Client
U.S. Air Force
Project Objectives
- Measure the generation of microwave radiation in the exhaust of solid propellant rocket engines burning high metal content propellants
- Solid propellant rocket engines provide a variety of advantages over liquid fuel engines. However, a disadvantage is that solid propellant engines burning high metal content fuels can generate microwave radiation in the exhaust, which the enemy can use for identification and tracking.
Summary of Project and Results (Non-Confidential)
- Designed and built a solid rocket engine combustion chamber casing
- Created a variety of solid rocket fuels with varying concentrations of metal constituents and oxidizers
- Created a variety of grain configurations in the combustion chamber to control the burning rate
- Designed and built various exit nozzles to generate a range of overexpanded and underexpanded exhaust flows
- Assembled and operated a microwave radiation measurement system that spatially averaged over the rocket exhaust
- Quantified the microwave signature versus solid propellant type and nozzle configuration
Visible Emission from a Missle Exhaust Plume