Performance Improvement of a Laser-Ignition Micro Solid Rocket by Controlling the Combustion Wave Front.

摘要

The authors have proposed and developed a laser ignition micro solid rocket for microspacecraft with a mass of 1 to 10 kg. The laser ignition micro solid rocket is a propulsion system using a multiple small solid rockets ignited by a laser irradiation. Specific impulse of this micro solid rocket at its initial development showed around 50 % of the ideal combustion. Our previous studies indicated that this difference was caused by the exhaustion of propellant before the completion of its burning and the effective method to reduce this loss was to decrease the scale of the throat. In this study, we examined two methods to improve the performance: implantation of a metal throat and control of the combustion front by covering the propellant by a capsule. As a result, specific impulse reached to 154 s which was 70% of the ideal combustion and acceleration.