Design of Rockets and Space Launch Vehicles

Presents a comprehensive treatment of important concepts and applications. The book provides enhanced understanding and exposure to practical aspects of design, engineering, manufacturing, and testing.

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Invaluable for amateur rocketeers, I believe it also belongs in the library of every professional rocket builder as it contains lessons that need to be often reviewed and considered during the design and construction of the prodigious new ships being prepared to cross the vast ocean we call space." —From the Foreword by Homer Hickam, Author of Rocket Boys: A Memoir (aka October Sky)

The second edition of Summerfield Book Award winner Design of Rockets and Space Launch Vehicles is a comprehensive treatment of important concepts and applications. It provides enhanced understanding and exposure to practical aspects of design, engineering, manufacturing, and testing. The subject is mature, but the applications are changing and a new generation of engineers and designers are joining the aerospace industry. It is primarily intended for readers with at least a 3rd-year level knowledge of aerospace engineering, mathematics, and physics. But because it contains many applications and step-by-step illustrated examples along with photographs or line drawings of actual hardware, it will also be of interest to practicing engineers, technical managers, and others who are interested in how rockets work in either the big picture sense, or in areas outside one's specialty. Readers of this book will understand "why things are done this way." This second edition features numerous updates throughout, including new material on:

Current launch vehicle developments including SLS, Starship-Superheavy, Electron, Neutron, LauncherOne, Astra, Alpha, Vulcan, Ariane 6 (Ch. 2)
Historical information on Proton, Zenit, Angara, Centaur, Vega, Falcon 1, Falcon 9 (Ch. 2)
Discussion of hybrid and quasi-hybrid rockets, including new combustion cycles (Ch. 4)
A complete set of equations to allow the calculation of payload mass, propellant mass, structure mass, inert mass, and liftoff mass knowing specific impulse and structural ratio (Ch. 5)
Information on carrying multiple payloads: ridesharing, piggybacking (Ch. 7)
New sections on recovery and reuse, including the physics, energy, and mass required to recover payload fairings, 1st steps, and upper steps (Ch. 14).
A table of recovery options including advantages and disadvantages and a simple cost analysis of vehicle reuse (Ch. 17).