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Are reusable rockets a sustainable possibility for the future?
What are rockets?
Rocket technology is extremely wasteful, and being a one shot wonder, they show no promise of a sustainable future. When a rocket is launched, it is propelled based upon newton’s 3rd law of motion; “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This is done by using on board propellant which is then used to create thrust from a rocket engine, by ejecting thrust in the opposite direction to the rocket, it is propelled forwards at very high speeds. This propellant is either a liquid fuel or solid fuel (Braeunig, June 5th 2016). However, due to the rockets mass being more than 90% propellant, once they are launched, the empty rocket is then …show more content…
By having an expendable rocket system as the primary method of launching payloads into space, this equates to massive losses on resources, with most parts of the rocket either burning up in the atmosphere or remaining in space as debris (Pitt, June 6th 2016). According to an article by The Verge, it costs approximately $60 million to build and launch a rocket, but only $200,000 to fuel it. This means that if the rocket were to be reused and refuelled for another launch, this could cut costs to by more than 90%, proving to be much more efficient through reuse: similar to how planes are to be refuelled after a flight to be flown again, instead of building a new plane after every flight (The Verge, June 6th 2016). This waste on resources is more than enough reason to consider alternative systems, however continuing to use this expendable system will lead to drastic effects on space debris. According to NASA’s article on orbital space debris, there are currently more than 500,000 pieces of debris the size of marbles orbiting the Earth, travelling speeds nearing 8000m/s. These pieces of debris carry more than enough momentum and energy to cause damage to satellites. The majority of this debris consists of paint, metal and …show more content…
History was made on the 2nd of April 2015, when Blue Origin were successful in landing their New Shepard rocket. Although, Blue Origin were successful in launch and landing their rocket, this was only a test flight and the rocket never left Earth’s atmosphere (Space, April 5th 2016). Even though the rocket only achieved a maximum height of 1.1km, this proved that it was possible to land a rocket which then could be reused. Yet, history was made again on December 21st 2015, when SpaceX were successful in not only launching and landing a rocket, but sent their rocket into orbit to deliver 11 commercial satellites into orbit (Space, March 31st 2016). Again, proving that the ability to land a rocket is possible but able to successfully carry out a mission. In order to achieve a successful landing, the rocket must be able to remain intact while re-entering the atmosphere and perform a specific set of delicate manoeuvres carried out by an on board computer system and these manoeuvres can been seen in the depiction of the rockets trajectory. To perform such manoeuvres during the rocket’s descent and to remain intact due to the atmospheric conditions, it has equipped cold thrusters for reorientating the rocket by ejecting pressurised gas in the opposite direction to that which is needed for reorientation. Similarly to the main thruster
Are reusable rockets a sustainable possibility for the future?
What are rockets?
Rocket technology is extremely wasteful, and being a one shot wonder, they show no promise of a sustainable future. When a rocket is launched, it is propelled based upon newton’s 3rd law of motion; “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This is done by using on board propellant which is then used to create thrust from a rocket engine, by ejecting thrust in the opposite direction to the rocket, it is propelled forwards at very high speeds. This propellant is either a liquid fuel or solid fuel (Braeunig, June 5th 2016). However, due to the rockets mass being more than 90% propellant, once they are launched, the empty rocket is then …show more content…
By having an expendable rocket system as the primary method of launching payloads into space, this equates to massive losses on resources, with most parts of the rocket either burning up in the atmosphere or remaining in space as debris (Pitt, June 6th 2016). According to an article by The Verge, it costs approximately $60 million to build and launch a rocket, but only $200,000 to fuel it. This means that if the rocket were to be reused and refuelled for another launch, this could cut costs to by more than 90%, proving to be much more efficient through reuse: similar to how planes are to be refuelled after a flight to be flown again, instead of building a new plane after every flight (The Verge, June 6th 2016). This waste on resources is more than enough reason to consider alternative systems, however continuing to use this expendable system will lead to drastic effects on space debris. According to NASA’s article on orbital space debris, there are currently more than 500,000 pieces of debris the size of marbles orbiting the Earth, travelling speeds nearing 8000m/s. These pieces of debris carry more than enough momentum and energy to cause damage to satellites. The majority of this debris consists of paint, metal and …show more content…
History was made on the 2nd of April 2015, when Blue Origin were successful in landing their New Shepard rocket. Although, Blue Origin were successful in launch and landing their rocket, this was only a test flight and the rocket never left Earth’s atmosphere (Space, April 5th 2016). Even though the rocket only achieved a maximum height of 1.1km, this proved that it was possible to land a rocket which then could be reused. Yet, history was made again on December 21st 2015, when SpaceX were successful in not only launching and landing a rocket, but sent their rocket into orbit to deliver 11 commercial satellites into orbit (Space, March 31st 2016). Again, proving that the ability to land a rocket is possible but able to successfully carry out a mission. In order to achieve a successful landing, the rocket must be able to remain intact while re-entering the atmosphere and perform a specific set of delicate manoeuvres carried out by an on board computer system and these manoeuvres can been seen in the depiction of the rockets trajectory. To perform such manoeuvres during the rocket’s descent and to remain intact due to the atmospheric conditions, it has equipped cold thrusters for reorientating the rocket by ejecting pressurised gas in the opposite direction to that which is needed for reorientation. Similarly to the main thruster