Rocketry briefing

Rocketry

Dan Wilkins

Basic Principles

Operating Principal

Newton’s third law of motion:“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use.

Rocket engines work by action and reaction. Rocket engines push rockets forwards simply by throwing their exhaust backwards extremely fast.

Liquid Fueled Rocket - Operating Principal

Thrust: amount depends on mass flow through engine and exit velocity of gas

Solid Fuel Rocket - Operating Principal

• Fuel and oxidizer packed together in solid cylinder• Will not burn until heat is applied (store easily)• Bad News – Once ignited, cannot be “un-ignited”

History

History

• 1st century A.D. fireworks

• 1232 first use as weapon of war

• 13th - 15th centuries much experimenting and improving

less use as weapons

• 16th century step rocket

Newton’s laws of motion

• 1720 steam-propelled model car

• 18th- 19th centuries weapons revival

China!

First used as weapon of war (1232 AD)

“And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.” - Francis Scott Key

Written after witnessing the bombardment by rockets of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships in Chesapeake Bay during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.

History - Modern Rocketry

• 1898 Space exploration by rocket proposed by writers

• Early 20th century Goddard’s experimentsliquid-propelled

rockets

• Early 20th century German Rocket Clubs formed

1941 - 1945 German build first large-scale rockets during World War

1945 - Today Development of guided rockets continues…..

Spaceflight Begins

• October 4, 1957 Sputnik I

• January 31, 1958 Explorer I

• April 12, 1961 Gagarin first man to orbit

Earth

• February 20, 1962 John Glenn first American to orbit Earth

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• …and the race was on!

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• July 20, 1969 Moon landing

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. “President John F. Kennedy, 1962

Sputnik!

Wait a minute, this guy is…?

Yuri Gagarin became the first human being in space on 12th April 1961 when he flew aboard Vostok from Baikonur cosmodrome in the Soviet Union.

John Glenn – First American in orbit

Atlas!

The Space Shuttle

STS!

Hubble!

Launch Failures

My Favorite Launch Failure

The Future of Rocketry

2004 “Spaceship One”

2004 “Spaceship One” Launch

2004 “Spaceship One” In Fight

2004 “Spaceship One” View

2004 “Spaceship One” Landing

Commercial Space Travel

SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft

Orbital Sciences “Antares”

Blue Origin Vehicle