Portal:Rocketry

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A rocket (from Italian: rocchetto, lit. 'bobbin/spool') 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. (Full article...)

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Challenger's solid rocket boosters fly uncontrollably after the breakup of the external tank separated them from the shuttle stack. The remains of the orbiter and tank leave thin white contrails as they fall toward the Atlantic Ocean.

On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated 46,000 feet (14 km) above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39 a.m. EST (16:39 UTC). It was the first fatal accident involving an American spacecraft while in flight.

The mission, designated STS-51-L, was the 10th flight for the orbiter and the 25th flight of the Space Shuttle fleet. The crew was scheduled to deploy a communications satellite and study Halley's Comet while they were in orbit, in addition to taking schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe into space under the Teacher In Space program. The latter task resulted in a higher-than-usual media interest in and coverage of the mission; the launch and subsequent disaster were seen live in many schools across the United States. (Full article...)

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In the news

30 June 2024 –: A Chinese Tianlong-3 rocket is accidentally launched during a static fire test, causing the rocket to crash and explode. No casualties are reported. (CNN)
13 June 2024 – Israel–Hamas war: Hezbollah launches more than 200 rockets at northern Israel. In response, Israeli artillery strikes targets in Yaroun, Hanine, and Yater in southern Lebanon. (The New York Times)
12 June 2024 – Israel–Hamas war: Israel kills three Hezbollah fighters and Taleb Abdullah, a senior commander, in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah retaliates by launching over 250 rockets towards northern Israel, the most the group has sent in the war. (Times of Israel) (Reuters)

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The following are images from various rocketry-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1French Diamant rocket, the second French rocket program, developed from 1961 (from History of rockets)
Image 2Von Braun's rocket team in 1961 (from History of rockets)
Image 3A battery of Katyusha launchers fires at German forces during the Battle of Stalingrad, 6 October 1942 (from History of rockets)
Image 4RS-68 being tested at NASA's Stennis Space Center (from Rocket engine)
Image 5Viking 5C rocket engine used on Ariane 1 through Ariane 4 (from Rocket engine)
Image 6Robert Anderson suggests using metal for rocket casing (from History of rockets)
Image 7Rockets carrying the Space Shuttle Discovery into Earth orbit in 2007 (from History of rockets)
Image 8Armadillo Aerospace's quad vehicle showing visible banding (shock diamonds) in the exhaust jet (from Rocket engine)
Image 9The four expansion regimes of a de Laval nozzle:• under-expanded• perfectly expanded• over-expanded• grossly over-expanded (from Rocket engine)
Image 10Typical ballistic missile sequence:
- 1. Launches by firing motor1(A)
- 2. Stage1 drops, motor2(B) ignites & shroud(E) ejects
- 3. Motor3(C) ignites and separates
- 4. Stage3 terminates and post-boost vehicle(D) separates
- 5. Vehicle maneuvers itself and prepares re-entry vehicle (RV)
- 6. RV with decoys and chaffs deploys
- 7. RV re-enters the atmosphere
- 8. Warhead(s) detonate on target
(from Missile)
Image 11A simplified diagram of a solid-fuel rocket.
1. A propellant is packed with a hole in the middle
2. An igniter combusts the propellant
3. The hole acts as a combustion chamber
4. The hot exhaust is choked at the throat
5. Exhaust exits the rocket
(from Missile)
Image 12A "long serpent enemy breaking" fire arrow launcher as depicted in the Wubei Zhi (17th century). It carries 32 medium small poisoned rockets and comes with a sling to carry on the back. (from History of rockets)
Image 13Layout of a V-2 rocket. (from History of rockets)
Image 14Rocket vehicle mechanical efficiency as a function of vehicle instantaneous speed divided by effective exhaust speed. These percentages need to be multiplied by internal engine efficiency to get overall efficiency. (from Rocket engine)
Image 15An illustration of fire arrow launchers as depicted in the Wubei Zhi (17th century). The launcher is constructed using basketry. (from History of rockets)
Image 16A semi-active missile homing system (from Missile)
Image 17Rocket thrust is caused by pressures acting in the combustion chamber and nozzle. From Newton's third law, equal and opposite pressures act on the exhaust, and this accelerates it to high speeds. (from Rocket engine)
Image 18A Tomahawk cruise missile in flight (from Missile)
Image 19Robert Esnault-Pelterie (1909). (from History of rockets)
Image 20A V-1 flying bomb, amongst the first guided missiles (from Missile)
Image 21Rocket carts from the Wubei Zhi (17th century) (from History of rockets)
Image 22Robert Goddard (from History of rockets)
Image 23Simplified diagram of a liquid-fuel rocket:
1. Liquid fuel tank
2. Liquid oxidiser tank
3. Pumps feed fuel and oxidiser under high pressure.
4. Combustion chamber mixes and burns the propellants.
5. Exhaust nozzle expands and accelerates the gas jet to produce thrust.
6. Exhaust exits nozzle.
(from Rocket engine)
Image 24The Congreve rocket (from History of rockets)
Image 25A German V-2 rocket on a Meillerwagen. (from History of rockets)
Image 26Opel RAK.1 - World's first public manned flight of a rocket plane on September 30, 1929. (from History of rockets)
Image 27Robert Goddard and the first liquid-fueled rocket. (from History of rockets)
Image 28Simplified diagram of a solid-fuel rocket:
1. Solid fuel–oxidiser mixture (propellant) packed into casing
2. Igniter initiates propellant combustion.
3. Central hole in propellant acts as the combustion chamber.
4. Exhaust nozzle expands and accelerates the gas jet to produce thrust.
5. Exhaust exits nozzle.
(from Rocket engine)