Rockets

Extracted Attributes

• Payload

  People, supplies, satellites, other spacecraft (rovers, probes), experiments

• Mechanism

  Jet propulsion, expels exhaust at high speeds to generate thrust

• Capabilities

  Capable of reaching escape velocity, unlimited altitudes, powerful, lightweight, generates large accelerations, can deliver very high thrust

• Common Types

  Multistage rockets, Chemical rockets

• Historical Use

  Military and recreational

• Key Components

  Propellant, propellant tank, nozzle, rocket engines, directional stabilization devices (fins, vernier engines, engine gimbals for thrust vectoring, gyroscopes), structure (monocoque), aerodynamic fairing (nose cone)

• Control Methods

  Momentum, airfoils, auxiliary reaction engines, gimbaled thrust, momentum wheels, deflection of the exhaust stream, propellant flow, spin, gravity

• Exhaust Velocity

  2,500 to 4,500 m/s (9,000 to 16,200 km/h; 5,600 to 10,100 mph)

• Modern Applications

  Fireworks, missiles, ejection seats, launch vehicles for artificial satellites, human spaceflight, space exploration

• Operation Environment

  Operates effectively in the vacuum of space; more efficient in vacuum, less thrust loss in atmosphere

• Safety Considerations

  Store large amount of energy, can be very dangerous; risks minimized by careful design, testing, construction, and use

• Orbital Speed (required)

  Approximately 7,800 m/s (28,000 km/h; 17,000 mph)

• Chemical Rocket Propellants

  Pressurized gas, monopropellants, hypergolic propellants, solid fuel, hybrid systems (solid fuel with liquid or gaseous oxidizer), kerosene (RP1) and liquid oxygen

• Typical Thrust (Modern Heavy Space Booster)

  3,800 kilonewtons (850,000 pounds) takeoff thrust

Timeline

• Rockets for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th-century China. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, Web Search Results)

  13th-century

• Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky got the idea that rockets could be used to travel into space. (Source: Web Search Results)

  Late 1800s

• Robert H. Goddard, a U.S. engineer, built the first liquid-fuel rocket. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1925-XX-XX

• The Soviet Union used a rocket to launch the first spacecraft, Sputnik 1, into orbit around Earth. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1957-10-XX

• Significant scientific, interplanetary, and industrial use of rocketry occurred, enabling the Space Age and lunar landings. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, Web Search Results)

  20th century

Rocket

A rocket (from Italian: rocchetto, lit. ''bobbin/spool'', and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely from propellant carried within the vehicle; therefore a rocket can fly in the vacuum of space. Rockets work more efficiently in a vacuum and incur a loss of thrust due to the opposing pressure of the atmosphere. Multistage rockets are capable of attaining escape velocity from Earth and therefore can achieve unlimited maximum altitude. Compared with airbreathing engines, rockets are lightweight and powerful and capable of generating large accelerations. To control their flight, rockets rely on momentum, airfoils, auxiliary reaction engines, gimballed thrust, momentum wheels, deflection of the exhaust stream, propellant flow, spin, or gravity. Rockets for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th-century China. Significant scientific, interplanetary and industrial use did not occur until the 20th century, when rocketry was the enabling technology for the Space Age, including setting foot on the Moon. Rockets are now used for fireworks, missiles and other weaponry, ejection seats, launch vehicles for artificial satellites, human spaceflight, and space exploration. Chemical rockets are the most common type of high power rocket, typically creating a high speed exhaust by the combustion of fuel with an oxidizer. The stored propellant can be a simple pressurized gas or a single liquid fuel that disassociates in the presence of a catalyst (monopropellant), two liquids that spontaneously react on contact (hypergolic propellants), two liquids that must be ignited to react (like kerosene (RP1) and liquid oxygen, used in most liquid-propellant rockets), a solid combination of fuel with oxidizer (solid fuel), or solid fuel with liquid or gaseous oxidizer (hybrid propellant system). Chemical rockets store a large amount of energy in an easily released form, and can be very dangerous. However, careful design, testing, construction and use minimizes risks.

Web Search Results

• Rocket - Wikipedia

  Rockets consist of a propellant, a place to put propellant (such as a propellant tank), and a nozzle. They may also have one or more rocket engines, directional stabilization device(s) (such as fins, vernier engines or engine gimbals for thrust vectoring, gyroscopes) and a structure (typically monocoque) to hold these components together. Rockets intended for high speed atmospheric use also have an aerodynamic fairing such as a nose cone, which usually holds the payload. [...] Larger rockets are normally launched from a launch pad that provides stable support until a few seconds after ignition. Due to their high exhaust velocity—2,500 to 4,500 m/s (9,000 to 16,200 km/h; 5,600 to 10,100 mph)—rockets are particularly useful when very high speeds are required, such as orbital speed at approximately 7,800 m/s (28,000 km/h; 17,000 mph). Spacecraft delivered into orbital trajectories become artificial satellites, which are used for many commercial purposes. Indeed, rockets [...] Rockets for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th-century China. Significant scientific, interplanetary and industrial use did not occur until the 20th century, when rocketry was the enabling technology for the Space Age, including setting foot on the Moon. Rockets are now used for fireworks, missiles and other weaponry, ejection seats, launch vehicles for artificial satellites, human spaceflight, and space exploration.

• All About Rockets | National Air and Space Museum

  ## What is a rocket? How are they used? A rocket is a tall and thin vehicle that is used to carry things into space. They carry people, supplies, satellites, or other spacecraft like rovers and probes into space. What the rocket carries into space is called a "payload." ### Examples of Rockets and Their Payload

• Spaceships and Rockets - NASA

  Although rockets may appear similar, no two are alike because they are complex devices with millions of pieces and systems that must be calculated and constructed to work together. A rocket is chosen based on the spacecraft’s mission requirements. For example, the farther away from Earth the spacecraft needs to go, the bigger and more powerful the rocket needs to be. Learn More About Rockets about What is a rocket? [...] ### International Space Station Humanity's home and laboratory off Earth. Read More ### Commercial Space Stations The future of off-Earth research. Read More ### Gateway Humanity's first space station in lunar orbit. Read More ### Spaceships and Rockets ## What is a rocket? A rocket is used to carry a spacecraft from Earth’s surface to space, usually to low Earth orbit or beyond, and is sometimes called a launch vehicle. [...] Spacecraft launch on rockets and have their own propulsion and navigation systems that take over after they separate from the rocket, propelling them to other worlds in our solar system. Their main purpose lies in transporting payloads — or anything within the vehicle beyond what is essential to operate in space — to their destination. For example, for the Artemis II Moon mission, a human crew and other experiments will be carried aboard the Orion spacecraft.

• Rocket | Characteristics, Propulsion, Development, & Facts - Britannica

  The unique features of rockets that make them useful include the following: 1. Rockets can operate in space as well as in the atmosphere of Earth. 2. They can be built to deliver very high thrust (a modern heavy space booster has a takeoff thrust of 3,800 kilonewtons (850,000 pounds). 3. The propulsion system can be relatively simple. 4. The propulsion system can be kept in a ready-to-fire state (important in military systems). [...] rocket, any of a type of jet-propulsion device carrying either solid or liquid propellants that provide both the fuel and oxidizer required for combustion. The term is commonly applied to any of various vehicles, including firework skyrockets, guided missiles, and launch vehicles used in spaceflight, driven by any propulsive device that is independent of the atmosphere. ## General characteristics and principles of operation [...] The rocket differs from the turbojet and other “air-breathing” engines in that all of the exhaust jet consists of the gaseous combustion products of “propellants” carried on board. Like the turbojet engine, the rocket develops thrust by the rearward ejection of mass at very high velocity.

• rocket - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help

  Image 12: Rocket fuel can be liquid or solid. When the fuel burns, it gives off gas that pushes the rocket forward.Rockets are devices that produce the force, or push, needed to move an object forward. Rockets are used to launch spacecraft. They are also used to shoot missiles and fireworks. #### How Rockets Work ") ") ") [...] Rockets carry fuel that is burned inside a chamber. The fuel burns when it is mixed with oxygen gas and ignited, or set on fire. As the fuel burns, it gives off hot gas that shoots out from an opening at the back of the chamber. The force of the gas moving backward pushes the rocket forward. This action is called jet propulsion. [...] In the late 1800s a Russian scientist named Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky got the idea that rockets could be used to travel into space. He did not build any rockets, but his ideas about them were useful. Robert H. Goddard, a U.S. engineer, built the first liquid-fuel rocket in 1925. In October 1957 the Soviet Union used a rocket to launch the first spacecraft, Sputnik 1, into orbit around Earth. Since then rockets have been used to launch thousands of other spacecraft.

• Instance Of

  Q5741069

• Inception Date

  1/1/1972