email: bernardo.favini@uniroma1.it

Vega Senior Principal Engineer - LAU-PVC, Email: agostino.neri@esa.int

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I. Introduction
VEGA is the new launcher of the European Space Agency (ESA), qualied with its two rst ights
occurred at the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guyana on February, 13rd 2012 (VV01) and on
May, 7th 2013 (VV02). Tailored for small payloads and low earth orbit missions, VEGA is a single-body
four-staged launcher with three solid propellant rockets and one liquid propulsion upper module. The three
SRMs, the rst stage P80 (Europropulsion), the second Zero 23 (Avio Group) and the third Zero 9 (Avio
Group) share the same nocyl conguration, characteristics and innovative technologies, having dierent
sizes and performance tailored to the target mission requirements and constraints
1, 2
. In the frame of the
VEGA launcher development activities, for the three solid stages, eight static ring tests (SFTs) have been
performed of VEGA SRMs: two for P80 (P80 DM and P80 QM) at CSG in French Guyane; two for Z23 (Z23
DM and Z23 QM) and four for Z9 (Z9 DM, Z9 QM, Z9A QM2, Z9A VT and Z9A VT2) at Salto di Quirra,
Sardinia, Italy. The analysis of this amount of data from experimental activities performed in Ref. 3 has
allowed to reach a rst knowledge about the solid rocket motor actual behavior and performance assessment.
On the base of the static ring tests analysis performed, this work has the aim to analyze the ight data of
the two rst ight of the Vega launch vehicle, in order to provide a complete overview of the internal ballistics
of the VEGA solid stages, comparing the outcome of the static ring tests analysis, with the one of the ight
data. In particular, the purpose is to provide, an assessment of the non-ideal parameters characterizing the
actual SRM behavior: the hump curve and the scale factor; the combustion eciency; the thrust eciency,
allowing a reconstruction of the actual performance of the solid stages. The SFT reconstruction model
considers a zero-dimensional quasi-steady modeling of the SRM internal ballistics, already used in Ref. 3
for the analysis of the Vega SFTs, which has been tailored for the reconstruction of the SRM ight data,
accounting for the dierent input coming from the ights with respect to the static ring tests. The aim
of this activity is to consolidate the methodology used for the solid stage performance reconstruction, in
order to enrich the knowledge of the SRM actual behavior and performance, characterize SRM dispersion
and scattering, for the accurate prediction of the forthcoming Vega ights. In the meanwhile, the purpose
is to dene and individuate possible improvements that are necessary in order to rene model analysis and
prediction capabilities.
II. SRM Static Firing Test Reconstruction Model
The SRM ring reconstruction model is able to assess the actual behavior of the SRM during the r-
ing, through the evaluation of the non-ideal parameters of eciency of the SRM (combustion and thrust
eciency) and the nozzle throat area evolution in time
4
. The non-ideal parameters take into account the
SRM actual behavior with respect to: 1) the propellant grain combustion rate, typically coming from small
tests for the propellant characterization (e.g. BARIA tests) and the uncertainties on the propellant grain
burning surface evolution, which are taken into account through the product of the hump (accounting for
the propellant rheology during the casting process) and the scale factor (accounting for the small-to-full
scale characterization of propellant combustion); 2) the shift of the grain combustion products composi-
tion and combustion chamber conditions with respect to the ideal equilibrium conditions, considered in the
combustion eciency
c
; 3) the thrust eciency
c
F
to characterize all the thrust losses, i.e. divergence,
boundary layer losses and frozen ow eects, in the nozzle ow. These parameters are evaluated exploiting
the experimental measures occurring before, during and after the ring for the SFT and/or the ight, and
some theoretical models, as will be detailed in the following. Since the basic features of the reconstruction
model have been presented in Ref. 3, in the following they will be recalled with particular attention on the
assumptions used in this study and the input available for the analysis of the ight data.
The data measured before and during the ight for each solid stage regarding the SRM internal ballistics
are typically the following: the propellant grain mass loaded M
p
(from the experimental measures); the initial
(A
t
(t = 0) = A
ti
) nozzle throat area value and nozzle throat expansion ratio (from quality measurements);
the propellant density
p
(from the experimental measures); the head end pressure p (from the experimental
measures); the propellant combustion characterization in terms of a and n of the de Saint Robert-Vieille
combustion law (evaluated by BARIA propellant grain batches analyses). In fact, on the contrary of the
SFT where also the nal throat are of the SRM is measured post the SFT, in case of a ight, no direct
measure of the nozzle throat erosion is typically provided. In both cases of SFTs or ight, moreover, no
direct measure is provided for the SRM thrust (theoretically it can be possible in case of SFT performed
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on horizontal test beds, that are not the case for the Vega Programme - CSG in French Guyane and Salto
di Quirra, Sardinia, Italy), which has to be reconstructed or from the measure of the bench reaction, either
from the launch vehicle trajectory data.
In the assumption of a simple 0D quasi-steady modeling for the internal ballistics, the SFT reconstruction
model is based on the following steps. The burning rate model is the classical de Saint Robert-Vieille model,
given by the Eq. (1).
r
b
(t) = a (T
i
)

