1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer at 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,239 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works and I love all things tech. And 5 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 1: we are continuing our epic series about space and space travel. 6 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: And I've covered the various spacecraft involved during the actual 7 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 1: space race, from the vast Stock to the saw Us, 8 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: from the Mercury to the Apollo, but I didn't really 9 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: go into much detail about the launch vehicles or what 10 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: we would more casually refer to as the rockets. So 11 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: today we're gonna talk about rockets and the science behind 12 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: them and some of the ones that have been used 13 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,239 Speaker 1: to put stuff what was once on Earth out in 14 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: space somewhere. And don't worry, I'm not going to cover 15 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: every single rocket that ever was put to such use. 16 00:00:57,400 --> 00:00:58,959 Speaker 1: That would sound like I was reading off a very 17 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: weird phone book, because it would involve not just all 18 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: these odd names that we as Americans we asn't I'm 19 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:11,120 Speaker 1: saying myself here the Americans created, but also all the 20 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 1: different designations that have been made by various countries around 21 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:18,119 Speaker 1: the world. Lots of countries have made launch vehicles. So 22 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna focus on some of the ones from 23 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: the space race period because I think, uh, you know, 24 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: it relates to the episodes I just did mainly, and 25 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: also it has a nice narrow focus. The history of 26 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: rockets stretches far back before there was ever a space race, 27 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: or before there was a Soviet Union, or before there 28 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: was a United States of America. And of course by 29 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: that I mean before there were those nations. Obviously the 30 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 1: land masses were there and there were people living on them. 31 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: But you know what I mean. The origins of the 32 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: rocket are closely tied to that of fireworks, and I've 33 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:55,520 Speaker 1: covered fireworks in previous episodes. Scholars have nailed down the 34 00:01:55,560 --> 00:02:01,279 Speaker 1: emergence of rockets in Chinese alchemy sometime during the dynasty 35 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: that stretched from nine sixty Common era to twelve seventy 36 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:09,240 Speaker 1: nine Common Era. The former curator of rockets for the 37 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, a guy named Frank Winter, 38 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,120 Speaker 1: attempted to narrow that down a bit, and his work 39 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: suggested that during the eleventh century, Chinese alchemists were trying 40 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 1: to suss out a formula that would lead to eternal life. 41 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: They were attempting to make practical use of the Chinese 42 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: philosophy that all the universe is divided into passive and 43 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: active forces, and that mixing your yin and yang materials 44 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: in a proper way would create various amazing results, such 45 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 1: as presumably never dying. So they never landed on a 46 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: mixture that would preserve life indefinitely, but some of the 47 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:52,359 Speaker 1: mixtures did up having other interesting properties, like blowing up 48 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: if you lit them, so they effectively invented an early 49 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: form of gun powder. By twelve thirty two, the Chinese 50 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: were using rockets in warfare. They had a weapon that 51 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:06,440 Speaker 1: they called the fai Ju san Uh. And I know 52 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: I'm mispronouncing that. I apologize my Chinese is terrible, but 53 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:14,359 Speaker 1: it means flying fire lances. And if you listen to 54 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:17,800 Speaker 1: the fireworks episodes that we did on text of years ago, 55 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: you know there are various myths and legends about Chinese 56 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: thinkers who tried to use rockets for flight and the 57 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: various results of those experiments. So I'm not going to 58 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: go into those here. Instead, we're just gonna skip ahead 59 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 1: a few centuries. In the fifteen nineties, in Germany, there 60 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: was a fireworks maker named Johann schmid Lap, who attempted 61 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: to create fireworks that could reach much higher altitudes through 62 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: a process called staging. Staging is where you divide up 63 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: a rocket into two or more stages, and each stage 64 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: contains its own propellant. So when the first stage burns out, 65 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: it ignites the second stage, which in schmid Lab's case 66 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: was a smaller rocket that was carried by a larger 67 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: first stage rocket. So the first stage rocket ignites launches 68 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: as it gets towards the end of its fuel, it 69 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: ignites the fuel inside the second rocket, which then continues 70 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: to launch and go even higher into the sky and 71 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: deliver the payload way up in there, and you get 72 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: a really impressive firework. While schmid Lap made a practical, 73 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:26,840 Speaker 1: practical multi stage rocket, the idea had previously been theorized 74 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:31,159 Speaker 1: by an Austrian military engineer named Conrad hass hass wrote 75 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:35,480 Speaker 1: a manuscript about his ideas that predated schmid Laps designs 76 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,279 Speaker 1: by a few decades, including multi stage rockets. Even talked 77 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,279 Speaker 1: about the possibility of using liquid fuels as propellant, although 78 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,720 Speaker 1: that would take quite some time to come true. Now, 79 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: whether schmid Lap knew of Hassa's work or not. I 80 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: don't know. Maybe he did. It's possible that this was 81 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 1: a case of two people coming up with essentially the 82 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: same idea around the same time that has happened before. 