Rocket Motor Charging Experiments
Abstract
A study of the effect of rocket engines on electrostatic charge accumulation was made. Experiments were conducted to measure short-circuit charging current and open-circuit voltage produced by 5-inch solid-fuel rocket motors during static firings at sea level. Experiments were also performed with an ethylene-oxygen burner at reduced pressures (14 mmHg). The results of these experiments are presented and compared to the published results of related experiments. Two Nike-Cajun sounding rockets were equipped with electric field meters to measure the vehicle potential throughout the rocket flight. The field meters indicated that the maximum vehicle potential was 26-to-40 kilovolts during first-stage burning at about 3 kilometers and about 2 kilovolts during second stage burning at about 12 kilometers. At high altitudes, the field meter on the first Nike-Cajun responded to ionization present in the ionosphere and enhanced by a primary experiment. This undesired response was successfully separated from the true field response in the field meter system designed for the second Nike-Cajun experiment. It was, therefore, possible to conclude that the potential of the second vehicle was less than 1 kilovolt at altitudes above 60 kilometers (in the ionosphere).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0638181
Entities
People
- E. F. Vance
- J. E. Nanevicz
Organizations
- SRI International