p (t)
p
ref

n
(1)
The quasi-steady burning represents, in fact, in the majority of the SRMs, the most important term
of the overall burning rate, during the quasi-steady state, which represents the most important phase for
characterizing the SRM actual behavior. In particular, for VEGA SRMs, the quasi-steady burning has been
shown in Refs. 57 to be the only signicant term of the burning rate during the internal ballistics. The
erosive is, in fact, completely negligible after the rst start-up phase of the SRM, since VEGA SRMs are
designed to have low oweld velocities inside the chamber, avoiding signicant total pressure drops and
erosive burning eects. Moreover, VEGA SRMs propellant grains do not present any eects related to
dynamic burning during both the ignition transient and the tail-o/burn-out phases.
Then, the characteristic velocity is dened, as usual, by Eq. (2).
c

(t) =

RT
f
(t)
M(t)
( (t))
(2)
The thrust coecient is the classical expression given in Eq. (3).
c
F
(t) =
F (t)
p (t) A
t
(t)
(3)
The combustion products characterization (in terms of their molecular weight M and specic heat ratio
) and the adiabatic ame temperature T
f
are evaluated by means of the chemical equilibrium assumption
for the propellant grain combustion reactions (evaluated with CEA code
8, 9
).
The nominal evolution of the combustion surface in the web S
b
(web), assuming a spatially constant burn-
ing rate, in accordance with the 0D model is theoretically evaluated by grain burnback analysis performed
with the GREG model
5, 10
For the throat area evolution law, in this work, we have performed the following assumption. For the
analysis of the static ring tests performed in Ref. 3, a constraint to the nozzle throat erosion was given
by the experimental measure of the nal value of the nozzle throat (A
tf
), and the characterization of the
erosion rate was assumed as expressed by Eq. (4),
11
with the h
c
coecient evaluated by semi-empirical laws
(i.e. Bartz model
12
).

D
throat
(t) = k
ab
h
c
(t) (T
throat
(t) T
wall
(t)) (4)
For the analysis of the ight, however, no direct measure of the nal nozzle throat can be performed,
and therefore, we assumed the semi-empirical correlations gained from the SFTs analysis as a functional
dependence of the nozzle throat erosion rate (or mass ow rate per unit area) as a function of the SRM
operating pressure, since in the typical regime of diusion limited erosion of the throat insert, its is known
1315
that this is the main functional dependence of the nozzle throat erosion. This means that each SFT provides
a nozzle throat erosion correlation for the analysis of the SRM ight data. This assumption represents a
rst step in order to exploit as much as possible the SFTs data experience and assess the impact of such
approach on the results achieved.
The problem, hence, can be expressed in terms of the non-ideal parameters: combustion eciency
c
,
hump and thrust eciency
c
F
, to be determined as follows.
The combustion eciency is exploited in order to ensure the overall mass balance during the SFT, as
expressed by equation (5).
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c
=