83 00:04:58,000 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: Or it could be that schmid Lap had heard of 84 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: Hassa his ideas and that schmid Lap was the one 85 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,040 Speaker 1: who was able to make practical use of them. Either way, 86 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:07,119 Speaker 1: whether he came up with the idea or not, schmid 87 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: Lap was the one who actually made it work. In 88 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 1: seven Sir Isaac Newton published his work Principia, which included 89 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: his three Laws of motion. So we see that the 90 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: practical understanding of rocketry preceded a more nuanced scientific understanding 91 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,520 Speaker 1: of what was going on by several centuries, which is 92 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:30,720 Speaker 1: often the case where we notice something, we observe something interesting, 93 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: and we even make use of that something for some time, 94 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 1: but we don't have a full understanding of what's really 95 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: going on until much later. That has happened on numerous 96 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: occasions throughout human history. So what are the three laws 97 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: of motion and why are they important? Well, the first 98 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: law is every object in a state of uniform motion 99 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: tends to remain in that state of motion unless an 100 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: external force is applied to it. We also call this 101 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:57,840 Speaker 1: the law of inertia. So, for example, if there is 102 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: a rock sitting on a level section of ground, we 103 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: would expect that rock to just sit there, to remain 104 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: in that position, to stay still, unless some external force 105 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: like someone's foot were to come in and be applied 106 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:12,240 Speaker 1: to the rock. So soone kicks the rock, then we 107 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: would expect it to move. But we wouldn't expect the 108 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,279 Speaker 1: rock to move on its own. It wouldn't just spontaneously 109 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: start rolling around. That would be in violation of the 110 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:24,840 Speaker 1: first law of motion. The second law of motion is 111 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: that the relationship between an objects mass, it's acceleration and 112 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: the applied force is force equals mass times acceleration. Acceleration 113 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:39,280 Speaker 1: and force are vectors, meaning they don't just have a magnitude. 114 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: They also have a direction, so you have to describe 115 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 1: them as having a direction while you're working with them. 116 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:50,280 Speaker 1: You can't just give, you know, just a unit and 117 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: be accurate and this law. In this law, the direction 118 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:58,799 Speaker 1: of the force vector is the same as the direction 119 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: of the acceleration victor, so you can't have an acceleration 120 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: vector that's an opposite direction of the force vector. The 121 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: equation lets us understand how velocities change when we apply 122 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: different forces to the system. And a change in velocity 123 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: is acceleration, right, Velocity itself is uh is speed and direction, 124 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 1: So acceleration is when you change something about that. You 125 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: either change the speed, so you make it speed up, 126 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: or you make it slow down, or you change the direction, 127 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: which you know because velocity is a vector, and either 128 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:34,200 Speaker 1: one of those would be considered a change in acceleration, 129 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: or rather it would be acceleration itself. And the third 130 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:41,560 Speaker 1: law of motion is for every action, there is an 131 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: equal and opposite reaction. So you've probably heard this before, 132 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: and I'm sure you have a decent understanding of it, 133 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 1: but just in case, here's a way of thinking about. 134 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: Imagine that you're standing on a platform that's suspended by ropes, 135 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: right like it's a square platform. There are four ropes, 136 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: one at each corner, and there's a second platform on 137 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 1: a column that's in front of you. But in order 138 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: to get there, you're gonna have to take a pretty 139 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: big step. Not not a huge step, but a decent one. 140 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: As you take that step, if there were another observer 141 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: watching all this, they would notice that the platform you 142 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 1: stand on would move the opposite direction of where you 143 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: were stepping. This is that equal but opposite reaction. That's 144 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:23,600 Speaker 1: an exemplification of Newton's third law of motion. It's also 145 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,480 Speaker 1: ultimately what explains the phenomenon of a rocket flying into 146 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: