Portal:Rocketry

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A rocket (from Italian: rocchetto, lit. ''bobbin/spool'', and so named for its shape) 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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A nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) is a type of thermal rocket where the heat from a nuclear reaction replaces the chemical energy of the propellants in a chemical rocket. In an NTR, a working fluid, usually liquid hydrogen, is heated to a high temperature in a nuclear reactor and then expands through a rocket nozzle to create thrust. The external nuclear heat source theoretically allows a higher effective exhaust velocity and is expected to double or triple payload capacity compared to chemical propellants that store energy internally.

NTRs have been proposed as a spacecraft propulsion technology, with the earliest ground tests occurring in 1955. The United States maintained an NTR development program through 1973 when it was shut down for various reasons, including to focus on Space Shuttle development. Although more than ten reactors of varying power output have been built and tested, as of 2025^[update], no nuclear thermal rocket has flown. (Full article...)

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22 March 2025 – Israeli–Lebanese conflict: Six people, including a child, are killed by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon in the heaviest exchange of fire since the ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah almost four months ago. The strikes were carried out in retaliation for rockets from Lebanon being fired into Israel. (CTV News)
16 March 2025 – Red Sea crisis: The Houthis claim that they targeted USS Harry S. Truman with 18 rockets and drones. No damage has been reported. (Al Jazeera Arabic)
6 March 2025 – 2025 in spaceflight: An Ariane 6 rocket launches French military satellite CSO-3 from Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. It is the first commercial launch of the Ariane 6 expendable launch system. (AP)

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

Image 1Rocket carts from the Wubei Zhi (17th century) (from History of rockets)
Image 2A Tomahawk cruise missile in flight (from Missile)
Image 3The Congreve rocket (from History of rockets)
Image 4French Diamant rocket, the second French rocket program, developed from 1961 (from History of rockets)
Image 5Robert Goddard (from History of rockets)
Image 6Opel RAK.1 - World's first public manned flight of a rocket plane on September 30, 1929. (from History of rockets)
Image 7Viking 5C rocket engine used on Ariane 1 through Ariane 4 (from Rocket engine)
Image 8A semi-active missile homing system (from Missile)
Image 9A "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 10A battery of Katyusha launchers fires at German forces during the Battle of Stalingrad, 6 October 1942 (from History of rockets)
Image 11Signatories of the International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation. (from Missile)
Image 12A 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 13A V-1 flying bomb, amongst the first guided missiles (from Missile)
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 15Armadillo Aerospace's quad vehicle showing visible banding (shock diamonds) in the exhaust jet (from Rocket engine)
Image 16Robert Goddard and the first liquid-fueled rocket. (from History of rockets)
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 German V-2 rocket on a Meillerwagen. (from History of rockets)
Image 19Typical 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 20The four expansion regimes of a de Laval nozzle:• under-expanded• perfectly expanded• over-expanded• grossly over-expanded (from Rocket engine)
Image 21An illustration of fire arrow launchers as depicted in the Wubei Zhi (17th century). The launcher is constructed using basketry. (from History of rockets)
Image 22Rockets carrying the Space Shuttle Discovery into Earth orbit in 2007 (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 24Layout of a V-2 rocket. (from History of rockets)
Image 25Simplified 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)
Image 26RS-68 being tested at NASA's Stennis Space Center (from Rocket engine)
Image 27Robert Anderson suggests using metal for rocket casing (from History of rockets)
Image 28Robert Esnault-Pelterie (1909). (from History of rockets)
Image 29Von Braun's rocket team in 1961 (from History of rockets)