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Full-Text Articles in Propulsion and Power

Stabilized Cargo Relay Aircraft For Precision Payload Yielding, Dato A. Tabidze, Michael Conely, Ben Courtney May 2026

Stabilized Cargo Relay Aircraft For Precision Payload Yielding, Dato A. Tabidze, Michael Conely, Ben Courtney

Senior Design Project For Engineers

As military missions become more complicated, warfighters need more capable drones to use across diverse scenarios. The same also applies to civilian applications, like infrastructure inspection, package delivery, and disaster response. Current multirotor drones, also known as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), provide simplicity, affordability, and ease of operation; however, their primary limitation is their low payload-to-weight ratio, which typically falls at 1:1 or less. The DARPA Lift Challenge aims to shatter the heavy lift bottleneck, seeking novel drone designs that can carry payloads more than four times their weight, which would revolutionize the way we use drones across all sectors. …


Analysis Of The Effects Of Extractor Orientation On The Performance Of An Electrospray System, Hannah Grace Sargent Jun 2025

Analysis Of The Effects Of Extractor Orientation On The Performance Of An Electrospray System, Hannah Grace Sargent

Masters Theses

In this thesis, a single-emitter porous electrospray thruster was tested at nine different extractor electrode positions. The nine positions were: center, four slightly offset in each cardinal direction, and four significantly offset in each cardinal direction. Slightly offset was defined as ~25% of the distance from the center to the edge of the extractor orifice (~125 ± 2 μm) and significantly offset was defined as ~60% of the distance from the center to the edge of the extractor orifice (~302 ± 2 μm). Three diagnostic measurements were recorded to determine the effect of the extractor electrode position on thruster operation: …


Propulsion Heat Analysis Nuclear Trajectory Optimization (Phantom), Ana Clecia Alves Almeida, Jonathan Davis, Ryan Dippolito Jan 2024

Propulsion Heat Analysis Nuclear Trajectory Optimization (Phantom), Ana Clecia Alves Almeida, Jonathan Davis, Ryan Dippolito

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Interplanetary Travel requirements necessitate the use of increasingly complex propulsion systems. Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) is a cutting-edge concept that holds immense potential for the future of space exploration. By utilizing nuclear fission to heat a propellant and generate thrust, NTP offers the potential for unprecedented efficiency, enabling faster interplanetary travel and extended mission capabilities. A nuclear thermal rocket engine is a type of propulsion system that utilizes the heat generated by a nuclear reactor to heat and expel a propellant, typically hydrogen, at high velocities to produce thrust. The engine consists of three main subsystems: the nuclear reactor, the …


Cfd And Heat Transfer Analysis Of Rocket Cooling Techniques On An Aerospike Nozzle, Geoffrey Sullivan Jan 2022

Cfd And Heat Transfer Analysis Of Rocket Cooling Techniques On An Aerospike Nozzle, Geoffrey Sullivan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In recent years the development of rocket engines has been mainly focused on improving the engine cycle and creating new fuels. Rocket nozzle design has not been changed since the late 1960s. Recent needs for reliable and reusable rockets, as well as advancements in additive manufacturing, have brought new interest into the aerospike nozzle concept. This nozzle is a type of altitude adjusting nozzle that is up to 90% more efficient than bell nozzles at low altitudes and spends up to 30% less fuel. Since the nozzle body is submerged in the hot exhaust gasses it is difficult to keep …


Project Scrappie (Clear Constellation), Jacob Bertram, Jacob Britt, Bill Ngo, Mike Diesing Dec 2021

Project Scrappie (Clear Constellation), Jacob Bertram, Jacob Britt, Bill Ngo, Mike Diesing

Senior Design Project For Engineers

Clear Constellation™ is a nationwide competition hosted by Rubicon® to combat the growing problem of space debris in Low Earth Orbit. Project Scrappie is our team’s solution to this problem. Scrappie is an autonomous apparatus will make use of Whipple shield technology to collide with debris at high velocities and effectively destroy the debris throughout selected orbital paths.


Aircraft Runway Safe Navigation System, David S. Obando Ortegon Apr 2021

Aircraft Runway Safe Navigation System, David S. Obando Ortegon

Honors College Theses

Aircraft are one of the most used alternatives of traveling long distances and making them safer is a global necessity. For this reason, being able to create a functional prototype where the aircraft would be capable to acquire and process information in real time from the environment generating wingtip collision detection and simulation of a collection of exteroceptive sensors is necessary in progressing air flight safety systems. The aim of this project is to design and build, an electronic aircraft undercarriage composed with multiple exteroceptive sensors that will be able to determine and process digital information of the aircraft envelope, …


Celebrating 90-Orbits Around The Sun, Stafford Air & Space Museum Sep 2020

Celebrating 90-Orbits Around The Sun, Stafford Air & Space Museum

Programs

In celebration of the 90th birthday of Oklahoma astronaut and aerospace legend, Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma is offering free admission on September 17th, 2020.


Unless stated otherwise within this repository collection, all materials are shared under the following Creative Commons license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License].


Thermal Modelling And Validation Of Heat Profiles In An Rf Plasma Micro-Thruster, Alec Sean Henken Jun 2018

Thermal Modelling And Validation Of Heat Profiles In An Rf Plasma Micro-Thruster, Alec Sean Henken

Master's Theses

The need and demand for propulsion devices on nanosatellites has grown over the last decade due to interest in expanding nanosatellite mission abilities, such as attitude control, station-keeping, and collision avoidance. One potential micro-propulsion device suitable for nanosatellites is an electrothermal plasma thruster called Pocket Rocket. Pocket Rocket is a low-power, low-cost propulsion platform specifically designed for use in nanosatellites such as CubeSats. Due to difficulties associated with integrating propulsion devices onto spacecraft such as volume constraints and heat dissipation limitations, a characterization of the heat generation and heat transfer properties of Pocket Rocket is necessary. Several heat-transfer models of …


Weatherford Air Show And General Thomas P. Stafford Museum Dedication, City Of Weatherford May 1987

Weatherford Air Show And General Thomas P. Stafford Museum Dedication, City Of Weatherford

Programs

This is a program from the 1987 Weatherford Air Show and General Thomas P. Stafford Museum Dedication in Weatherford, Oklahoma.


Unless stated otherwise within this repository collection, all materials are shared under the following Creative Commons license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License].


Second Annual Great Oklahoma Balloon Race & Airshow Gala Reception, Clarence E. Page Oklahoma Air And Space Museum Aug 1984

Second Annual Great Oklahoma Balloon Race & Airshow Gala Reception, Clarence E. Page Oklahoma Air And Space Museum

Programs

This is the program from the second annual Great Oklahoma Balloon Race & Airshow Gala Reception in honor of Astronaut, Lt. General Thomas P. Stafford. The event was held at the Clarence E. Page Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame and Museum in the Kirkpatrick Center in OKC, OK, on Thursday, August 16th, 1984.


Unless stated otherwise within this repository collection, all materials are shared under the following Creative Commons license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License].