Department of Mechanical Engineering

National Institute of Technology, Srinagar

SEMINAR REPORT

TITLE: LAUNCHING VEHICLES

Submitted by Submitted to

SHILPI KAUHSIK Dr. Dinesh W. Rathod

2019BMEC093 Assistant Professor

Course Name: Seminar (MES414)

4th Year B.Tech. Mechanical (7th Semester)
 Contents:

 What is launching vehicle?

 Types of satellites.
 Types of orbits.
 Rocket and its parts
 Principle
 Types of launching vehicles.
 Propellants and its types
 How a launch vehicle works?
 Stages
 Types of launching vehicles in India.
 WHAT IS LAUNCHING VEHICLE ?
• Launching vehicle is a system that is used to launch a satellite into a stable orbit.
• Launchers or Launch Vehicles are used to carry a spacecraft to space.
• Satellites carry one or more instruments that do the scientific work for which
they are sent into space.
• The only job of a launch vehicle is to take the satellites to their intended orbits.
• Rockets, on the other hand, become useless after the launch.
• A launch vehicle, must accelerate its spacecraft payload to a minimum velocity
of 28,000 km per hour to overcome earth's gravity for travel to a destination.
 TYPES OF SATELLITES

 Astronomical satellite: used for observing distant planet and galaxies

 Communication satellite: used for telecommunication using radio at microwave frequencies
 Earth observation satellite: specially designed for observing earth

 Weather satellite: monitor the weather and climate of earth

 TYPES OF ORBITS
 Geo stationary orbits: it always positioned over same spot on earth(22,223
miles).
 High -elliptical orbit: high eccentrical orbit with a low perigee(under 1000km)
and a high apogee(35,756km)
 Low- Earth Orbit: normally at an altitude of less than 1000km.
 Polar orbit: generally files at low attitude and pass over planet's pole on each
revolution.
 Rocket Parts

Rocket-
Rocket is a launching vehicle used to launch satellite into
required orbit

 Principle

 Newton's Third Law of Motion

 It works on the principle of Newton's third law of motion i.e. , every action has equal and opposite reaction .
 TYPES OF LAUNCH VEHICLES

 Expendable launch vehicles are designed for one-time use. They usually separate from
their payload and disintegrate during atmospheric re-entry
 Reusable launch vehicles are designed to be recovered intact and launched again. The
Space Shuttle was a launch vehicle with components used for multiple orbital space
flights. Generally, this type of launch vehicles will return back to earth after leaving the
satellite in space.

Expendable launch vehicles Space Shuttle

 Propellants:

 Rocket propellant is the reaction mass of a rocket.

 A propellant is a chemical mixture burned to produce thrust in rockets and consists of a fuel
and an oxidizer.

Fuel:

Fuel is a substance that burns when combined with oxygen-producing gas for propulsion.

Oxidizer:

An oxidizer is an agent that releases oxygen for combination with a fuel.

The ratio of oxidizer to fuel is called the mixture ratio.

 Propellants are classified according to their state –

 Liquid
 Solid
 Hybrid
 Liquid Propellants: In a liquid propellant rocket, the fuel and oxidizer are stored in
separate tanks and are fed through a system of pipes, valves, and turbopumps to a
combustion chamber where they are combined and burned to produce thrust.
 Solid propellant: These are the simplest of all rocket designs. They consist of a
casing, usually steel, filled with a mixture of solid compounds (fuel and oxidizer) that
burn at a rapid rate, expelling hot gases from a nozzle to produce thrust.
 Hybrid propellant: These engines represent an intermediate group between solid and
liquid propellant engines. One of the substances is solid, usually the fuel, while the
other, usually the oxidizer, is liquid.
 How a launch vehicle works ?

 A launch vehicle is a good illustration of Newton's third law of motion, "For every action, there is an
equal and opposite reaction.“
 In the case of a launch vehicle, the “action” is the flow out the rear of the vehicle of exhaust gases
produced by the combustion of the vehicle’s fuel in its rocket engine, and the “reaction” is the
pressure, called thrust, applied to the internal structure of the launch vehicle that pushes it in the
direction opposite to the exhaust flow.
 Unlike jet engines, which operate on the same action-reaction principle but obtain the oxygen
needed for burning their fuel from the atmosphere, rockets carry with them their own oxidizing
agent. In that way, they can operate in the vacuum beyond the atmosphere.
 The primary goal of launch vehicle designers is to maximize the vehicle’s weight-lifting capability
while at the same time providing an adequate level of reliability at an acceptable cost.
 In order for the launch vehicle to lift off of Earth, its upward thrust must be greater than the
combined weight of its spacecraft payload, the vehicle’s propellants, and its structure.
 Most often, propellant makes up 80 percent or more of the total weight of a launch vehicle–
spacecraft combination prior to launch.
 Stages

Stage 1

• It travels 80 km
• Usually solid propellants are used
• Max thrust are produced in this stage (about 4700 KN)
• It split the 1st part of the rocket
• 125 tone of propellants are used.
Stage -2

• It travels 168 km
• Maximum thrust produced is 720 KN
• Usually liquid Propellants are used (N2O2)
• 110 ton of propellants are used
Stage-3

• In this stage satellites gets into transfer orbit.

• 73.5 KN thrust is produced
• Cryogenic engines are used
• Fuels are LOH & H2
• 25 ton of propellants are used

• When the rocket reaches the orbit, it must have been attain the orbital velocity of
earth otherwise it will return back to earth
Types of launch vehicles in India:
 1. SLV

 2. ASLV

 3. PSLV

 4. GSLV
Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV)

 The Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3) was India’s first experimental satellite launch
vehicle
 Capable of placing 40 kg class payloads in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
 4-stage solid-fuel launcher.
 Its first launch took place in 1979 with 2 more in each subsequent year, and the final
launch in 1983.
 Only two of its four test flights were successful.
ASLV (Augmented satellite launch vehicle)

 Development in the traditional SLV

 First launch - 1987
 Due to incorporation of boosters It consisted of more than one stage.
 Developed to act as a low-cost intermediate vehicle to demonstrate critical
technologies.
 Lift-off weight of 40 tonnes .
 23.8 m tall ASLV was configured as a five-stage, all-solid propellant vehicle
PSLV(Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle )

 First launch - 1993

 Can carry up to 1425 kg satellite in GTO
 Can carry up to 1750 kg in LEO orbit
 Developed for launching Indian remote sensing satellites (IRS)
 Used for Chandrayaan & Mars Mission
 four stages propellant using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately
GSLV(Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle )

 First launch - 2001

 Can carry up to 2500 kg satellite in GTO orbit
 Can carry up to 5000 kg satellite in LEO orbit
 Developed mainly for launching Indian National satellites (INSAT)
 The next version is GSLV MK-3
 Three stages propellant using solid, liquid & cryogenic propulsion in order .
 References:

https://www.adda247.com/upsc-exam/different-types-of-launch-vehicles-in-india/
https://lotusarise.com/satellite-launch-vehicles-upsc/
https://www.isro.gov.in/launchers/pslv
https://www.isro.gov.in/launchers/gslv
https://www.isro.gov.in/launchers/gslv-mk-iii
https://www.slideshare.net/sajithguru/satellite-sajith?next_slideshow=44866656
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0AMQ6kRNMA