Read Rocketry Books and Articles Online

A brief illustrated history of rockets from NASA.

A paper describing how model rocketry can be a strong part of a STEM-based curriculum.

High power rockets could become dynamically unstable due to outside disturbances after take off. The instability is augmented when the rocket is "slow" off the launch rail, which happens when the thrust-to-weight ratio is less than 5:1. Due to these reasons, the objective of this project was to design and build an active control system that will make sure the rocket follows a straight path all the way to apogee. This will be done through a model-based design approach in which a 6DOF mathematical model of the ?ight dynamics will be created.

This guide was prepared by NASA as a tool useful for informal education venues (4-H, Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc.), science clubs and related programs, and can be adopted for formal education settings. An exciting and productive study in rocket science can be implemented using the selected activities for the above-mentioned settings. The guide’s activities can be correlated to meet formal education’s core curriculum objectives or used for ancillary enrichment and extension activities.

The goal of this project is the design and construction of a small (hobby-scale) actively-stabilised rocket that uses non-aerodynamic means to effect stabilisation about the pitch and yaw axes; control of the roll axis of the rocket was not required as that axis does not affect its stability in flight. Commercially-available components and materials were used wherever possible, both for reasons of cost and to allow this project's achievements to be replicated elsewhere. Maximising apogee height was not be considered; instead, the aim is to maintain a long stable flight at a low altitude.

Discusses the math used to determine the correct size and type of parachute to use for a given model rocket. You will need a copy of Adobe Reader to view and print the document.

This letter was written to a student interested in recovering his rocket with a parachute after the rocket's powered flight. The question was: "How large should the parachute be?" We based our answer on the following design philosophy: Since rocket payload needs to be kept small, the parachute should be designed as small as possible. Also, using a small chute implies a more vertical and faster descent. In other words, using a large parachute usually leads to more horizontal drift due to winds aloft... i.e. more chances to lose the rocket in neighbor McNasty's backyard.

Calculus using a modle rocket filght as an example.

A publication from the Civil Air Patrol about rocketry.

This publication is intended to be used with the Ohio 4-H project 503M Solid-Fuel Rocketry Master, available online at www.ohio4h.org/rocketsaway. To participate, youth should have completed 503 Rockets Away! (Solid-Fuel Model Rockets), have rocketry experience comparable to what is required for other advanced-level 4-H projects, and be able to plan and complete the project on their own with minimal supervision or assistance.

Every model or high power rocket flight begins with a single event. An igniter or electric match is electrically initiated which in turn ignites the blackpowder or composite propellant. For such a critical role, little technical information is available regarding the electrical characteristics of these devices. Some manufacturers of electric matches provide "no fire'" and "all fire" current. Ratings for their devices. While important from a safety perspective, this information conveys nothing as to the devices true electrical characteristics. This document sheds some much needed light on the electrical characteristics of electric matches

An older Estes publication with several articles covering the mathematics of rocketry.

High power rockets are essentially large unguided model rockets that can fly to altitudes as high as 13km and recover to earth by parachute. A rocket flight simulator can be used to predict the flight path of the rocket during the ascent. To do this the simulator requires certain input parameters. This paper summarizes some simple methods for estimating these parameters from very basic information such as the geometry of the rocket and the thrust curve. Methods for estimating the mass, centre of mass, moments of inertia, thrust damping, center of pressure, drag force and normal force are given in this paper. The methodology described in this paper has been used in conjunction with a rocket flight simulator to predict the flight path of a high power rocket. Some results are given in the summary of the paper.

Developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, "Exploring in Aerospace Rocketry" is an educational publication based on the lectures and projects conducted during two years of the NASA-Lewis Aerospace Explorer program. This publication is intended not only to provide a basic explanation of some of the fundamentals of rocketry but also to stimulate other government agencies, educational institutions, private industry, and business to establish career-motivation programs within their own particular fields of activity.

G. Harry Stine's 1997 report on safety for the National Association of Rocketry.

Cal Poly entered the scene in 1989 with its club, Cal Poly Space Systems. CPSS started out as a small group of aerospace engineering students aiming to apply some of their knowledge to space related experiments. They grew in number, and in the late 1990's, were asked by NASA to participate in their StarBooster project, whose goal it was to investigate if the Space Shuttle's solid rocket boosters could be remotely controlled and fly back for a soft landing, rather than falling into the ocean and having to be fished out. The project was successful and sparked the club's interest in high powered rocketry, an interest the club has pursued ever since. Through the years, several different projects have been completed, progressively improving the club's methods of fabricating rockets. Until now, CPSS' fabrication methods haven't been documented, and have instead been passed down from experienced members to younger members throughout the years. This senior project documents those methods, providing the basis for a solid understanding of the elements of high powered rocket design and fabrication. It is also the intended that this documentation can provide the foundation for a class to offer practical application of the principles leamed during a student's aerospace career. Leaming the variety of skills required to build a rocket has helped me immeasurably, providing me with a wealth of knowledge that I've applied in the classroom, the workplace, and in real life, and it is my hope that this knowledge can be passed on and can benefit future generations of college students like it has benefitted me.

