Gasdynamic propagation of rocket exhaust products in the upper atmosphere

The dispersion of exhaust products of rocket fuel in the direction perpendicular to the motion of a rocket is investigated in this work. A comparison of the results of numerical calculations with a self-similar approximation of a strong cylindrically symmetric explosion is fulfilled. It is shown that at sufficiently high rocket velocity V ∞ , which exceeds the sum of gas exhaust velocity V e from the nozzle and sound speed V s ( V ∞ > V e + V s ), a gasdynamic hole can arise around the rocket trajectory in the upper atmosphere, inside which the total concentration of gas becomes less than the equilibrium concentration of gas at a given altitude. The dynamics of the profiles of density and temperature of the exhaust products inside a rocket plume is calculated.