the air. When it's blasting what appears to just be 147 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: fire and smoke out of its business end, the rocket 148 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: is actually throwing mass in one direction in the form 149 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:41,080 Speaker 1: of very high pressured gas. The rocket itself moves in 150 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: the opposite direction because of this. If you were to 151 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:46,800 Speaker 1: sit in an office chair that has wheels on it, 152 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: and then you had a mess and ball in your hands, 153 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:51,200 Speaker 1: and you threw the mess and ball straight ahead of you, 154 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 1: that you and the chair would roll backward. Because of 155 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 1: this principle, rockets work the same way. It's just that 156 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,120 Speaker 1: the rocket is throwing up mass in the form of 157 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 1: that high pressure gas an incredible rate. So remember that 158 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 1: second law forces equal to mass times acceleration. That's also 159 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: very important. The rocket has a lot of mass, particularly 160 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:16,080 Speaker 1: when it's full of fuel. You have the mass of 161 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 1: the rocket structure and you have the mass of all 162 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 1: the fuel inside of it. When a rockets engine, which 163 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: is a reaction engine, It's important to note because when 164 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 1: we hear the word engine. I don't know about you, 165 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 1: but when I hear the word engine, I'm usually thinking 166 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: about a mechanical device that forms some form of rotational power, right, 167 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 1: a rotational force, like a reciprocating gasolene engine. That's kind 168 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: of what I think about. But a rocket engine is 169 00:09:42,679 --> 00:09:47,720 Speaker 1: a reaction engine. Rocket engines fling mass in that form 170 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:51,319 Speaker 1: of hot gas uh at a very high rate of acceleration, 171 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,840 Speaker 1: and the combination creates a lot of force. Right. So, 172 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,679 Speaker 1: however much mass it is times that acceleration that equals 173 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: the force. Well, the equal and obvious that reaction means, 174 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:05,960 Speaker 1: if you're pushing that much mass downward at a very 175 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:11,840 Speaker 1: fast rate, then you're moving upward. Uh. And the speed 176 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:14,880 Speaker 1: at which you move is based upon how fast and 177 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:19,360 Speaker 1: how much stuff you're pushing down That that equation tells 178 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:22,240 Speaker 1: us all of this stuff, and we can actually figure 179 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,320 Speaker 1: out how much acceleration the rocket will experience if we 180 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: know the mass and the acceleration of the hot gases 181 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:31,040 Speaker 1: coming out of its engine. The two sides of the 182 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 1: equation have to balance out. It has to be equal 183 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: and opposite, right, So rocket science is hard But let's 184 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 1: go back to that office chair and medicine ball example, 185 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,720 Speaker 1: because that makes it way easier to understand. So practical example, 186 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: let's say I'm sitting in an office chair and I 187 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: have a mass of about sixty eight ms. The chair 188 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:52,479 Speaker 1: has a mass of about twenty two kilograms, so collectively 189 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:55,920 Speaker 1: the chair and I are nine DRAMs. The medicine ball 190 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,240 Speaker 1: I have has a mass of four point five rams. 191 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: So at the very beginning of this I have a 192 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: total mass of ninety four point five ms because I'm 193 00:11:05,559 --> 00:11:08,680 Speaker 1: holding the medicine ball right, and then I also have 194 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 1: a velocity of zero. I'm not moving, so I'm staying still. 195 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: I've got this messin ball in my hands, and then 196 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 1: I throw the mess and ball straight out in front 197 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:21,679 Speaker 1: of me at fifteen per second. That's about thirty three 198 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:24,000 Speaker 1: and a half miles per hour, and that's probably way 199 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: faster than I could actually throw a messin ball. But 200 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 1: forget that for now. How fast am I going to 201 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:32,000 Speaker 1: travel back in my chair? How fast will the chair 202 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 1: roll backward in opposite direction from my throw? Well, to 203 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,080 Speaker 1: understand that, we take the velocity of the messin ball 204 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:43,240 Speaker 1: times it's mass, So we take that fifteen per second 205 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:47,320 Speaker 1: times four point five ms, which gives us sixty seven 206 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 1: point five Newton's technically that represents the force of the 207 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 1: medicine ball flying away from me. There must be an 208 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:58,679 Speaker 1: equal and opposite reaction, So that means the product of 209 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: my mass and vela city has to equal negative sixty 210 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:07,320 Speaker 1: seven point five. It's equal and opposite of the original. 211 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:10,720 Speaker 1: Now it's negative because we're looking at velocity in the 212 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:14,440 Speaker 1: opposite direction of the medicine ball's flight, so it's it's 213 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:17,839 Speaker 1: from the perspective of medicine ball's flight being positive. Mine 214 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,240 Speaker 1: has to be negative. So it doesn't mean that I 215 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:25,160 Speaker 1: have some sort of weird negative unit of measurement. Instead 216 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 1: is referring to it being a different direction and opposite direction. 