0
t
b
p (t) A
t
(t)
c

(t)
M
p
(5)
The product of the hump parameter and the scale factor can be evaluated for each time instant, assuming
the use of a 0D quasi steady state model, through the instantaneous mass balance inside the combustion
chamber, as given by Eq. (6).
SF h(web (t)) =
p (t) A
t
(t)

c
c

(t)

p
S
b
(web (t)) a (T
i
)

p (t)
p
ref

n
(6)
For the characterization of the thrust eciency, we assumed as input the thrust datum as reconstructed
from the trajectory (provided by ELV), as well as the ambient pressure variation during the ring. A
next step of this activity will considered the evaluation of each solid stage thrust prole starting from the
trajectory rough data and the launch vehicle attitude data.
With the considered assumption the thrust eciency is simply given by Eq. (7), that accounts also for
the nozzle divergence losses.

c
F
(t) =
F (t)
c
F
(t) p (t) A
t
(t)
(7)
III. Analysis & Reconstruction of VEGA Qualication Flights
The analysis of the solid stage performance of VEGA will be provided comparing for each SRM the actual
SRM behavior assessed from the two qualication ight data (VV01 and VV02) and comparing these data
with the one coming from the static ring test analysis. Note that for the assumption performed with respect
to the nozzle throat correlation which considers the scattering of the throat erosion correlations coming from
the SFTs, a range of possible reconstruction parameters will be obtained from the reconstruction of each
motor.
P80
Z23
Z9
Figure 1. VEGA Solid Rocket Motors
A brief resume of the VEGA SRMs data is given in Table 1, in terms of each stage dimensions, propellant
weight and performance data, as given in Ref. 2.
VEGA SRMs share around the same propellant formulation, i.e. HTPB 1912, with 19% Al (aluminum)
and 12 AP (ammonium perchlorate). We recall that some small dierences are present from SRM-to-
SRM and within DM and QM or VV01/VV02 versions of the same stage, in terms of additives and particles
granulometry, in order to obtain the desired propellant characteristics for the ballistics parameters a and n
and combustion. Moreover, VEGA SRMs have the same propellant shape type, 11 points aft-nocyl grains,
shown in Fig. 2, with dierent proportions between the ns and cylindrical part and ns characteristics from
SRM-to-SRM, in order to have the desired pressure and thrust proles in time and performance. In terms of
casting, we recall moreover that P80 propellant grain is produced and casted in Kourou, French Guyane by
Regulus, whereas its nozzle is made by Safran Herakles with a dierent kind of nozzle throat insert material
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Characteristics & Performance P80 Z23 Z9A
Overall Length, m 10.5 7.58 3.90
Outer Diameter, m 3 1.925 1.925
Propellant Mass, kg 87730 23820 10570
Inert Mass, kg 7330 1950 940
Firing Time, s 110 77 120
Vacuum Specic Impulse, s 280 287.5 295
Max Thrust (vacuum), kN 3015 1120 317
Nozzle Expansion Ratio 16 27 72
MEOP, bar 88 94 75
Nozzle Deection Angle,

