Introduction to Rocket Propulsion: Lecture 1

History of Rocketry
 Outline

• Early demonstrations of rocket principles

• Chinese rockets and Roger Bacon

• Congreve Rockets

• Tsiolkovsky rocket equation

• Robert Goddard and Herman Oberth

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3e/87/cd/3e87cd6970b38725580203ea34893cf7.jpg

• V2 Rocket, Wernher Von Braun and the beginning of the Space Race

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 First Demonstrations

• Hero of Alexandria invented the aeolipile

in about 100 B.C.

• Based on the same principle of using

escaping steam as a propulsive fluid

• Shows the principle of conservation of

momentum

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Aeolipile_illustration.png

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 Chinese Fire Arrows

• Rockets are recorded to have been used

by the Song navy in a military exercise
dated to 1245

• Terrible accuracy and efficiency

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.timetoast.com/public/uploads/photos/8950161/Pic2.gif

https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/rocket/BottleRocket/images/History3A.gif
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/rocket/BottleRocket/images/History2B.gif

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 Roger Bacon

• “We can, with saltpeter and other

substances, compose artificially a fire
that can be launched over long
distances…”

• Regarded to have improved gunpowder

formula to greatly increase its power

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Roger-bacon-statue.jpg

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 Congreve Rockets

• Developed by William Congreve during 1792-99 colonial wars in response to the

use of rockets by Indian opposing forces

• William Hale improved the design with spin stabilization

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/
Congreve_rockets.gif

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 Konstantin Tsiolkovski

• Derived the Tsiolkovski Equation based

on Newton’s 2nd law

• He wrote and taught extensively about

human space travel and is considered
the father of cosmonautics and human
spaceflight

• Tsiolkovski advocated liquid propellant

rocket engines, orbital space stations,
solar energy, and colonization of the
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/

Solar System. Konstantin_Tsiolkovsky_1934.jpg/170px-

Konstantin_Tsiolkovsky_1934.jpg

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 Tsiolkovski Rocket Equation

Δ 𝑣=𝑣 𝑒 ln
( )
𝑚0
𝑚𝑓
=𝐼 𝑠𝑝 𝑔0 ln
𝑚0
𝑚𝑓 ( )
Tsiolkovski’s Rocket Equation

• Here, is the change in the vehicle’s velocity, is the exit velocity of the gasses, is
specific impulse, is the gravitational constant, and and is the mass of the vehicle
with and without propellant respectively

• Delta-v is the change in velocity that can be achieved by burning that rocket's
entire fuel load.

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Robert Goddard

• Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945),

conducted practical experiments in
rocketry

• Goddard achieved the first successful

flight with a liquid- propellant rocket on
March 16, 1926

• Independently derived the rocket

equation

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Goddard’s Liquid Rocket

• Goddard used liquid oxygen as an oxidizer

and gasoline as the fuel. The combustion
chamber “pulled” the fuel and oxygen
tank behind it

• It flew for 2.5 seconds at a maximum

height of 12,5 meters

• This experiment proved the possibility of

liquid propelled rocket engines

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 Hermann Oberth

• At age 14 he imagined a "recoil rocket" that could move through space using
nothing but its own exhaust

• His legacy is tainted by the fact that he helped develop the V-2 rocket for Germany
during World War II; the rocket was used for devastating bombings on London

www.bbc.com%2Ffuture%2Fstory%2F20140905-the-nazis-space-age-rocket https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/hermann-oberth.jpg

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 Wernher Von Braun

• Von Braun was one of the chief

architects in the design and
development of the V2 rocket

• He worked with Oberth who was his

mentor

• He was later captured by the Americans

who relied greatly on his expertise

By NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center - https://archive.org/details/MSFC-9131095 higher resolution,

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22799499

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 V2 Rocket

• The V-2 was the world’s first long range,

guided ballistic missile

• The V-2 used a 74% ethanol/water mixture

for fuel and liquid oxygen (LOX) for oxidizer.

• Beginning in September 1944, over 3,000

V-2s were launched by the German
Wehrmacht against Allied targets. Over
9000 people were victims to the attacks

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/V-
2_rocket_diagram_%28with_English_labels%29.svg/800px-V-
2_rocket_diagram_%28with_English_labels%29.svg.png

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V2 Rocket

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 Operation Paperclip

• A secret program carried out by the U.S. in

which more than 1600 German scientists
were “employed” by the US

• Amongst these scientists was the chief

engineer of the V2 rocket, Wernher Von
Braun

• The Soviets took control of the German V-2

manufacturing facilities and moved
production to the Soviet Union
http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/vb-new-
023.jpg

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 The Space Race

• In 1955 Soviet Russia and the U.S announced the

desire to launch artificial satellites into space

• The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on October 4th,

1957

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“The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but
one cannot live in the cradle forever”

— In a letter written by Tsiolkovsky in

1911.