Rockets of the future might look like rockets
of the past… but they could also be super
sleek amazing futuristic single-stage jet
planes.
You know?
It depends.
Hey fabulous flyers Trace here for DNews.
Rockets are essentially the same today as
in the 1960s.
They use better computers, lighter materials
and more advanced fuels, but they're still
burning massive amounts of fuel to get a payload
into orbit (or further).
But all that aside, what would a rocket of
the future look like?
Kind of like planes and missiles of today.
By their nature, it's the job of a rocket
to generate enough thrust to leave Earth's
orbit.
The escape velocity is upwards of 25,000mph
(11km/s).
That requires a lot of fuel for missile-like
systems, and somewhat less fuel for space
planes, but it sort of depends on the job
they need to DO.
For example, NASA wants to go to asteroids
and Mars.
They went to the moon with Saturn Five, so…
let's copy and improve on that!
Enter, the SLS, or Space Launch System.
NASA took what they learned from Saturn launches,
and from the Space Shuttle, and built on them.
The design isn't super sexy because it's built
on these "proven" (read: old) technologies.
The Solid Rocket Boosters are improved versions
of those from the shuttle program.
Same fuel, almost twice as tall, but basically
the same.
And the main stage is powered by RS-25 engines,
also, the same as used on the shuttle!
They're doing this, because they know it works.
If it works as planned, it will have more
thrust than a Saturn V and will one day send
humans to our neighbor planet!
Yay!
But not everyone needs to go to Mars…
So some companies are using airplane technology
to get high-enough into the air, and then
switching to a rocket engine to enter space
and drop off a satellite or, maybe, humans.
Jet engines need oxygen to combust fuel and
generate thrust, and space doesn't work that
way.
So, a British company called Reaction Engines
Limited has been working on a space-plane
hybrid for more than 30 years, called Skylon
that works both IN and OUT of the atmosphere.
They created the Synergetic Air-Breathing
Rocket Engines (SABRE) to burn oxygen in the
atmosphere (when available), mixing it with
onboard liquid hydrogen to go five times the
speed of sound.
Once it's too high to use the available oxygen,
the Skylon uses the same engines but adds
onboard liquid oxygen, mixing THAT with the
hydrogen!!
It's crazy, but they've successfully tested
the engines and hope to fly soon.
Ideally, those little wings will let craft
land and be reusable, because rockets are
expensive.
With the rise of profit-based commercial space
companies, you can guarantee future rockets
will be reusable.
But another company, Airbus, doesn't want
to save the whole rocket, like REL, just the
important parts: the avionics, main engines,
and computers.
Their Adeline system sits at the bottom of
the ESA Ariane 6 rocket stack, holding all
of those things inside of it.
When the rocket gets the payload safely into
orbit, it heads back to Earth, using its little
wings to glide safely to a runway for re-use!
Until some new technologies come along and
make the fuel MORE combustible, or we find
another way to get to space.
Future rockets will look a lot like the tech
we have now, only better.
And the rockets of the future will have to
be more specialized.
Some, like the SLS, can lift heavy humans
so they can go on to Mars, others will pop
little satellites into orbit and duck back
to Earth… and still others may do jobs we
haven't even thought of yet.
There may be another way to get to space in
the future though… a SPACE.
ELEVATOR.
Get in on the literal Ground Floor, and ride
a cable all the way to space.
Check out how that might work along with some
other transportation futures in this video…
Do you have a favorite rocket?
Why?
I love the Space Shuttle, I'm a space camp
nerd…
I went back in the 90s and it was like a dream.
