AE 412 – Space Propulsion System

QUIZ #1

Name: _________________________________ Score: _________________

Date: __________________________________ Instructor: _________________

TEST I: MULTIPLE CHOICE

Directions: Choose the letter that corresponds to the best answer and write it
in the space provided on the left side of each question.

1. Which of the following is not an air-breathing engine?

a) Turbojet
b) Turbofan
c) Rocket
d) Scramjet

2. Which of the following is not a valid classification of rocket engines based on

their energy source?
a) Chemical
b) Geothermal
c) Solar
d) Nuclear

3. What is the range of temperature of reaction product gases in a rocket

engine?
a) 500 to 1700 °C
b) 1700 to 2500 °C
c) 2500 to 4100 °C
d) 4100 to 6900 °C
4. Which of the following pressure feed systems is mostly used in attitude
control of liquid propellant rocket engine with more than one thrust chamber
per engine?
a) The Gas pressure feed system
b) Pump-fed system
c) Gravity assisted feed system
d) No feed system is used

5. What is the typical liquid propellant feed system used in space launch
vehicles?
a) The Gas pressure feed system
b) Pump-fed system
c) Gravity assisted feed system
d) No feed system is used

6. For a constant thrust of 6000 N, find the total impulse for the burning time
of 3s.
a) 36000 Ns
b) 18000 Ns
c) 9000 Ns
d) 0 Ns

7. Suppose the thrust force of a rocket varies with time t as F = 250(3t2 + 2t).
Then find out the total impulse for a burn duration of 4s.
a) 10000 Ns
b) 20000 Ns
c) 40000 Ns
d) 80000 Ns
8. For a rocket, the specific impulse was found to be 250s. Given that the
thrust force is constant and assuming gravity-free and drag-free conditions,
what will the thrust force be for a mass flow rate of the form (4t2-3t) kg/s and
a burn duration of 3s?
a) 18375 N
b) 12426 N
c) 25234 N
d) 15595 N

9. Given that the total impulse is 25000 Ns and specific impulse is 300s, find
out the effective propellant mass for a burn duration of 8s.
a) 17 kg
b) 8.5 kg
c) 34 kg
d) 68 kg

10. Consider two rocket engines A and B with A having a specific impulse of
242s and B having a specific impulse of 150s. What can be said about their
efficiency?
a) Both A and B are equally efficient
b) A is more efficient than B
c) B is more efficient than A
d) Efficiency doesn’t depend on specific impulse

11. If the exit pressure is thrice the atmospheric pressure for a rocket A and if
it is twice for rocket B, what will be the ratio of pressure thrust of rocket A to
that of B?
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
12. In the expression of pressure thrust, what does the area (A) represent?
a) The cross-sectional area of the throat
b) The total surface area of the rocket casing
c) The cross-sectional area of the nozzle exit
d) The total surface area of the combustion chamber

13. If Pe represents exit pressure and Pa represents the atmospheric pressure,

what is the condition for a nozzle to be overexpanded?
a) Pe < Pa
b) Pe > Pa
c) Pe = Pa
d) Pe = 0.5*Pa

14. What will happen to thrust and specific impulse as the rocket is propelled
to higher altitudes?
a) Thrust decreases, specific impulse increases
b) Thrust increases, specific impulse increases
c) Thrust decreases, specific impulse decreases
d) Thrust increases, specific impulse decreases

15. The rocket nozzle is usually so designed such that the exhaust pressure is
____ the ambient fluid pressure.
a) greater than
b) less than
c) equal to
d) equal to or slightly higher than

16. How does the total thrust vary with an extendable nozzle?
a) First increases, then decrease
b) First decreases, then increase
c) Keeps on increasing
d) Keeps on decreasing

17. A rocket has a throat area of 10 mm2 and nozzle exit area of 25 mm2. If
the mass flow rate of its propellants is 2 kg/s, exit velocity is 30 m/s, and if
exit pressure is twice the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level, what will
be the total thrust?
a) 60 N
b) 62.53 N
c) 61.26 N
d) 65.06 N

18. Rocket A has twice the pressure thrust of rocket B while it has half the
momentum thrust as that of B. If the momentum thrust of B is 5 times its
pressure thrust, find the ratio of total thrust of A to B.
a) 0.5
b) 0.75
c) 1
d) 0.25

19. Consider a rocket engine A and a jet engine B. Which of them will have
higher specific impulse?
a) A
b) B
c) B doesn’t have a specific impulse
d) A doesn’t have a specific impulse
20. If exhaust pressure is Pe and surrounding fluid pressure is Pa, what is the
condition for the optimum expansion ratio of a rocket nozzle?
a) Pe=Pa
b) Pe<Pa
c) Pe>Pa
d) Pe=0.5*Pa

21. A rocket produces a total thrust of 20,000 N. If the mass flow rate of
propellants is 16 kg/s, what will be effective exhaust velocity?
a) 1250 m/s
b) 2500 m/s
c) 625 m/s
d) 5000 m/s

22. What is the characteristic velocity of a rocket if the chamber pressure is 5

MPa, the nozzle throat diameter is 75 mm and the mass flow rate is 25 kg/s?
a) 884 m/s
b) 1768 m/s
c) 3536 m/s
d) 442 m/s

23. Characteristic velocity is a performance parameter that relates to the

efficiency of _____
a) nozzle
b) combustion chamber
c) injector
d) casing

24. Which of the following variables is not useful in the determination of rocket
effective exhaust velocity?
a) Mass flow rate
b) Exhaust velocity
c) Rocket velocity
d) Exit area

25. If C denotes effective exhaust velocity and Isp is specific impulse, then
which of them is a better performance parameter?
a) C
b) Isp
c) Both of them are equal
d) Both of them are equivalent

26. If mo denotes initial mass, mb denotes burnout mass, then what is the
expression for mass ratio?
a) (mo-mb)/mb
b) (mo-mb)/mo
c) mb/(mo-mb)
d) mb/mo

27. For a rocket traveling at 700 m/s having an exhaust velocity of 1.4 km/s,
exhaust gas density of 0.3 kg/m3, nozzle throat diameter of 0.14 cm and nozzle
exit diameter of 25 cm, find the total mass flow rate of the propellants.
a) 6.46 kg/s
b) 103.1 kg/s
c) 20.62 kg/s
d) 32.33 kg/s

28. What constitutes the exhaust gas at the nozzle exit of a chemical rocket
engine?
a) combustion products of the propellants
b) A mixture of combustion products and surrounding air
c) Surrounding air
d) Propellants

29. Which of the following is not part of a rocket nozzle?

a) Convergent section
b) Divergent section
c) Throat section
d) Staggering section

30. What is the nozzle throat diameter of a rocket having chamber pressure
(Pc) of 3 MPa, mass flow rate (m) of 20 kg/s and characteristic velocity (c*) of
1500 m/s?
a) 10 cm
b) 11.3 cm
c) 12.8 cm
d) 25 cm