Universe Today

If like many kids you were ever interested in space and spaceflight, you've probably either built and launched an Estes rocket, or seen one launched. Estes makes model rockets, engines, and launch pads for the model rocket enthusiast. The company itself was founded in 1958 in Denver, Colorado and is still located in Colorado near Penrose.

Estes rocket kits are pretty simple – you get a tube, nose cone, parachute or glider, fins and decals, and you build the rocket yourself. Some are simple rockets, with only three or four fins on the outside, while others – like the Shuttle Express, which releases two gliders at the apogee – are much more complicated and need a larger space for launch and landing. A few of the rockets include spaces to launch "payloads" into the sky. As a kid, my favorites had to be Lego men and ants.

The kits come with decals and instructions, but you can also order components like tubes, nose cones and parachutes from Estes to create your own rockets

The most basic of the rockets are as small as five inches in length, and uses "mini-engines" for propulsion. Though they're small, some are capable of going 700 feet  (213 meters) into the air! The larger models that use standard engines can fly pretty high, some almost to 2,000 feet (610 meters).

The rockets Estes uses are rather safe, powered by small engines that use black powder that is ignited by an electric match. The launch kit includes a launch pad with a small rod that sends the rocket straight up. Each engine has two wires that go all the way into the engine and are held in place by cotton wadding, and the battery-powered launcher is attached to these wires. A small detonator switch is connected to the wires and the individual launching the rocket stands safely away. Once the safety key is turned and the button pushed – whoosh – the rockets take off.

Model rockets from any company are a safe way for kids to get into rocketry and spaceflight. Estes has a full catalog available on their site, and you can find many of their products at your local hobby shop. Rockets are available from other companies, such as Aeorotech and Quest. A pretty comprehensive list of model rocket suppliers and some good tips for building your own rockets can be found on Hobbylinc.

If you want a guide to rockets for the beginner, including some designs and ideas of how to make your own at home, check out NASA's Beginner's Guide to Rockets

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replica of V2 rocket

One of the scientists that designed the V2 rocket was Werhner Von Braun. He was the man who would later become the head of NASA through the Paperclip project. Von Braun was like his fellow German scientists, in the 1930s a an avid follower of Goddard's work with rockets, even writing him for technical assistance with their own designs. Before the rise of Nazi Germany most rocketry work was mainly for pure research. It was with the rise of the Third Reich that rocket programs were turned to military application.

The V2 was a marvel of modern rocketry. It was the first liquid fuel rocket and man made object to enter suborbital flight and it was the first missile to have a guidance system. The three core technologies it introduced to rocketry was its aerodynamic design, large scale liquid fuel rockets, and gyrosopic guidance system and rudders. These element still exist with most modern rockets to this day.

As mentioned before the V2 rockets have a dark side to their legacy. They were still weapons of war and were commissioned by the German government for full scale bombing campaigns in England and France. Ironically the V2 rocket missiles were not as deadly as other weapons during WWII. The rocket in total killed just over 6,000 civilians and military personnel over the history of their use. In the end they were more effective as propaganda tools than actual weapons. Hitler himself was skeptical of the program, but he still saw the value of displaying advanced military technology to his enemies.

The true legacy of the V2 rocket were the German rocket scientist that designed it. After the end of WWII many of the Allied nations scrambled to acquire them for their own military programs. The U.S. won this secret struggle and the work of these scientist became the beginnings of NASA's impressive space program leading to the Saturn V which launched the Apollo missions to the moon.

If you enjoyed this article there are several others on Universe Today that you can also read. There is a great article on the Space Race. There is also a great article about how many astronauts actually went to the moon.

There also some great resources about the V2 on the internet. There is a great article about the V2 rocket on centennialofflight.gov. There is also an article about the history of rockets on NASA's website.

You can also check out Astronomy Cast. Episode 100 Rockets is a good episode.

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Artist concept of Chandrayaan-1 orbiting the moon. Credit: ISRO

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Saturn V rocket launch. Credit: Gizmodo.com

The most simple type of rocket is the solid fuel rocket that uses a solid fuel, or grain, an ignition device and a nozzle. There are different ways to arrange the fuel in the combustion chamber. One way that is commonly used is to line the chamber with the grain. (Another is to simply have it in the middle.) In both methods, the burnt fuel heats the air in the combustion chamber to create an exhaust that is expelled through the nozzle to generate the rocket's specific impulse so it can fly.

Liquid fuel rockets use liquid oxygen or hydrogen as the source of propulsion. Their configuration is a bit more complicated. The pressure tank stores the fuel that is delivered to the combustion chamber via pipes and valves. The fuel is normally mixed with an oxidizer to burn easier. The heated liquid has now become a gas that creates the thrust for the liquid fuel rocket.

There are new types of rockets that are in development: the ion rocket uses magnets and an electric current to convert a gas into plasma. The repulsion of charges is used to expel plasma to produce thrust. The hybrid rocket uses a combination of liquid and solid fuel. The liquid fuel acts as an oxidizer when mixed with the solid fuel. This type of rocket is supposed to be more efficient than both liquid and solid rockets and have better control.

Regardless of their design all rockets have to create thrust to work. Unlike most aircraft they can't rely on lift and atmospheric pressure differences to stay in the air. They need the sustained expulsion of hot gases to fly.

If you enjoyed this article, there are others on the Universe Today site you might also want to read. One is about ion engines and another is about nuclear engines.

There are also great resources on the web to further your understanding of rockets. The NASA websites are always a good source of information. The HowStuffWorks site also has a great explanation of the process.

You'll also like to listen to episode 100 of Astronomy Cast.It talks about rockets in depth.

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