6.5 7 6
Table 1. VEGA SRMs Characteristics and Performance
(Naxeco Pyc Carbon-Carbon) with respect to the one of Zero 23 and Zero 9A (3D carbon-carbon produced
by Safran Herakles). Zero 23 and Zero 9, instead, are entirely produced by Avio, in Colleferro.
For condentiality reasons, all the sensible data of the SRMs will be provided in non-dimensional form.
(a) P80 (b) Zero 23 (c) Zero 9A
Figure 2. VEGA SRMs: Propellant Grain Congurations
A. P80
P80 static ring tests took place in Kourou Solid Booster Test Bench (BEAP) in November 2006, for the DM
SRM and in December 2007, for the QM SRM. The two versions of the P80 were nominally identical by a
propulsive point of view, in particular, in terms of propellant type and nozzle conguration. Anyhow, because
of necessary qualication requirements at the system level and slightly dierent ambient temperatures during
the SFTs of almost negligible eect, the DM and QM had slightly dierent burning rates. In particular, the
propellant burning rates have been calibrated in order to have the DM SFT with a slightly lower combustion
rate, and hence, lower pressure and higher combustion time, with respect to the QM one (see the ). The
ight units of the P80 SRM for the VV01 and VV02 ight were nominally frozen as conguration with
respect to the QM SFT.
Figure 3 shows the nozzle throat erosion correlation expressed in terms of the nozzle throat erosion mass
ow rate per unit area as function of pressure, as extracted by the reconstruction of the SFT DM and QM
of the P80 SRM. The scattering among the correlations of the nozzle throat erosion law is small, with an
higher mass ow rate per unit area for the DM with respect to the QM.
Figure 4 shows the trend of the hump over the non-dimensional web thickness and of the thrust eciency
over the non-dimensional burning time, comparing each other the outcomes of the SFT analysis (DM and
QM) and the ight analysis. The results of the ight reconstruction are performed considering for each ight
the scattering of the nozzle throat erosion law depicted in Fig. 3 (e.g. P80 VV01 - DM stands for the results
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Figure 3. P80: Nozzle Throat Erosion Characterization from Static Firing Tests
of the VV01 ight with the use of the DM nozzle throat erosion correlation; whereas, P80 VV01 - QM, the
results of the VV01 ight with the use of the QM one, and so on).
Looking at Fig. 4(a), the hump shape of the P80 SFTs and ights, as related to the propellant rheological
behavior during the casting process appear to be very repetitive with a very small scattering among the rings.
The presence of a typical peak of the hump shape at approximately 0.3 in non-dimensional thickness, as also
underlined in Ref. 3, has to be noted.
(a) Hump (b) Thrust Eciency
Figure 4. P80 SFTs & Flights: Reconstruction of Hump & Thrust Eciency
As far as the thrust eciency comparison among the ring is concerned, slightly higher values of trend
over time and the average of the thrust coecient is obtained from the ights with respect to the ring, but
a similar overall trend of the
c
F
among the ring is to be noted. Note that for the P80, the SFT and the
ight units nozzle conguration is exactly the same, with the nominal nozzle expansion ratio. The dierence
of the nozzle throat operating conditions is mainly related to the atmospheric conditions of the rings:
quiescent ambient for the SFT and dynamic atmospheric conditions due to the launch vehicle trajectory for
the ights. A small dierence among the ights is present for the thrust eciency during the rst phase of
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the atmospheric ight, which show the VV02
c
F
in this rst phase of the ight near the one shown for the
SFTs. For the same ight reconstruction (VV01 or VV02), the nozzle throat erosion law providing a slightly
lower nozzle throat erosion, the QM one, implies a slightly higher thrust eciency, with respect to the DM
one. Anyhow, comparing the two ights, the variation of the thrust eciency trend due to the dierent
nozzle throat erosion correlation (i.e. DM one or QM one) is very small and well inside the scattering of this
parameter among the ights.
Table 2 reports the value of the SRM average pressure (non-dimensional) during each ring, the combus-
tion eciency and the scale factor. The rst one represents an input for the analysis, as discussed in section
II, provided as reference. The combustion eciency and the scale factor are instead output of the analysis.
Note that for the analysis of the ight, in this table and in the following for Z23 and Z9, a range of the
c

and SF is provided, as related to the minimum and maximum values obtained from the assumption in the
reconstruction of one correlation of the nozzle throat erosion law rather than another one (when a single
value is provided, it means that a negligible eect on that parameter is obtained from the analysis).
Quantity Symbol DM QM VV01 VV02
Average Pressure

