The rocket tag has no wiki summary.
15
votes
9answers
2k views
Why do space crafts take off with rockets instead of just ascending like an aircraft until they reach space?
I guess it's not a very educated question, but I never quite understood why spacecrafts have to shoot up and can't just reach space by simply continuing an upwards ascent like an airplane.
6
votes
3answers
420 views
How does $F = \frac{ \Delta (mv)}{ \Delta t}$ equal $( m \frac { \Delta v}{ \Delta t} ) + ( v \frac { \Delta m}{ \Delta t} )$?
That's how it's framed in my Physics school-book.
The question (or rather, the explanation) is that of the thrust of rockets and how the impulse is equal (with opposite signs) on the thrust-gases and ...
4
votes
3answers
200 views
What sort of propulsion would we require for interstellar travel?
Further to this question I asked recently, lgritz makes a very astute observation about the massive fuel requirements to travel 36 lt yrs with known fuel technology today. So, if conventional rocket ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views
Maximum speed of a rocket with a potential of relativistic speeds
Ultimately, the factor limiting the
maximum speed of a rocket is:
the amount of fuel it carries
the speed of ejection of the gases
the mass of the rocket
the length of the rocket
...
4
votes
4answers
410 views
Why are there more vertical takeoff than horizontal for spacecrafts?
Vertical takeoff requires disposable rockets (would it a satellite rocket), which is a money loss, and also a lot of fuel, because initial velocity is zero. Also vertical takeoff seems risky, involves ...
2
votes
1answer
108 views
Sideways motion between a vertical launch from a planet and landing [duplicate]
I saw a video some days ago (Hello Kitty in Space) of a schoolgirl successfully launching a balloon into space which later popped and landed ~47 km from launch site.
If I vertically launch an object ...
0
votes
1answer
174 views
What path would advanced spaceships take to move between planets? [closed]
Right now, space travel is all about carefully moving between orbits. If you want to go from Earth to Mars, you wait until the two planets are correctly aligned, and then place yourself into an ...