217 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: So again forces mass times acceleration, and we know what 218 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: my mass is with the chair right, it's nine. And 219 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:40,199 Speaker 1: we know that the force is equal and opposite of 220 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:42,199 Speaker 1: the force that was in the medicine ball side of 221 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:45,560 Speaker 1: the equation, so we know it's the forces minus sixty 222 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:49,680 Speaker 1: seven point five. So that means we have to divide 223 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:53,720 Speaker 1: both sides by my mass. We divide minus sixty seven 224 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: point five by my mass of ninety kilograms and we 225 00:12:56,240 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 1: end up getting minus point seven five meters per second, 226 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 1: So that means I'm traveling backward in my chair at 227 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: point seven five per second initially before friction slows me down. 228 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 1: Rocket science is exactly like that, only of course, way 229 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:16,679 Speaker 1: more difficult. We'll get into why it gets way more 230 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:20,160 Speaker 1: difficult in just a second, but first, y'all, I need 231 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: to take a quick break. I'm gonna thank my sponsor. 232 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:34,559 Speaker 1: The science of rocketry continued in large part because rockets 233 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:39,560 Speaker 1: could be effective weapons of war. In four engineers discovered 234 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:43,280 Speaker 1: that by designing jet vents on an angle so they're 235 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: not coming just straight out, a rocket would spin when 236 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:49,720 Speaker 1: it was ignited, and that spinning motion would actually create 237 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 1: a stabilization in the rockets flight path, kind of like 238 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: a bullet experience when it emerges from a gun, It 239 00:13:56,120 --> 00:14:00,320 Speaker 1: spins and that produces stability. Uh. The st to ability 240 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 1: of spinning objects would become a very important component, not 241 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,080 Speaker 1: just in space travel, but in technology in general. It's 242 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:10,440 Speaker 1: you know, I've talked about that with gyroscopes in Constantine. 243 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:13,120 Speaker 1: Soolkov Sky, who I talked about in the first episode 244 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:16,040 Speaker 1: of this whole series, proposed the possibility of space travel 245 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: through rocketry. Moreover, he theorized that a liquid propellant would 246 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:23,920 Speaker 1: be a more suitable fuel source to provide the energy 247 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:26,640 Speaker 1: necessary to push a rocket into space, but had not 248 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: quite worked out how that would actually happen. Solkovski worked 249 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:34,880 Speaker 1: on some really important details about the relationship between a 250 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:38,000 Speaker 1: rocket's mass and its speed and what it would take 251 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,320 Speaker 1: to get a rocket into space. So let's take a 252 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 1: few moments to understand the calculations that are necessary. Now 253 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 1: we've already covered the equal and opposite reaction. We understand 254 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:50,000 Speaker 1: that that whatever we want the rocket to do is 255 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: going to be based upon the amount of mass it's 256 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: throwing out through its engine and how fast it's throwing 257 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:58,880 Speaker 1: that mass out. But now we have to consider some 258 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: other complicating fact. There's first, a rockets mass when it's 259 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: fully fueled is different than the rockets mass one second 260 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:09,520 Speaker 1: before all the fuel burns up. That mass is decreasing. 261 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: Now the mass is not being destroyed, it's just being 262 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:15,600 Speaker 1: thrown out of the engine. Because you cannot create or 263 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:19,640 Speaker 1: destroy matter. You can't convert it from one form to another, 264 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: but you can't destroy it, So that mass isn't being destroyed. 265 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 1: If you talk about a rocket that has, you know, 266 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 1: twenty thousand tons of fuel aboard it. That twenty thousand 267 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:33,480 Speaker 1: tons of fuel gets turned into twenty thousand tons of 268 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:36,880 Speaker 1: high pressured gas during the process of being shot out 269 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: of the engine. So burning fuel means you're ejecting mass 270 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 1: through the rocket engine. So the rockets mass decreases throughout 271 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 1: the engine burn and that affects the equations. And if 272 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: you want that rocket to actually carry something into space, 273 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:52,440 Speaker 1: the payloads mass has to be taken into account along 274 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 1: with the rocket in the fuel. Sometimes that can seem 275 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:58,360 Speaker 1: like it's negligible, but it's still really important. So getting 276 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: a payload into space as a matter of the earning, 277 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: how much force you will need to escape Earth's gravity, 278 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: how large your rocket will need to be to do that, 279 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 1: how much fuel you're gonna need to move that rocket, 280 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:10,240 Speaker 1: which in turn might mean that you have to make 281 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 1: changes to how big the rocket is. And as this continues, 282 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 1: you can easily see it get away from you. Right, 283 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:18,720 Speaker 1: you could say, well, to move something of this mass, 284 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 1: i'm gonna need x amount of fuel. But if you 285 