HYSTAR hybrid rocket program at the United States Air Force Academy

The mission of the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is to develop and inspire air and space leaders with vision for tomorrow. The goal of the Astronautics Department is to participate in this development with a view towards space applications. A key requirement, therefore, is an understanding of rocketpropulsion issues. Over the past seven years, the Astronautics Department has been struggling with the question: how do we teach rocket propulsion to undergraduates? The resulting program is still in something of a state of flux, and is made up of several courses and several undergraduate research programs. One of these programs, HYSTAR, is a relatively low cost and safe way to teach students about rocket design and solve real problems. The following paper discusses the various technologies that we have developed and tested. In addition, some of the historical and future system designs are