p 0.5647 0.5675 0.5770 0.5699
Combustion Eciency
c
0.9905 0.9886 0.98 0.9827 0.9813 0.9840
Scale Factor SF 1.070 1.060 1.064 1.067
Table 2. P80 SFTs & Flights: Average Pressure, Combustion Eciency & Scale Factor
Since the dierence among the DM and QM nozzle throat erosion correlations (Fig. 3) used for the ight
data analysis is small, their eect on the scale factor evaluation is completely negligible (same value for the
same ight reconstruction in case of use of the DM or QM nozzle throat erosion law of Fig. 3). Whereas the
eects of the dierent nozzle throat law correlation is small but not negligible on the reconstructed combustion
eciency. As expected, the higher combustion eciency is obtained from the erosion law correlation that is
higher for the same pressure, and therefore for the DM one.
Comparing, the scale factor provided by the ights analysis with respect to the one of the SFTs, the
scale factor of the ights is well inside the small scattering experience for this parameter during the two
ring. Concerning the combustion eciency, the two ights show a slightly lower combustion eciency with
respect to the SFTs.
B. Zero 23
Zero 23 SFTs DM and QM occurred at the test bench in Salto di Quirra, Sardinia, Italy, respectively in
June 2006 and March 2008. Unlike P80 DM and QM, Zero 23 DM and QM versions of VEGA second
stage were not nominally the same SRM, beyond the dierent calibration of the propellant burning rates
between the DM and QM. In particular, for the Z23 QM, a redesign of the nozzle was considered, using a
lower nozzle throat area value and keeping constant the expansion ratio, in order to achieve a higher average
pressure during ring (see Tab. 3). For the remaining SRM conguration parameters, the two SRMs were
nominally alike and the dierences between the propellant grain ballistic parameters, coming from BARIA
testing, have been designed by the system for qualication requirements, as discussed in section A for the
P80.
As for the P80, one correlation for the nozzle throat erosion law is extracted from each SFTs (i.e. a so
called DM one and a QM one), as shown in Fig. 5. In this case, because of the dierent nozzle throat initial
values, quite dierent correlations of the nozzle throat mass ow rate per unit area are obtained, with a
mass ow per unit area of throat erosion higher for the DM in comparison with the QM one for the same
pressure.
Figure 6 shows the hump over the non-dimensional web-thickness and the thrust eciency over non-
dimensional time. For the same ight, the hump shape (Fig, 6(a)) shows a not-negligible but small variation
of the trend for a dierent correlation of the nozzle throat erosion. Anyhow, the dierences among the two
ight reconstructions for the same ight, due to the dierent nozzle throat erosion laws, is well inside the
scattering of the parameter among the rings (SFTs and ights). As for the P80 SRM, a characteristic hump
shape for the Z23 has to be noted.
Figure 6(b) shows the evolution in time of the thrust eciency, comparing the ones coming from the
analysis of the static ring tests of the ones reconstructed by the ight analysis. As for the P80, fairly higher
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Figure 5. Z23: Nozzle Throat Erosion Characterization from Static Firing Tests
thrust eciency are obtained from the ights with respect to the SFTs, with a small scattering from the
VV01 to the VV02 (higher) and for the same ight, the lower nozzle throat erosion law correlation (the QM
one) provides the slightly higher thrust eciency. Anyhow, this dierence is of the order inside the scattering
obtained comparing the VV01 ight results with the VV02 ones. The dierence among the thrust eciency
assessed at the SFT conditions (lower values of
c
F
) with respect to ights (higher values of
c
F
) is directly
related to the fact that the SFTs are held in ambient conditions, rather than in the vacuum operative ones,
so that, the SFT versions of the Z23 and Z9A had cut versions of the nozzles with respect to the ight
units, with expansion ratios dictated more by technological and production reasons, rather than to the need
to have near adapted conditions for the nozzles itself, at the SFT conditions. From a global point of view,
similar trend of the thrust eciency among the ring is to be noted, except from the last part of it, for
non-dimensional time greater that 0.6.
(a) Hump (b) Thrust Eciency
Figure 6. Z23 SFTs & Flights: Reconstruction of Hump & Thrust Eciency
Table 3 reports the non-dimensional average pressure, the combustion eciency and the scale factor for
the Z23 rings. It is worth noting that for a dierent nozzle throat erosion correlation (DM or QM one)
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has almost a negligible eect on the scale factor of the propellant. Comparing the scale factor value for the
dierent Z23 rings, the ones of the ights are near the one of the DM one (that had a lower average operating
pressure), whereas the scale factor of the QM one, that worked at around the same average operating pressure
of the VV01 and VV02, is lower.
Symbol Symbol DM QM VV01 VV02
Average Pressure

