[Tech] DART Aerospike - Repost; Additional Info

CRogers168 · 2005-03-04T04:49:09+00:00

Gentlemen:Repost and Additional Info on the DART Aerospike.For Background a Repost:For those who had not seen this previously, here is some information onthe NASA-Dryden DART aerospike solid rocket flown at the Pecos CountySpaceport in Texas. I was a co-principal investigator on this project. of the aerospike and the rocket can be found at: can also go to the medium or large jpeg photo sections and zoom inand check out the aerospike in detail.The DART aerospike rocket is documented in a tech article authored byScott Bartel and myself published in the August 2004 issue of HighPower Rocketry Magazine (Vol. 35, No. 5). The tech article has lots ofphotos and complete documentation on the aerospike rocket. It'savailable as a back issue from High Power Rocketry.The aerospike was built by Cesaroni Technology Incorporated (CTI). Theaerospike retrofits onto a CTI O5100 motor case in place of theconventional conical nozzle.Additional (New) Info:Aerospike uninstalled performance is measured by taking the thrustcoefficient of the aerospike and dividing it by the ideal thrustcoefficient with ideal expansion (thus no divergence losses, throatlosses, or under- or over- expansion losses). CF/CFideal is plottedversus the chamber pressure divided by the atmospheric pressure(Pc/Pa). Below is an example plot from a post some time ago onsci.space.policy by Kevin Ryan. 1.0 .----.----.----.----.----.----.----.----.----.----. | + T +T T + +/ +/ +/ +/ T +/ | T + / : + / | / 0.9 | / : / Area Ratio = 75:1 Nozzle | / nozzle length = 25%equivalent Efficiency | / conical : / 0.8 | / / Bell Nozzle | / ...