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: have X amount of fuel, that's too much fuel for 286 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: this rocket. So the rockets gonna have to be bigger, 287 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:29,400 Speaker 1: but the rockets bigger than the mass is greater, which 288 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:31,440 Speaker 1: means I'm actually gonna need more fuel than what I 289 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:34,760 Speaker 1: thought before, and that can quickly run away from you. 290 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 1: So that's another complication. Any changed the design of the 291 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 1: rocket or the payload is going to affect the amount 292 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: of fuel you're gonna need to use. And of course, 293 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:44,800 Speaker 1: when you add more fuel, you add more mass, so 294 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: it's really slippery slope. When you burn the fuel, you 295 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:52,640 Speaker 1: create this high pressure gas, and releasing that gas in 296 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:56,200 Speaker 1: a specific direction provides the thrust to push a rocket. 297 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: The weight of fuel you burn is equal to the 298 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: weight of the gas that is generated, So if you 299 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:02,960 Speaker 1: burn a ton of fuel, you have created a ton 300 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:06,359 Speaker 1: of high pressure gas. The burning process is what actually 301 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: accelerates the mass with the release through the nozzle that 302 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:14,119 Speaker 1: provides thrust, and the nozzle also can increase the the 303 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: acceleration or it accelerates. Rather, I shouldn't say increases the acceleration, 304 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:23,120 Speaker 1: it accelerates the mass further. And by this incredible acceleration 305 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:27,560 Speaker 1: multiplied by the mass of the high pressure gas that 306 00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:30,680 Speaker 1: you're shooting out of this rocket engine, that's what creates 307 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:34,200 Speaker 1: the force that allows a rocket to lift off the ground, 308 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: and we measured thrust in either Newton's as I mentioned earlier, 309 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 1: or in the good old us of A. Because we 310 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:42,560 Speaker 1: obviously refuse to do things the way the rest of 311 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: the world does it, we refer to it as pounds 312 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:48,120 Speaker 1: of thrust. One pound of thrust is equal to four 313 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:51,359 Speaker 1: point four or five Newton's of thrust, and one pound 314 00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:53,320 Speaker 1: of thrust is what would take to keep a one 315 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 1: pound object stationary against the force of gravity on Earth. 316 00:17:57,359 --> 00:18:00,440 Speaker 1: One Newton is the amount of force necessary to make 317 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:03,879 Speaker 1: one mass of one kilogram accelerate at a rate of 318 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: one m per second squared. This means on Earth, a 319 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:11,920 Speaker 1: mass of one kilogram pushes against whatever it is resting 320 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 1: on with a force of nine point eight Newton's on average. 321 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:20,080 Speaker 1: So if you have a kilogram weight on a table, 322 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,720 Speaker 1: that kilogram is effectively pushing against the table with nine 323 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,879 Speaker 1: point eight newtons of force, the tables pushing back with 324 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:31,760 Speaker 1: nine point eight newtons, a force equal and opposite. And 325 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:34,560 Speaker 1: the reason why it's nine point eight Newton's it's because 326 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:40,120 Speaker 1: Earth's gravity, at least at mean sea level, is nine 327 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:44,399 Speaker 1: point eight meters per second squared. To get space to 328 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: get up to space. You have to travel fast enough 329 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:48,400 Speaker 1: to break free of the gravitational force of the Earth. 330 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:51,240 Speaker 1: We actually figured out exactly what speed we need to 331 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,840 Speaker 1: do that, so that speed would be eleven kilometers per 332 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:58,120 Speaker 1: second or seven miles per second. You gotta get at 333 00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 1: at that speed in order to breakthrough an escape Earth's gravity. 334 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 1: On March sixteenth, ninety, Robert Goddard, whom I also mentioned 335 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:10,439 Speaker 1: in that earlier episode, created a rocket that used liquid 336 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:15,119 Speaker 1: oxygen and gasoline as propellant. Liquid oxygen was used as 337 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: the oxidizer. He also got to work developing multi stage 338 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:20,960 Speaker 1: rockets and liquid fuel rockets. This was a big deal. 339 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 1: It was the first liquid fuel rockets. They're very important, 340 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:26,719 Speaker 1: but up until Goddard, no one had figured out how 341 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:29,360 Speaker 1: to do them. They had been using solid fuel rockets, 342 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:31,880 Speaker 1: like the gunpowder rockets that the Chinese had created way 343 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:36,919 Speaker 1: back in the Sum dynasty. Uh. Solid fuel rockets burned quickly, 344 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:41,680 Speaker 1: and if they're designed properly, they do not explode. It's 345 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:45,679 Speaker 1: easier said than done. It requires finding the right mixture 346 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:47,879 Speaker 1: of components so as you can have a rapid but 347 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,719 Speaker 1: controlled burn, and uncontrolled burn turns into an explosion. So 348 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:55,479 Speaker 1: typically solid fuel rockets have a whole kind of down 349 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 1: the center think of think of a solid fuel rocket. 