99 articles
GEM 63
The GEM 63 (Graphite Epoxy Motor 63) is a solid rocket booster built by Northrop Grumman that augments the Atlas V rocket, replacing the Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ-60A.
Gerard W. Elverum
Gerard W. "Jerry" Elverum was an American rocket-propulsion engineer who directed TRW's Apollo Lunar Module descent engine, the throttleable engine that landed astronauts on the Moon.
Hall-effect thruster
The Hall-effect thruster, or Hall thruster, is an ion thruster in which trapped electrons ionize xenon, producing thrust for spacecraft, first flown in 1971 on the Soviet Meteor-1-10 satellite.
HTPB
HTPB, or hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene, is a liquid synthetic rubber used chiefly as the fuel-binder of composite solid rocket propellants and as the liner bonding propellant grains to motor cases.
Hybrid-propellant rocket
The hybrid-propellant rocket, or hybrid rocket motor, is a chemical rocket combining a solid fuel with a separately stored liquid or gaseous oxidizer, allowing throttling and shutdown by controlling oxidizer flow.
Hydrazine
Hydrazine, also called diazane, is a toxic, fuming compound of nitrogen and hydrogen used as a rocket propellant and to make agricultural chemicals and blowing agents.
Hypergolic propellant
A hypergolic propellant, also called hypergolic fuel, is a rocket propellant combination whose fuel and oxidizer ignite spontaneously on contact, typically monomethylhydrazine and dinitrogen tetroxide, making engines reliable and storable for years in spacecraft.
Inertial Upper Stage
The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) is a two-stage, solid-fuel booster developed by the US Air Force and NASA, flown with the Space Shuttle and Titan rockets from 1982 to 2004.
J-2 (rocket engine)
The J-2 was a large liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen rocket engine developed by Rocketdyne, powering the upper stages of NASA's Saturn IB and Saturn V from 1968 to 1973.
Jack Parsons
Jack Parsons, born Marvel Whiteside Parsons (1914–1952), was an American rocket propulsion engineer who co-founded Aerojet and JPL and invented the first castable composite solid rocket propellant.
Liquid fluorine
Liquid fluorine is elemental fluorine cooled into a cryogenic liquid, used as a rocket oxidizer that outperforms oxygen but was never adopted operationally because of toxicity and corrosive exhaust.
Liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen (LOX) is a cryogenic fluid used medically, industrially, and as a rocket oxidizer. It is produced by cooling and separating oxygen from nitrogen in air.
Liquid-propellant rocket
A liquid-propellant rocket, also called a liquid-fueled rocket, carries its fuel and oxidizer as liquids in separate tanks and burns them for thrust; Robert Goddard first flew one in 1926.
Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster
A magnetoplasmadynamic thruster, also known as an MPD thruster or Lorentz Force Accelerator, is an electric spacecraft thruster that accelerates plasma propellant electromagnetically via Lorentz forces.
Monomethylhydrazine
Monomethylhydrazine (MMH, CH₃NHNH₂) is a colorless, fuming, toxic liquid used as a storable hypergolic rocket fuel that ignites on contact with nitrogen tetroxide, powering spacecraft thrusters since Gemini and Apollo.
Multistage rocket
A multistage rocket, or step rocket, is a launch vehicle built in two or more stages, each with its own engines and propellant, whose spent stages are dropped in flight.
Nedelin catastrophe
The Nedelin catastrophe, also called the Nedelin disaster, was a 1960 launch pad explosion at Baikonur that killed Strategic Rocket Forces commander Mitrofan Nedelin and dozens of specialists.
NERVA
NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application) was a joint NASA and Atomic Energy Commission program, from 1961 to 1973, to develop a nuclear thermal rocket engine.
NK-33
The NK-33, also known as the NK-43 in its high-altitude version, is a Soviet oxygen-rich staged combustion rocket engine developed by Kuznetsov for the N1 moon rocket.
Nuclear salt-water rocket
The nuclear salt-water rocket (NSWR) is a proposed rocket propulsion concept by Robert Zubrin in 1991, fissioning dissolved uranium salt for high thrust and specific impulse.
Nuclear thermal rocket
A nuclear thermal rocket is a rocket engine that uses a fission reactor instead of combustion to heat hydrogen, delivering high thrust at roughly twice chemical propellant efficiency.
P80
The P80, also written P80FW or P-80, is a European solid-fuel rocket motor that served as the first stage of the ESA Vega launcher from 2012 to 2024.
Plug nozzle
A plug nozzle, also called an aerospike, is a rocket nozzle in which exhaust expands on the outside of a central plug, giving altitude compensation.
Pogo oscillation
Pogo oscillation, also called pogo instability or pogo effect, is a self-excited longitudinal vibration of liquid-propellant launch vehicles, first observed on Titan II flights in 1962.
Pressure-fed engine
A pressure-fed engine, also called a pressure-fed rocket engine, is a liquid rocket engine in which tank pressure, usually from helium, feeds propellants into the thrust chamber without a turbopump.
Propellant
A propellant is a substance or combination of substances that a rocket expends to produce thrust, including solid, liquid, and hybrid types, monopropellants, and expelled gases.
Pulsed plasma thruster
A pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) is an electric rocket engine that produces tiny pulses of thrust by discharging a capacitor across solid Teflon propellant, used for small-satellite attitude control since 1964.
Ram accelerator
A ram accelerator is a hypervelocity launch device in which a ramjet-like projectile flies through a tube of combustible gas, reaching velocities above 2.6 km/s.
RD-170
The RD-170 is a Soviet liquid-oxygen and kerosene rocket engine made by NPO Energomash in Moscow, powering Energia strap-on boosters and the Zenit first stage from 1985.
RD-180
The RD-180 (РД-180) is a Russian liquid oxygen and kerosene rocket engine developed by NPO Energomash that has powered the first stage of the Atlas V since 2002.