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.