p 0.6059 0.6708 0.6799 0.6572
Combustion Eciency
c
0.9671 0.9550 0.9565 0.9704 0.9543 0.9681
Scale Factor SF 1.043 1.018 1.039 1.040 1.041 1.042
Table 3. Z23 SFTs & Flights: Average Pressure, Combustion Eciency & Scale Factor
Looking at the values of the combustion eciencies of the rings, it has to be noted that this value is
strongly dependent, as expected, on the nozzle throat erosion correlation used for the ight reconstruction,
with a variation that is of the order of 1.5 % among the DM one and the QM one. In particular, as for the
P80, the lower is the throat erosion rate correlation, the lower is the evaluated SRM combustion eciency.
Therefore, by using the throat erosion correlation coming from the DM SFT, for the two ights, a combustion
eciency near the DM one is obtained and conversely for the QM, with a high dispersion of this parameter
from the rings.
C. Zero 9
Zero 9 (Z9) is the third stage of VEGA launcher in its improved and overloaded conguration, redesigned
after the failure of the rst qualication ring test (QM) of Zero 9, in March 2007, due to some weaknesses
in the design of the nozzle and in manufacturing quality on some of its components.
In fact, taking advantage of the schedule shift because of the redesign of the Z9 nozzle, the project decided
to increase the Z9 performance with an overloading of propellant (560 Kg), allowing to improve the launcher
payload capability of more than 60 Kg. The new conguration of the Zero 9 is, therefore, characterized by
a very high web fraction and, as a consequence, the motor chamber volume is quite reduced with respect the
previous one
2, 16, 17
. Because of these signicant changes in the third stage conguration, two ring tests were
planned to demonstrate the qualication. The rst one, the QM2 was successfully performed in October
2008, and the second one, the VT, in April 2009, at the test bench in Salto di Quirra, Sardinia, Italy.
Figure 7. Z9: Nozzle Throat Erosion Characterization from Static Firing Tests
During both the Z9A QM2 and VT static ring tests, an unforeseen negative reaction peak was detected
on the bench axial load cells, around few milliseconds after the SRM start-up
16, 17
. An igniter re-design was,
hence, carried out in order to decrease the negative peak force during the pre-ignition phase. The re-design
was then tested during the VT2 SFT, in May 2010, at Salto di Quirra test bench, with successful results.
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As far as the other SRM design parameter are concerned, the three SFTs of Z9A, QM2, VT and VT2
had nominally the same propellant, beyond the dispersion in the ballistic parameters, as measured with the
BARIA tests of the batches, but dierent nozzle congurations. In particular, the Z9A QM2 and VT2 had
the same nozzle, whereas for the VT a dierent (higher throat area) nozzle design was tested.
The nozzle throat erosion law correlation for the three SFTs is shown in Fig. 7. From the SFTs
reconstruction, the throat higher erosion rate for a given pressure is obtained from the VT one, which
