Rocket engine performance (specific impulse) table

Rockets and their propellants, overview. Propellant is the chemical mixture burned to produce thrust in rockets and consists of a fuel and an oxidizer. A fuel is a substance that burns when combined with oxygen producing gas for propulsion. 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, or hybrid.

The gauge for rating the efficiency of rocket propellants is specific impulse, stated in seconds. Specific impulse indicates how many pounds (or kilograms) of thrust are obtained by the consumption of one pound (or kilogram) of propellant in one second. Specific impulse is characteristic of the type of propellant, however, its exact value will vary to some extent with the operating conditions and design of the rocket engine.

Specific impulse (ISP)

Specific impulse (usually abbreviated Isp) is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine (a rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel) creates thrust. For engines whose reaction mass is only the fuel they carry, specific impulse is exactly proportional to the effective exhaust gas velocity.

Thus, the specific impulse can be defined as the proportion of the speed of expelling the propellant from the nozzle and measured in second. A higher specific impulse is the higher speed of ejection of the propellant. This speed is monitored to measure the quality of the engine, in other terms, how fast the engines burn fuel to lift off the Rocket.

Specific impulse (table)

Rockets performance (specific impulse)
Rocket Stage Engines Propellant ISP, Specific impulse (in seconds)
 (vacuum or sea level)
Atlas/Centaur (1962) 1
2
3
2 x Rocketdyne YLR89-NA7
Rocketdyne YLR105-NA7
2 x P&W RL-10A-3-3
RP-1 / LOX
RP-1 / LOX
LH2 / LOX
292 vac
309 vac
444 vac
Titan II (1964) 1
2
2 x Rocketdyne LR-87-AJ-5
Rocketdyne LR-91-AJ-5
Aerozine 50 / NTO
Aerozine 50 / NTO
259 sl
312 vac
Saturn V (1967) 1
2
3
5 x Rocketdyne F-1
5 x Rocketdyne J-2
Rocketdyne J-2
RP-1 / LOX
LH2 / LOX

LH2 / LOX
260 sl
424 vac
424 vac
Space Shuttle (1981)

0
1

OMS
RCS

2 x Thiokol SRB (Booster)
3 x Rocketdyne SSME RS-25

2 x Aerojet OMS
Kaiser Marquardt R-40 & R-1E

PBAN Solid
LH2 / LOX

MMH / LOX
MMH / LOX

269 vac
455 vac
313 vac
260-280 vac
Delta II (1989) 0
1
2
9 x Castor 4A (Booster)
Rocketdyne RS-27
Rocketdyne AJ10-118K
HTPB Solid
RP-1 / LOX
Aerozine 50 / NTO
266 vac
295 vac
321 vac
Ariane 5 (2023)

0

1
2

2 x Booster, P241, EAP (Booster)
Vulcain 2, EPC
Aestus, EPS L-10
HTPB Solid
LH2 / LOX
MMH / N2O4

275 sl

434 vac
343 vac

Ariane 6 (2024) 0
1
2
2 or 4 x Avio P120 (Ariane 62, 64) (Booster)
Vulcain 2.1
Vinci
HTPB Solid
LH2 / LOX
LH2 / LOX
278 vac


VEGA (2012) 1
2
3
4
Avio P80
Zefiro23
Zefiro9
AVUM ModuleRD-843
HTPB Solid
HTPB Solid
HTBB Solid
UDMH / N2O2
280 vac
288 vac
296 vac
315 vac
VEGA-C (2022) 1
2
3
4
2 or 4 x Avio P120C
Zefiro40
Zefiro9
AVUM+

