Throttleable Solid Rocket Motor Technologies for Tactical Missiles

To achieve real-time thrust control of solid propellants, we are proposing a novel approach to actively modifying propellant burn surface area during solid rocket motor operation.  The approach employs an optical system to increase or decrease burn surface area within the propellant grain. The amount of burn surface area created varies proportionally with the applied optical power. Increasing the applied optical power consequently results in higher thrust. When optical power is decreased, the burn surface geometry will evolve so as to produce lower thrust.  Thereby, it effectively creates a 'throttleable' solid rocket motor.