|
1. A rocket engine comprising a casing circumferentially extending around a longitudinal axis to circumscribe a combustion chamber, the combustion chamber extending along the longitudinal axis, the combustion chamber having an inlet and an outlet, the combustion chamber defining a fuel-receiving volume, the inlet fluidly connectable to a source of a catalyzed oxidizer, the outlet in fluid communication with an environment outside the combustion chamber for expelling combustion gases, a solid fuel located within the fuel-receiving volume, the solid fuel including a first solid fuel and a second solid fuel configured to be exposed to the oxidizer injected in the combustion chamber via the inlet, the inlet including at least one aperture defined through the casing and located axially between the fuel-receiving volume of the combustion chamber and the outlet of the combustion chamber relative to the longitudinal axis, the first and second solid fuels are axially offset from one another relative to the longitudinal axis, the solid fuel burning along a regression direction parallel to the longitudinal axis, the first solid fuel located in front of the second solid fuel, and closer to the outlet of the combustion chamber than the second solid fuel, such that the first solid fuel is burned before the second solid fuel, the solid fuel having an axial end face exposed to the oxidizer, the solid fuel having a first phase in which the axial end face is defined by the first solid fuel and a second phase in which the first solid fuel is burned and the axial end face is defined by the second solid fuel, the first solid fuel and the second solid fuel differing by one or more rheoloqical properties such that a first mass flow rate of combustion gases generated by the solid fuel in the first phase is equal to a second mass flow rate of combustion gases generated by the solid fuel in the second phase while a mass flow rate of the oxidizer in the combustion chamber is constant throughout the first phase and the second phase.
|
