Air-breathing performance of microwave rocket with reed valve system

The microwave rocket is a candidate for use as a future low cost launch system. Plasma generated by a millimeter-wave beam drives a detonation wave in a thruster tube, and the vehicle acquires impulsive thrust by exhausting the gas, similarly to a pulse detonation engine. The air breathing rate is important for thrust performance in multi-pulse propulsion. Therefore, an air-breathing mechanism using reed valves is under development. In this study, the air flow rate through the reed valves was computed and its performance was evaluated in terms of the partial filling rate: PFR. Results show that, when using reed valves, a 10–15-fold increase in thrust is obtainable over conventional performance.