Raytheon Company

Adam I Lefcourt

John A Meschberger

Todd R Kornfeld

Bradley J Goodman

A rocket motor includes at least one inert rod. The inert rod has a groove that extends along the length of the inert rod. The groove may be machined by a lathe, die, and/or CNC machine, such that the groove is configured helically around the rod. A reactive wire is inserted into the groove along the length of the inert rod. The grooved inert rod, and the reactive wire together constitute the burn rate enhancer assembly. The rocket motor is configured such that the burn rate enhancer assembly is inserted into a rocket motor casing. The rocket motor casing is then filled with a burnable propellant grain, the highly loaded grain, which is in a liquid or semi-solid state. The highly loaded grain then cures in the rocket motor casing around the burn rate enhancer assembly.

Propulsion system with grooved inert rods for reactive wire

A flight test system uses a flight termination destruct charge that is configured to overpressurize a pressure vessel in a rocket motor to terminate thrust. The flight termination destruct charge is an electroexplosive detonator arranged on a final burn surface of a propellant contained in the pressure chamber. In a multi-pulse rocket motor, one of the pulses is ignited by the activation of the detonator. The activated detonator is configured to ignite the propellant grain without venting of the gas resulting from the burning of the propellant. Due to the burning of the propellant, the surface area in the pressure vessel is increased which causes increased pressure in the pressure vessel until a critical pressure is reached. When the critical pressure is reached, the rocket motor casing structural capabilities are exceeded. The overpressurized rocket motor casing then ruptures and thrust of the rocket motor is terminated.

Multi-pulse rocket motor with flight termination destruct charge

A multi-pulse propulsion system for a launch vehicle includes a multi-pulse rocket motor module, a launchable payload module, and a safety module that is electromechanically coupled to the multi-pulse rocket motor module and the payload module. The safety module includes at two sensors for detecting at least one environmental characteristic and/or event that is common to both the multi-pulse rocket motor module and the payload module, such that the safety module is configured to activate the multi-pulse rocket motor module and the payload module in response to the detected environmental characteristic and/or event.

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Tucson, AZ, United States of America

Adam I Lefcourt