Rocket Propulsion Elements, 9th Edition

PREFACE

The rocket propulsion business in the United States of America appears to be changing. In the past, and also currently, the business has been planned, financed, and coordinated mostly by the Department of Defense and NASA. Government funding, government test or launch facilities, and other government support was provided. As it happens in all fields old‐time companies have changed ownership, some have been sold or merged, some went out of business, some reduced the number of employees, and other companies have entered the field. New privately financed companies have sprung up and have developed their own rocket propulsion systems and flight vehicles as well as their own test, manufacturing, and launch facilities. These new companies have received some government contracts. Several privately owned companies have developed on their own useful space vehicles and rocket propulsion systems that were not originally in the government's plan. Although business climate changes noticeably influence rocket activities, it is not the purpose of this book to describe such business effects, but to present rocket propulsion principles and to give recent information and data on technical and engineering aspects of rocket propulsion systems.

All aerospace developments are aimed either at better performance, or higher reliability, or lower cost. In the past, when developing or modifying a rocket propulsion system for space applications, the emphasis has been primarily on very high reliability ...