There are many ways to pack a parachute to fit into a rocket airframe. Some people have success with the scrunch-roll-and-stuff approach. Other people just cram the parachute into the airframe any old way they feel like at the time. Here is a step-by-step approach to turn your bulky parachute into a compact bundle and still give you reliable deployment.

Hubble Focus is a series of e-books that dive deeper into specific fields of astronomy that have been forever changed by Hubble's explorations. Hubble Focus: Galaxies through Space and Time is the second book in the series, describing some of Hubble's recent discoveries about galaxies - the homes of stars, nebulas and planets - from our own Milky Way to the most distant galaxies ever seen. These discoveries are helping us understand how galaxies evolve and how the universe itself has come to be the way it is today.

This book tells the story of the search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take man into space. This search was a hazardous enterprise carried out by rival labs who worked against the known laws of nature with no guarantee of success or safety.

An introduction to the aerodynamics of model rockets.

Hans "Chris" Michielssen shares tips and techniques for rocket building.

A sample of Tim Van Milligan's book on model rocketry.

This NAR Research & Development report describes a series of experiments using a computerized wind tunnel to determine the drag coefficients of typical model rocket designs.

A learning guide for model rocket launch systems including schematics, electrical theory, and study problems

Learn how to make and launch paper rockets. This hands-on activity is inspired by expired United States Patent Nos. 3092027 and 3115008. Have fun using your imagination, creativity and building skills when recreating the inventions described in these expired patents. Explore Newton's third law of motion as you learn about rocket propulsion.

Model rockets have been employed in student projects, but very few papers in aerospace education offer concise summaries of activities at university-course levels. This paper aims to address this gap in the literature.

A paper describing a simulation written in Java which makes use of the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method as well as cubic spline interpolation.

A NARCON 2017 presentation by Jim Barrowman.

An introduction to model rocketry by Estes.

Although rocket science involves advanced mathematics and meticulous calculations, model rocketry is a useful segue into the world of rockets. For this project, the team built eleven unique rockets from different model kits. After measuring the rockets's dimensions, they recreated their rockets in OpenRocket, a program used to simulate model rocket flight. After launching the rockets, experimental apogee was compared to a simulated apogee from OpenRocket and to a calculated theoretical apogee.

In a realistic model for rocket dynamics, in the presence of atmospheric drag and altitude-dependent gravity, the exact kinematic equation cannot be integrated in closed form; even when neglecting friction, the exact solution is a combination of elliptic functions of Jacobi type, which are not easy to use in a computational sense. This project provides a precise analysis of the various terms in the full equation (such as gravity, drag, and exhaust momentum), and the numerical ranges for which various approximations are accurate to within 1%. The analysis leads to optimal approximations expressed through elementary functions, which can be implemented for efficient flight prediction on simple computational devices, such as smartphone applications.

Following the National Association of Rocketry's Safety Code keeps model rocketry a safe and legal hobby. You will need a copy of Adobe Reader to view and print the Safety Code.

Eugene Florida's article includes instructions for building a model rocket, launch pad, and launch controller.

This work reports preliminary results on the application of projection-based reduced-order models (ROMs) to the study of combustion dynamics in liquid-fueled rocket engines. Specically, quasi-one-dimensional and axisymmetric (two-dimensional) models of a single element rocket combustor are explored.

George Sutton's Rocket Propulsion Elements is regarded as the most authoritative sourcebook on rocket propulsion technology. This book offers a thorough introduction to basic principles of rocket propulsion for guided missiles, space flight, or satellite flight. It describes the physical mechanisms and designs for various types of rockets and provides an understanding of how rocket propulsion is applied to flying vehicles.

This NASA publication provides information to teachers on how to use rockets to help teach science and math.

The basic objective of Jim Barrowman's thesis is to provide a practical method of computing the aerodynamic characteristics of slender finned vehicles such as sounding rockets, high speed bombs, and guided missiles.

An illustrated children's book from 1912 which included a bit of "flip-book" animation.

Model rocketry can be considered miniature astronautics. This paper describes a team project using single-stage model rockets and solid engines to teach some engineering principles and practices while promoting team work early on.