350 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:00,960 Speaker 1: Think of it as taking the case of the rocket 351 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 1: off and you have a a solid cylinder of fuel. 352 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:11,880 Speaker 1: Down the center of that cylinder is a tube or 353 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 1: a hole, and you ignite the fuel in the center 354 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:20,480 Speaker 1: of this tube and it burns from the center out 355 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 1: towards the edge where it's making contact with the casing 356 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:28,800 Speaker 1: of the rocket, and then the fuel is spent. The 357 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: thing about it is, once you ignite a solid fuel rocket, 358 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 1: it burns until all the fuel's gone. There's no stopping 359 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:40,119 Speaker 1: the engine once you start. Liquid rockets, however, offer up 360 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:43,480 Speaker 1: more control. You can actually turn on or turn off 361 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,600 Speaker 1: the burn process, so you can control the rocket engine 362 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: that way. But they also come with other challenges. So 363 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: to burn stuff, you need three things. We all remember 364 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,479 Speaker 1: the triangle, right, You need heat, you need fuel, and 365 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:58,120 Speaker 1: you need an oxidizer. And here on Earth we tend 366 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:02,000 Speaker 1: to just rely on oxygen. Right, that's our oxidizer. We 367 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:03,879 Speaker 1: also don't have to do anything special with it if 368 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,000 Speaker 1: we're on the surface of the planet. But in liquid 369 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: rocket design, you need to have an oxidizer incorporated into 370 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,600 Speaker 1: the design of the propulsion system in order to create 371 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 1: an environment in which fuel can actually burn. You cannot 372 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:20,400 Speaker 1: burn fuel without an oxidizer. Liquid oxygen is a frequent oxidizer, 373 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,160 Speaker 1: or at least in the early rockets, that was frequently used, 374 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,600 Speaker 1: and that's what Goddard did. The oxidizer and fuel end 375 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: up being pumped into a combustion chamber and it's mixed there, 376 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,240 Speaker 1: so you get a fine mix of oxidizer and fuel 377 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:38,880 Speaker 1: which can then be ignited that ends up burning off 378 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:42,199 Speaker 1: and creating this high pressure gas that then can be 379 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:45,359 Speaker 1: directed through a nozzle to create the thrust. The combustion 380 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,399 Speaker 1: chamber and the nozzle can get really really hot, like 381 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,639 Speaker 1: hot enough to break down if the heat goes unchecked. 382 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:56,000 Speaker 1: So typically a liquid fueled rocket design will include either 383 00:21:56,080 --> 00:22:00,800 Speaker 1: the oxidizer or the fuel as a super cold cryogenic 384 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:04,359 Speaker 1: liquid like liquid oxygen obviously has to be a cryogenic liquid, 385 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:07,320 Speaker 1: or liquid hydrogen has to be a cryogenic liquid. You 386 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: have to get them at very very cold temperatures in 387 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 1: order to keep that stuff in liquid form. Typically those 388 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: cryogenic liquids would pass through lines that are adjacent to 389 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 1: the combustion chamber and nozzle and transfer heat away from 390 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:24,600 Speaker 1: those parts of the rocket engine and the pumps that 391 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: provide the oxidizer in the fuel to the combustion chamber 392 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:32,359 Speaker 1: have to be incredibly strong because inside that combustion chamber 393 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 1: you're generating that high pressured gas. If the pumps are 394 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: not strong enough to overcome that high pressure, then the 395 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:42,800 Speaker 1: gas is gonna go up those pump lines instead of 396 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 1: out the nozzle, or they'll go up the pump lines 397 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,280 Speaker 1: and out the nozzle, and you don't want that. So 398 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: you have to have very very strong pumps in a 399 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:54,920 Speaker 1: liquid fuel rocket, which is why, uh, it's a complicated process. 400 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,600 Speaker 1: Is a complicated technology, and it's why it took a 401 00:22:57,680 --> 00:22:59,880 Speaker 1: good long time for someone to develop one that could 402 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:05,239 Speaker 1: I actually work. Even Goddard's demonstration was pretty modest, and 403 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,880 Speaker 1: if you saw the launch today and you just watched 404 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:11,520 Speaker 1: as it happened, you'd think, well, what's the big deal. 405 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:13,160 Speaker 1: It didn't even go that high and when a few 406 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: meters up in the air and then came right back down. 407 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,679 Speaker 1: But when you understand the technology behind it, how complicated 408 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,879 Speaker 1: it was, it was very impressive. Most importantly, you can 409 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,320 Speaker 1: control the burn of a liquid fueled rocket because you 410 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:27,760 Speaker 1: can stop the flow of oxidizer and fuel into the 411 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 1: combustion engine. You can turn the pumps off and once 412 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: there's nothing to burn the engines off, it's not gonna 413 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,680 Speaker 1: create any more thrust, and then you could start it 414 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 1: back up again when you needed to, so you it 415 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 1: wasn't an all or nothing the way a solid fuel 416 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:46,000 Speaker 1: rocket would be. Solid fuel was much more simple, but 417 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,560 Speaker 1: it was more limited. So liquid fuel is the way 418 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,359 Speaker 1: a lot. Pretty much all the propulsion systems of all 419 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 1: the spacecraft had to be liquid fueled. They there were 420 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,639 Speaker 1: several spacecraft that would also depend on solid fuel for 421 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,600 Speaker 1: some stage or another. May it was like a retro 422 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 1: rocket or a breaking rocket or something like that, or 423 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,159 Speaker 1: sometimes solid fuel booster rockets to get up into space. 