Fundamentals of Rocket Propulsion Engineering: A Complete Guide to Chemical, Electric, and Nuclear Thrust Systems

By Success T. Joshua

Rocket propulsion draws on thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, combustion chemistry, structures, and controls all at once, yet few engineering resources ever bring those threads together into one coherent path from first principles to flight-ready hardware.

Engineering students who reach a propulsion course often find the pieces they need scattered across several separate classes, and the texts available either stay theoretical or hand down formulas without showing where they come from. The result is a familiar gap between passing the exam and actually being able to size a thrust chamber, choose between a solid and a hybrid motor for a given mission, or explain why a nozzle is under-expanded. Practicing engineers moving into propulsion from an adjacent discipline face the same gap from the other direction.

This book closes that gap with a derivation-first, sixteen-chapter treatment of rocket propulsion engineering. Every relationship used in a worked example is built from stated assumptions and conservation laws rather than handed down as a formula to memorize, giving you the analytical foundation to derive, size, and evaluate a propulsion system rather than simply look one up.

Inside, you will:

Derive the governing relationships yourself, from the rocket equation and delta-v budgeting through isentropic nozzle flow and performance metrics, so you understand why each relationship holds.Work through fully worked, unit-checked examples in every chapter, giving you a template for checking your own calculations rather than just a final answer.Compare chemical, electric, and nuclear propulsion on equal footing, using a consistent performance framework across solid, liquid, and hybrid motors, ion and Hall-effect thrusters, and nuclear thermal and nuclear electric concepts.Size real subsystems, including nozzles, turbopumps and propellant feed systems, combustion chambers, propellant grains, and thermal protection, using methods that map directly onto real design problems.Trace propellant and materials choices back to the underlying chemistry, and carry a vehicle concept through structural design and staging.Apply the testing, reliability, and safety framework, including tolerance stack-up, statistical life prediction, and failure modes and effects analysis, that most single-volume propulsion texts leave out.Practice with end-of-chapter problems that include checkable answers, reinforcing each chapter's methods before moving to the next.

Key topics covered include rocket flight mechanics and the rocket equation; compressible flow and gas dynamics; nozzle theory and design; performance parameters and specific impulse; combustion fundamentals; solid, liquid, and hybrid chemical propulsion; turbomachinery and propellant feed systems; thermal protection and cooling; electric propulsion; nuclear thermal and nuclear electric propulsion; propellant chemistry and materials selection; structural design and staging; and testing, reliability, and safety.

This book is written for upper-level undergraduate and early graduate engineering students who have completed coursework in thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, and for practicing engineers moving into propulsion work from an adjacent discipline or preparing for qualification work on a real propulsion program.

If you want to understand rocket propulsion well enough to design it, not just describe it, this derivation-first guide gives you the complete analytical foundation, from the first principles of thrust through a flight-ready propulsion concept. Add it to your engineering library and start building that foundation chapter by chapter.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0H9S7BPL8
• ISBN13: 9798188307592
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 1.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.5" x 11.0"