Rocket Propulsion Engineering: Chemical, Electric, and Nuclear Systems from First Principles to Flight Hardware

By Ryan Jephthah

The rocket equation fits on a single line. Everything standing between that line and hardware that survives a full-duration hot-fire test is what this book is about.
Anyone learning rocket propulsion properly meets the same wall. The compressible-flow physics sits in one book, the propellant chemistry in another, the engine cycles in a third, and electric propulsion in a fourth written as though it belonged to a different profession. Conceptual treatments stop short of the arithmetic; research papers assume you already have it. So the reader can explain what a staged combustion cycle is but cannot estimate whether the turbine closes the power balance, and understands that electric propulsion saves propellant but cannot size the array that feeds it.
This volume was written to close that gap. Fifteen chapters, organized into modules of increasing specialization, treat rocket propulsion as one continuous engineering discipline: the physics is developed with care, then carried through to design decisions, numerical estimates, and the trade-offs engineers genuinely argue about.
What you will gain:
- One unbroken line of reasoning from thermodynamics and compressible flow, through nozzle theory and thrust generation, out to staging and mission velocity budgets
- Chemical and electric propulsion in a single volume, so the thrust-versus-efficiency trade that decides real missions becomes visible instead of assumed
- The ability to compute what engineers are actually asked for: effective exhaust velocity, mass flow, characteristic velocity, thrust coefficient, expansion ratio and delivered velocity change
- Engine cycles in structured progression, from pressure-fed and gas-generator architectures through expander and staged combustion to full-flow and electric pump-fed designs, each with its power-balance reasoning
- Worked examples carried through complete solution paths rather than stated results, plus practice problems and an answer key in every chapter
- A working desk reference, through appendices covering nomenclature, a glossary, a master equations sheet, physical constants, propellant properties, engine performance tables, velocity budgets, a cycle comparison matrix and a subject index
Key topics covered:
Choked flow, normal shocks and real-gas corrections; nozzle geometry across bell, conical, aerospike and dual-bell contours, with flow separation and the six real-engine loss factors; staging optimisation, transfer orbits and interplanetary velocity budgets; propellant chemistry and the density-versus-efficiency trade space; injector element types, atomisation and combustion instability suppression; turbomachinery, cavitation and cycle life under reuse; solid motor grain geometries and burn-rate behaviour; hybrid regression rate and mixture-ratio shift; regenerative, film, transpiration and ablative cooling with chamber materials and structural design; electrothermal, electrostatic and electromagnetic thruster classes; station-keeping, orbit raising and deep-space cruise; nuclear thermal and nuclear electric propulsion, solar sails and beamed energy; test facilities and instrumentation; and reliability analysis, fault trees, qualification and range safety.
Who this book is for: Aerospace and mechanical engineering students who need one text covering the full propulsion syllabusPracticing engineers broadening beyond a single subsystemTest and manufacturing engineers supporting propulsion hardwareTechnical professionals moving into the launch and satellite industry from adjacent fieldsEducators assembling a propulsion courseSerious self-directed readers who want the real engineering rather than a conceptual overview.Open the first chapter and begin building the connected, calculation-ready command of rocket propulsion that this subject rewards.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HBNM31TT
• ISBN13: 9798189121111
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 486 Pages
• Weight: 2.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 8.5" x 11.0"