424 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 1: But when it came to fine tuning, we're talking about 425 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:14,439 Speaker 1: liquid fueled rockets. Well, I've got a lot more to 426 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:17,440 Speaker 1: say about rockets, but before I jump into that, let's 427 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:27,439 Speaker 1: take another quick break to thank our sponsor. In the 428 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 1: nineteen forties, German engineer Werner von Braun, who would later 429 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: be brought over to the United States under Operation paper Clip, 430 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,919 Speaker 1: worked on developing the V two rocket for Germany, and 431 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:43,200 Speaker 1: those rockets used a mixture of oxygen and alcohol for propellant. 432 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:46,639 Speaker 1: They consumed fuel at a rate of one ton of 433 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 1: fuel every seven seconds, So that tells you how much 434 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:52,800 Speaker 1: mass is being thrown out by this rocket engine. It's 435 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: a lot a ton of fuel every seven seconds. And 436 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:58,639 Speaker 1: this was the first rocket design that could actually cross 437 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: the Carmen line into who space. The Americans would end 438 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 1: up taking not just the German scientists and engineers, but 439 00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:09,840 Speaker 1: also some of the V two rockets during Operation paper Clip, 440 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:12,959 Speaker 1: and then adapt those rockets for scientific experiments such as 441 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:16,879 Speaker 1: making measurements of the atmosphere at very high altitudes. The 442 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:20,480 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties saw the development of i C b ms, 443 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:26,960 Speaker 1: also known as intercontinental ballistic missiles scary scary technology. This 444 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,280 Speaker 1: is where we get into the nuclear arms race, and 445 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: that whole assured uh mutually assured mass destruction where you're 446 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,159 Speaker 1: your whole philosophy is we need to build up our 447 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,480 Speaker 1: weapons enough so that no one will dare pick on us, 448 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,439 Speaker 1: and our enemies have their weapons built up in the 449 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,440 Speaker 1: same way, so that way will always be at peace, 450 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:50,920 Speaker 1: because if we were to launch an attack, everybody would die. 451 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:52,399 Speaker 1: And so the only way to win is not to 452 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:58,720 Speaker 1: play anyway without I c b ms. We also would 453 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:02,720 Speaker 1: not have had the launch vehicles that we use during 454 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: the Space race. So some scientific good came out of this, 455 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:10,360 Speaker 1: uh and a lot of scary military stuff came out 456 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,159 Speaker 1: of it too, But this is where we started getting 457 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:16,120 Speaker 1: into putting stuff into space with satellites like spot Nick 458 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,640 Speaker 1: or spacecraft like the Mercury Capsule. So now I can 459 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:23,640 Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about specific rockets. Not generally speaking, 460 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:27,480 Speaker 1: a space rocket tends to have four major components, each 461 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:31,959 Speaker 1: of which might have thousands of individual parts to them. 462 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:34,879 Speaker 1: You've got the actual casing or structure of the rocket. 463 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:37,400 Speaker 1: That's the physical form of the rocket. It's the bit 464 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,280 Speaker 1: that holds all the other bits in place. And then 465 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:43,840 Speaker 1: you've got the propulsion system that would be the fuel, 466 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:48,320 Speaker 1: the rocket engine, all the components necessary for providing thrust. 467 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:51,560 Speaker 1: There's a guidance system because you want the rocket to 468 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: go where you want it to go, so you have 469 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:56,080 Speaker 1: to have some way of guiding it, of steering it, 470 00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,439 Speaker 1: and there are multiple ways that that has happened throughout 471 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:02,119 Speaker 1: the years. So you gotta have a guidance system. And 472 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,360 Speaker 1: then you have the payload that's whatever the rocket is carrying, 473 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,720 Speaker 1: like in these cases we're talking about satellites or spacecraft. Obviously, 474 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:13,560 Speaker 1: in military applications you might be talking about the satellite, 475 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 1: but you're probably talking about some sort of warhead. And 476 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 1: most rockets contain at least two stages, with each stage 477 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,280 Speaker 1: having its own guidance system and propulsion system. The final 478 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:28,960 Speaker 1: stage is usually what ends up carrying the payload. The 479 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,440 Speaker 1: earliest designs for I C b m s which were 480 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 1: intended as weapons of mass destruction that would carry a 481 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,399 Speaker 1: nuclear weapon. Uh, we're sort of the brainchild again of 482 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,240 Speaker 1: Werner von Brawn. He was working on a design in 483 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:43,119 Speaker 1: Germany during World War Two. It was designated the A 484 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:48,040 Speaker 1: nine Slash ten. The US and the Soviet Union both 485 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,000 Speaker 1: rushed to develop I C b ms in the wake 486 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:53,560 Speaker 1: of World War Two. That was at the beginning of 487 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,600 Speaker 1: the Cold War between the two countries. The Soviets got 488 00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:58,920 Speaker 1: there first. They built the first I C b M. 489 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,359 Speaker 1: It was a two stage missile and it was called 490 00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:05,080 Speaker 1: the R seven. It was one twelve feet or thirty 491 00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 1: four meters long and measured nine point nine ft or 492 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,359 Speaker 1: three point two meters in diameter. It used liquid oxygen 493 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,879 Speaker 1: as the oxidizer. In those early early ones and kerosene 494 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,359 Speaker 1: was the fuel in the early ones. It weighed two 495 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:21,240 Speaker 1: eight metric tons. The first stage of the rocket consisted 496 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:25,359 Speaker 1: of four strap on rocket boosters around a central rocket engine. 