Completed notes of the course 6 credits course

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POLITECNICO DI MILANO Filippo D’Ambrosio SPACE PROPULSION Anno accademico 2025/2026 Docente: Filippo Maggi 1 Preface These handouts are based on my personal notes taken in the academic year 2025/2026, on the slides and handouts of Professor F. Maggi and on various articles going deeper on the topics. I don’t take any responsibility about its accuracy and correctness. It is just a tool to help you guys pass the exam, i hope you’ll find it useful! Last but not least, it has not been written to be sold, students MUST be able to study from it charge-free. For any possible mistake on it or any suggestion to make it better, write an email to [email protected] 2 Contents 1 Introduction 8 1.1 Energy sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1.2 Rocket motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1.2.1 Examples of rocket motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1.2.2 Cost of transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.3 Main performance parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1.3.1 Thrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1.3.2 (Gravimetric) specific impulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1.3.3 Volumetric specific impulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.3.4 Total impulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.3.5 System specific impulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1.3.6 Non-constant thrust profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1.4 Parameters of merit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .…