How does a rocket work simple
- how to go rocket in space
- how to rockets move in space
- how fast to rockets go in space
- how do rockets go in space
What do rockets push against in space.
Chapter 14: Launch
Launch Vehicles
The launch of a spacecraft comprises a period of powered flight during which the vehicle rises above Earth’s atmosphere and accelerates at least to orbital velocity.
Powered flight ends when the rocket’s last stage burns out, and the spacecraft separates and continues in freefall.
How do rockets move in space
If the spacecraft has achieved escape from Earth’s gravitation, rather than entering Earth orbit, its flight path will then be purely a solar orbit of some description (since the launch pad was also in solar orbit).
To date, the only practical way to produce the propulsive energy needed for launching spacecraft from Earth has been by combustion of chemical propellants.
Mass drivers, however, may be useful in the future for launching material from the Moon or other small airless bodies. lon-engine propulsion, whether powered by photovoltaics or nuclear reactors, is useful not for launch phase, but for gently but steadily accelerating spacecraft that are already in Earth orbit or beyond.
As first discussed in Chapter 3, there are two groups of propel
- how rocket travel in space
- how fast to rockets travel in space