operated at lower pressure; whereas the VT2 has the lower throat erosion rate. The QM2 SFT provides a
nozzle throat erosion law that is a roughly in the middle of the other two, slightly shifted towards the VT2.
As for the previous VEGA stages, Figure 8(a) depicts the hump shape over non-dimensional web-thickness
and Figure 8(b), the evolution in time of the thrust eciency for all the Z9 rings.
(a) Hump (b) Thrust Eciency
Figure 8. Z9 SFTs & Flights: Reconstruction of Hump & Thrust Eciency
Comparing each other the rings, the hump curves shows that similar trend are present for the QM2,
VV01 and VV01, that are slightly dierence with respect to the ones experienced for the VT and VT2, which
are similar each other. This deviation is signicantly present after non-dimensional web-thickness 0.65,
whereas before, some small scattering is presence between all the rings. A possible cause for such behavior
was discussed in Ref. 3, where the analysis of the VEGA solid rocket motors static ring tests was presented,
as a preceding work of this paper. As for the P80 and the Z23 SRM, in the ight data reconstruction, the
use of dierent nozzle throat erosion laws (as extracted by the SFT data analysis) provides small variation
of the trend of the hump, well inside the scattering among the two ights.
Concerning the thrust eciency (Fig. 8(b)), it is recalled that as for the Z23, the SFT units of Z9 were
red with a nozzle expansion ratio far from the ight unit one (as reported in Tab. 1), since the SFT was
performed in air, and that the nozzle truncation was dictated mainly by by technological and production
reasons, rather than to the need to have near adapted conditions for the nozzle during the SFT. Therefore,
from the reconstruction of both the ights (VV01 and VV02), which operated in vacuum conditions at the
nominal expansion ration reported in Tab. 1, signicant higher values of the thrust eciencies are expected,
as shown in Fig. 8(b). Anyhow, considering all the ring, a similar trend over time of the
c
F
is to be noted
for Z9. As for the previous cases, the inuence of the imposed nozzle throat erosion law entails small eects
on the evaluation of this parameter, that are well inside the scattering among the VV01 and VV02 ight.
Moreover, the eect of the throat erosion law on the
c
F
, for the same ight, is similar to the one discussed
for P80 and Z23: the lower nozzle throat correlation provides the higher thrust eciency.
Table 4 reports the comparison of the average operating pressure, the scale factor and the combustion
eciency for the Z9 rings. It is worth underlining that as for the hump shape, the scale factor of the two
ights are similar each other and with a small scattering (slightly lower) with respect to the QM2 SFT.
Whereas, the scale factors for the VT and VT2 SFT are slightly higher and similar each other. The eect
of the nozzle throat erosion correlation chosen for the ight reconstruction on the scale factor parameter is
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Symbol Symbol QM2 VT VT2 VV01 VV02
Average Pressure

