Introduction to Rocket Propulsion

In this course we will investigate the following questions: What is rocket propulsion? How do we send humans and robots to space? How do chemical and electrical rockets work and what applications are they suitable for? How do spacecraft travel to other planets? How can we use computers to design rockets and their trajectories? We will dive into topics including chemical combustion, energy conversion, ionized gases, launch vehicle design and trajectories, Kepler’s Laws, orbit transfers, and much more. We will also read Hidden Figures and have weekly discussions about the text. Assignments will consist of readings, handwritten problem sets, programming assignments, and a short reflection paper on Hidden Figures. (CSCI 101 or CSCI 0145 or CSCI 150, or equivalent and PHYS 109 or equivalent and MATH 0121 or equivalent)