HTPB Solid

HTPB Solid

HTPB Solid

UDMH / N2O2

278 vac
293 vac
294 vac
315 vac
Terran 1 (2023) 1
2
9 x Aeon 1
Aeon 1 Vac

CH4 / LOX

CH4 / LOX

360 vac
360 vac
Starship (2023) 1
2
Raptor 2 (Raptor 3 = +18%)
Raptor vac
CH4 / LOX
CH4 / LOX
350 vac
380 vac
SLS (5 block) (2022) 0
1
2
2 x Orbital ATK 5 segment (Booster)
4 x Rocketdyne RS-25 (Core)
1 x ICPS RL10B (ICPS)
PBAN Solid
LH2 / LOX
LH2 / LOX
269 vac
452,3 vac (4.436 km/s)
465 vac
New Glenn (2024) 1
2
7 x BE-3U
2 x BE-3U
CH4 / LOX
CH4 / LOX
?
?
Falcon 9 FT (2018) 1
2
9 x Merlin 1D+
1 x Merlin ID Vac
RP-1 / LOX
RP-1 / LOX
311 vac
348 vac
Falcon 9 Heavy (2018) 0
1
2
2 x Boosters (2 x 9 Merlin 1D per Booster)
9 x Merlin 1D
1 x Merlin 1D Vac
Chilled RP-1 / Subcooled LOX
Chilled RP-1 / Subcooled LOX
RP-1 / LOX
311 vac
282 vac
348 vac
Vulcan Centaur (2024) 0
1
2
0, 2, 4 or 6 GEM-63XL (Booster)
2 x BE-4 (Blue Origin)
2 x RL-10
Graphite-Epoxy-Motor (GEM)
CH4 / LOX
LH2 / LOX
280 vac
?
454 vac
Terran R (2026) 1
2
13 x Aeon R
1 x Aeon Vac
LCH4 / LOX
LCH4 / LOX
?
?
Zhuque-2 (2023) 1
2
4 x TQ-12
1 x TQ-12 + vernier engine
LCH4 / LOX
?


Blue Origin BE (Blue Engine) 09-10-2023

  • BE-3 (BE-3U and BE-3PM). Family of rocket engines made by Blue Origin with two variants, the BE-3U and BE-3PM. The rocket engine is a liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen (LH2/LOX) cryogenic engine that can produce 490 kN (110,000 lbf) and 710 kN (160,000 lbf) of thrust, respectively.
  • BE-4 Liquid oxygen/liquified natural gas (LOX/LNG) rocket engine that can produce 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) of thrust. In late 2014, the company signed an agreement with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to develop the BE-4 engine, for ULA’s upgraded Atlas V and Vulcan Centaur rockets replacing the RD-180 Russian-made rocket engine. The newly developed heavy-lift launch vehicle will use two of the 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) BE-4 engines on each first stage. The engine development program for the BE-4 began in 2011. It will power the NG.
  • BE-7 Currently under development, is being designed for use on a lunar lander.
  • Pusher escape motor. The company partnered with Aerojet Rocketdyne to develop a pusher launch escape system for the New Shepard suborbital crew capsule. Aerojet Rocketdyne provides the Crew Capsule Escape Solid Rocket Motor (CCE SRM) while the thrust vector control system that steers the capsule during an abort is designed and manufactured by Blue Origin.

Hall-effect engine (13-10-2023)

NASA and JPL Hall-effect engine test in deep space with Psyche mission.

In spacecraft propulsion, a Hall-effect thruster (HET) is a type of ion thruster in which the propellant is accelerated by an electric field. Hall-effect thrusters (based on the discovery by Edwin Hall) are sometimes referred to as Hall thrusters or Hall-current thrusters. Hall-effect thrusters use a magnetic field to limit the electrons’ axial motion and then use them to ionize propellant, efficiently accelerate the ions to produce thrust, and neutralize the ions in the plume. The Hall-effect thruster is classed as a moderate specific impulse (1,600 s) space propulsion technology and has benefited from considerable theoretical and experimental research since the 1960s.

Hall thrusters operate on a variety of propellants, the most common being xenon and krypton. Other propellants of interest include argon, bismuth, iodine, magnesium, zinc and adamantane.

Hall thrusters are able to accelerate their exhaust to speeds between 10 and 80 km/s (1,000–8,000 s specific impulse), with most models operating between 15 and 30 km/s. The thrust produced depends on the power level. Devices operating at 1.35 kW produce about 83 mN of thrust. High-power models have demonstrated up to 5.4 N in the laboratory. Power levels up to 100 kW have been demonstrated for xenon Hall thrusters.

As of 2009, Hall-effect thrusters ranged in input power levels from 1.35 to 10 kilowatts and had exhaust velocities of 10–50 kilometers per second, with thrust of 40–600 millinewtons and efficiency in the range of 45–60 percent. The applications of Hall-effect thrusters include control of the orientation and position of orbiting satellites and use as a main propulsion engine for medium-size robotic space vehicles.

Specific impulse
Specific impulse
11. RS-25 engine
RS-25 engine
JPL Xenon hall thruster 6 kW
JPL Xenon hall thruster 6 kW

Gravity versus launch speed

Gravity versus launch speed
Gravity versus launch speed