p 0.5688 0.5588 0.5955 0.5722 0.5551
Combustion Eciency
c
0.9679 0.9767 0.9676 0.9496 0.9639 0.9403 0.9543
Scale Factor SF 1.044 1.063 1.064 1.035 1.036 1.037
Table 4. Z9A SFTs: Average Pressure, Combustion Eciency & Scale Factor
almost negligible, as shown for P80 and Z23.
Looking at the comparison of the combustion eciency among Z9 rings, it can be noted that the ights
show slightly lower combustion eciencies with respect to the one provided during the SFT (considering
the maximum values of
c
). Moreover, as for the Z23, the eect of a dierent nozzle throat erosion law
rather than a slightly dierent one entails a remarkable eect in the quantication of the motor combustion
eciency, which varies up to 1.5 %, providing higher combustion eciencies for the higher nozzle throat
erosion law, as for the previous cases.
IV. Conclusions
In this work, a reconstruction and analysis of the performance of the solid stages of the rst two ights
of the VEGA launch vehicle, P80, Z23 and Z9, is carried out. The analysis is achieved by means of 0D quasi
steady reconstruction model, developed for the purpose and already used in the past for the analysis of the
static ring tests of the VEGA solid stages.
The model allows the evaluation of the non-ideal parameters of the SRMs actual behavior: combustion
eciency, thrust eciency, hump, scale factor and the nozzle throat area evolution, exploiting the measures
of performed usually before and during the ight and numerical/theoretical models. With respect to the
reconstruction of the static ring tests, the reconstruction of the ight performance of a solid rocket motor
presents the further diculty due to lack of the experimental data of the nal value of the nozzle throat area,
which provides a further unknown to the mathematical problem. In this work, the nozzle throat erosion is
evaluated from semi-empirical correlations extracted from each the static ring tests for each solid rocket
motor (two for the P80 and Z23 and three for Z9), which provide a scattering for each solid stage of the
nozzle throat erosion law as a function of the SRM operating pressure. Moreover, for the assessment of
the thrust eciency, the motor thrust is assumed as an input, rather than evaluated autonomously by a
dedicated reconstruction model of the launch vehicle trajectory.
For each solid stage, a comparison of the non-ideal parameters obtained from the reconstruction of the
VV01 and VV02 ights with the ones coming from the ring tests analysis is performed. The analysis shows
that motor characteristic shapes of the hump curve and scale factor values are present for the P80 and the
Z23 SRM (apart from the scale factor of Z23 QM). For the Z9, the hump curves of the VV01 and VV02
are well correlated with the one of the QM2, VT and VT2 ring tests, only up to 0.65 non-dimensional
web-thickness, when both the hump of the VT and VT2 deviates from the one of the QM2, VV01 and VV02.
Considering the scale factor, well correlation is present among the Z9 QM2, VV01 and VV02, while instead,
higher value are obtained from the VT and VT2 ring tests. For the P80 and the Z9, slightly lower values of
the combustion eciency is shown from the analysis of the VV01 and VV02 ight data with respect to the
one, instead, for the Z23 similar values of the
c
are present comparing the SFTs and the ights. Concerning
the thrust eciencies, higher
c
F
are obtained from the ight data analysis with respect to the SFT data,
as due to the dierent conditions in which each nozzle of the stages operates at the SFT conditions with
respect to the ight ones.
For each solid stages, since one nozzle throat erosion law is extracted from each SFT reconstruction, the
eect of the nozzle throat erosion law on the assessment of the SRM non-ideal parameters for the ight
reconstruction is assessed too. The analysis has shown that, while the hump shape and the scale factor are
not altered in a appreciable manner by the scattering of the nozzle throat erosion law (being the variation of
such parameters negligible or well inside the scattering of the parameter itself among the ring), the thrust
eciency and, above all, the combustion eciency is altered in an appreciable manner (up to 1.5 % of

c
). In particular, if a higher nozzle throat erosion law is considered, a higher combustion eciency and,
concurrently, also a lower thrust eciency are obtained. Therefore, for the ight data analysis, the scattering
of the nozzle throat erosion law is transferred into a scattering of the combustion and thrust eciency.
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For these reasons, in order to reduce the uncertainties related to the reconstruction of the solid rocket
actual behavior from the ight data, it is necessary to try to improve the capability of the prediction model
for the nozzle throat erosion evaluation, through the introduction of more complex correlations of the nozzle
throat erosion phenomena, well rooted on the base of full models of the thermo-chemical phenomena of the
nozzle throat and experimental data. A further improvement of the reconstruction model will also consider
the evaluation of the thrust of the solid stages directly from the trajectory data of the launch vehicle.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported and funded by the ESA-ESRIN/Contract No. 4000101871/10/I/JD. All the
required motor data have been kindly granted by ESA ESRIN VEGA Integrated Project Team.
VEGA launch vehicle has been developed within an European Program promoted by the European Space
Agency (ESA), as a cooperative project with Member States within the ESA framework. VEGA Programme
has been managed by an Integrated Project Team that, under the responsibility of the European Space
Agency, involves also sta from the Italian (ASI) and French (CNES) Space Agencies.
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