Rocket propellant

Rocket propellant is either a high oxygen containing fuel or a mixture of fuel plus oxidant, whose combustion takes place, in a definite and controlled manner with the evolution of a huge volume of gas. In the rocket engine, the propellant is burnt in the combustion chamber and the hot jet of gases (usually at a temperature of 3000°C and a pressure of 300 kg/cm²) escapes through the nozzle at very high velocity.

Rocket propellant is a material used by a rocket as, or to produce in a chemical reaction, the reaction mass (propulsive mass) that is ejected, typically with very high speed, from a rocket engine to produce thrust, and thus provide spacecraft propulsion. Each rocket type requires different kind of propellant: chemical rockets require propellants capable of undergoing exothermic chemical reactions, which provide the energy to accelerate the resulting gases through the nozzle. Thermal rockets instead use inert propellants of low molecular weight that are chemically compatible with the heating mechanism at high temperatures, while cold gas thrusters use pressurized, easily stored inert gases. Electric propulsion requires propellants that are easily ionized or made into plasma, and in the extreme case of nuclear pulse propulsion the propellant consists of debris from nuclear explosions.

Rocket propellant is either a high oxygen containing fuel or a mixture of fuel plus oxidant, whose combustion takes place, in a definite and controlled manner with the evolution of a huge volume of gas. In the rocket engine, the propellant is burnt in the combustion chamber and the hot jet of gases (usually at a temperature of 3,000°C and a pressure of 300 kg/cm^2 ) escapes through the nozzle at very high velocity. Rockets create thrust by expelling mass backwards in a high-speed jet (see Newton's Third Law). Chemical rockets, the subject of this article, create thrust by reacting propellants within a combustion chamber into a very hot gas at high pressure, which is then expanded and accelerated by passage through a nozzle at the rear of the rocket. The amount of the resulting forward force, known as thrust, that is produced is the mass flow rate of the propellants multiplied by their exhaust velocity (relative to the rocket), as specified by Newton's third law of motion. Thrust is therefore the equal and opposite reaction that moves the rocket, and not by interaction of the exhaust stream with air around the rocket. Equivalently, one can think of a rocket being accelerated upwards by the pressure of the combusting gases against the combustion chamber and nozzle. This operational principle stands in contrast to the commonly-held assumption that a rocket "pushes" against the air behind or below it. Rockets in fact perform better in outer space (where there is nothing behind or beneath them to push against), because there is a reduction in air pressure on the outside of the engine, and because it is possible to fit a longer nozzle without suffering from flow separation, in addition to the lack of air drag.

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