- From 22 April – 15 May 2025 (4 Weeks, 8 Classes, 16 Total Hours)
- Every Tuesday and Thursday at 1–3 p.m. Eastern Time USA (all sessions will be recorded and available for replay; course notes will be available for download)
- This online course provides an overview of a range of propulsion technologies
- All students will receive an AIAA Certificate of Completion at the end of the course.
OVERVIEW
The performance of any propulsion system designed for high speed or space applications is governed by the fundamental principles on which it is based. This course examines five classes of engines (both deployed and being developed) from the perspective of their underlying physical principles. The equations used to determine the thrust produced by airbreathing rockets, ram/scramjets, detonation wave engines, arcjets, and ion thrusters are developed highlighting relevant issues and approximations in their use. It also places these engines in the context of their range of relevance by relating the thrust generated to the thrust required for both to orbit and in orbit missions. This course is based on the book by the instructor:
J. Etele: Fundamentals of Transatmospheric and Space Propulsion (available on Amazon)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Examine and understand airbreathing, electrothermal, and electrostatic propulsion theory
- Contextualize various advanced propulsion concepts in their design space
- Broaden our understanding of the underlying physical principles relied on to generate thrust
- Understand the limitations and assumptions required to calculate thrust
- Understand the propulsion requirements of in orbit and launch missions
This course is aimed at early career professionals and graduate students in the aerospace sciences who want to broaden their understanding of advanced propulsion concepts and/or anyone with an interest in aerospace propulsion with a background in engineering.
COURSE FEES (Sign-In To Register) It's not too late to register! Catch up by watching recorded lectures.
- AIAA Member Price: $895 USD
- Non-Member Price: $1095 USD
- AIAA Student Member Price: $495 USD
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OUTLINE
- Velocity Requirements for Launch
- Review of Two Body Problem and Kepler’s Laws
- Relation between burnout conditions (elevation angle, velocity, radius) and orbital properties (size, period, eccentricity)
- Ballistic trajectories (apogee, time of flight, range)
- Ramjets and Scramjets (Upstream)
- Review of Brayton cycle and efficiencies
- Inlet starting (oblique/normal shocks, Kantrowitz limit)
- Conical shocks (homenergetic and homentropic flow, gas dynamic equation)
- Ramjets and Scramjets (Downstream)
- Review of isentropic flow
- Nozzle performance (thrust co-efficient, characteristic velocity, two dimensional flow)
- Direct fuel injection/afterburning (diabatic flow)
- Airbreathing Rockets
- Review of solid and liquid fuel systems (steady combustion pressure, grain shape, two phase flow)
- Combustion temperature (equilibrium conditions, Gibbs free energy)
- Two stream mixing performance (ram rockets/ejectors, choked flow requirements)
- Detonation Wave Engines
- Review of non-equilibrium combustion and reaction rates
- Deflagration and detonation (Chapman-Jouguet points)
- Traveling and oblique waves (rotating/oblique detonation wave engines)
- Velocity Requirements in Orbit
- Review of orbital elements
- Orbital manouevres (plane change, transfers)
- Orbital perturbations (J2, Gauss variational equations)
- Arcjet Engines
- Review of Maxwellian distributions and plasmas
- Dissociation and ionization (frozen flows, Debye shielding)
- Current density, heat flux potential (Elenbaas-Heller equation)
- Ion Engines
- Review of electric potential
- Thermionic emission, Larmor radius
- Beam current and losses (transmission, double ionization, acceleration/deceleration grids)
- Hall thrusters (Lorentz force, Hall parameter, thermal equilibrium)
Professor Jason Etele has been teaching and researching aerospace propulsion at Carleton University (Canada) for twenty years and is the author of the book “Fundamentals of Transatmospheric and Space Propulsion”. He has been an invited lecturer for several AIAA Short Courses on High Speed Airbreathing Propulsion and an invited instructor on Space Systems and Propulsion at Tohoku University (Japan). He has also been an invited researcher at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) where he investigated airbreathing rocket concepts.
COURSE DELIVERY AND MATERIALS
- The course lectures will be delivered via Zoom. You can test your connection here: https://zoom.us/test
- All sessions will be available on-demand within 1-2 days of the lecture. Once available, you can stream the replay video anytime, 24/7. All slides will be available for download after each lecture.
- No part of these materials may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted, unless for course participants. All rights reserved.
- Between lectures, the instructors will be available via email for technical questions and comments.
Classroom Hours / CEUs: 16 classroom hours / 1.6 CEU/PDH
Cancellation Policy: A refund less a $50.00 cancellation fee will be assessed for all cancellations made in writing prior to 5 days before the start of the event. After that time, no refunds will be provided.
Contact: Please contact Lisa Le or Customer Service if you have any questions about the course or group discounts.
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