How are the rockets fueled to sustain a journey?

The fuel of a liquid-propellant rocket is usually kerosene or liquid hydrogen; the oxidizer is usually liquid oxygen. They are combined inside a cavity called the combustion chamber.

How does weight affect a rocket?

A rocket with more mass will speed up more slowly, just as in the horizontal example, but there is another effect. The force of gravity is now acting in the opposite direction to the thrust, so the resultant force pushing the rocket upwards is also less.

How clean is rocket fuel?

Many rockets are, however, propelled by liquid hydrogen fuel, which produces ‘clean’ water vapour exhaust, although the production of hydrogen itself can cause significant carbon emissions. Rocket engines release trace gases into the upper atmosphere that contribute to ozone depletion, as well as particles of soot.

Why do rockets fly straight up?

They go straight up to start with to get into thinner air where there’s less drag, then curve sideways to get to orbital speed. This takes a lot of fuel, but fuel is heavy so they need more fuel to lift the fuel, and so on.

What does SpaceX use for fuel?

SpaceX’s next-generation Raptor engine, which will power the company’s huge new Starship deep-space transportation system, employs supercooled liquid methane and LOX as propellants. The company’s previous engines, Merlin and Kestrel, have also used LOX, though with refined kerosene rather than methane.

Do Rockets put holes in the ozone?

When solid-fuel rockets launch, they release chlorine gas directly into the stratosphere, where the chlorine reacts with oxygen to form ozone-destroying chlorine oxides. Soot and aluminum oxide in rocket oxide depletes upper-atmosphere ozone, which shields the Earth’s surface from damaging ultraviolet rays.

Why are Rockets made of hot air balloons?

They’re using hot air balloons to lift the rocket and its micro-satellite payload 18 km (11 miles) above Earth. At that altitude, there’s 95\% less atmosphere. This means much less drag on the rocket, which translates into smaller rockets with less fuel.

Can balloons really be used to launch satellites into space?

The company is called Leo Aerospace LLC and they’re using balloons to lower the cost of putting micro-satellites into orbit, rather than reusable rockets. The balloons will be reusable, but the rockets won’t. Leo Aerospace plans to revive a decades-old method of putting satellites into space.

How does a rockoon rocket work?

The hybrid design takes advantage of physics by using the balloon to float the rocket 18 km high before launching the rocket. The rockoon has Leo Aerospace’s own patent-pending technology to control the pitch and angle of the launch, allowing for precision launches.

Can balloons save the cost of space travel?

Now a small start-up affiliated with Purdue University is tackling the problem and making some headway. The company is called Leo Aerospace LLC and they’re using balloons to lower the cost of putting micro-satellites into orbit, rather than reusable rockets. The balloons will be reusable, but the rockets won’t.