Solid-Propellant Rocket Motor

Rocket · 1942

Year: 1942
Kind: Rocket
Materials: Ammonium perchlorate, aluminium powder and a polymer binder; a steel or carbon-fibre casing; a graphite or carbon-carbon nozzle throat.
Efficiency: Specific impulse around 250–290 seconds, below liquids.
Used In: Shuttle and SLS boosters, missiles, ejection seats, model rockets.
Power Density: Very high thrust; low efficiency.
Cycle: None

How It Works

Fuel and oxidiser mixed into a rubbery grain, cast into the casing with a shaped hollow down the middle. Light it and it burns from the inside out until it is gone — no pumps, no valves, no way to stop it. Simple, storable for years, and enormous thrust.

Equations

Newton's Second Law Specific Impulse Tsiolkovsky Rocket Equation Newton's Third Law Momentum and Impulse Conservation of Momentum

Elements

Carbon Nitrogen / Azote Chlorine Oxygen Aluminum

Referenced by

element

Aluminum Carbon Chlorine Nitrogen / Azote Oxygen

equation

Conservation of Momentum Momentum and Impulse Newton's Second Law Newton's Third Law Specific Impulse Tsiolkovsky Rocket Equation

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From the Machines database in Notion, last edited 2026-08-18. This page is the row, rendered by the build; nothing on it is written by hand.