497 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:29,800 Speaker 1: Uh The central engine would continue providing thrust through both 498 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: stages of the rocket. The R seven demonstrated that the 499 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:34,879 Speaker 1: Soviet Union could launch a missile at targets on the 500 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,800 Speaker 1: other side of the world, and the Soviets used modified 501 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: versions of the R seven for splot Nick, for the 502 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:44,880 Speaker 1: VOS stock spacecraft, for vos CAD, and for the early 503 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:49,760 Speaker 1: Soya's launches. About half of the launches used using the 504 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:54,000 Speaker 1: early R seven launch vehicles suffered failures. It was notoriously 505 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:58,280 Speaker 1: unreliable early early on in its design, and that prompted 506 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:01,400 Speaker 1: the Soviet engineers to revisit that design and make changes 507 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:07,120 Speaker 1: to improve reliability. But the R seven would continue to 508 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: the point where today the Soviets are using launch vehicles 509 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:15,000 Speaker 1: that are based off that same design. Even the Soyuz 510 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:19,640 Speaker 1: rockets that we use are relying upon those types of 511 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,760 Speaker 1: launch vehicles. They're still part of that our seven family. 512 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:25,840 Speaker 1: So some of the variants also include the option of 513 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:28,400 Speaker 1: a third stage of the rocket. That was one of 514 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:32,040 Speaker 1: the things that was planned when the Soviets were thinking 515 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:35,200 Speaker 1: about going to the Moon. Over in the United States, 516 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:39,720 Speaker 1: the Atlas rocket would become the first American I CBM. 517 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:42,600 Speaker 1: The first successful demonstration of an Atlas rocket took place 518 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 1: a little more than a year after the Russians had 519 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:48,120 Speaker 1: launched sput Nik into orbit, and the Atlas, like the 520 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:53,400 Speaker 1: R seven, had a notorious reputation for malfunctions and launch failures. 521 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:56,360 Speaker 1: Though General Dynamics and corvet Are, the companies that were 522 00:29:56,880 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: building the missile, worked very hard to solve those design 523 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 1: problem loans, but it was a particularly complicated rocket design, 524 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,960 Speaker 1: liquid fueled rocket, and it was really complex, and that 525 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:10,320 Speaker 1: created multiple points for potential failure, so all that stuff 526 00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,960 Speaker 1: had to be worked out. The Atlas LV three B 527 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:19,240 Speaker 1: or Atlas D became the launch vehicle for the last 528 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:24,440 Speaker 1: four manned Mercury Project missions. The failure rate created real concern, 529 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,200 Speaker 1: but the Atlas was literally the only vehicle that the 530 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: United States had access to that would be capable of 531 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:35,000 Speaker 1: putting a payload into orbit. Atlas had what was referred 532 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:39,160 Speaker 1: to as a stage and a half design, with a 533 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 1: first stage that was bolstered by booster. A booster rocket 534 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,440 Speaker 1: now the first three manned Mercury missions. What did they use? 535 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:50,360 Speaker 1: I mean if the last four used the Atlas d 536 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:55,400 Speaker 1: um what did the actually I guess the first two 537 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,600 Speaker 1: Mercury missions, there were only six manned Mercury missions. What 538 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:01,960 Speaker 1: did they rely on? Well, they relied on a rocket 539 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:06,200 Speaker 1: called the red Stone that was the first American space booster. 540 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 1: But the Redstone did not have enough fuel capacity or 541 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 1: thrust capability to put a payload into orbit. It could 542 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:18,800 Speaker 1: only do suborbital flights. So while the Redstone was the 543 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:23,480 Speaker 1: first space booster for a manned mission, UH, it was 544 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:26,920 Speaker 1: not capable of putting anyone into orbit. For the Gemini missions, 545 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 1: NASA would end up using the Titan two g LV 546 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:33,560 Speaker 1: that was their launch vehicle of choice. The Titan, too 547 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:37,000 Speaker 1: was a second generation I C B M and it 548 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,800 Speaker 1: was a two stage liquid fuel rocket that used nitrogen 549 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 1: tetroxide as an oxidizer I mentioned that earlier and aerosigne 550 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:47,360 Speaker 1: fifty as a fuel. And it was a simpler design 551 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:50,400 Speaker 1: than the Atlas, which made it a little more reliable. 552 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:53,720 Speaker 1: There were fewer things that could go wrong. The Apollo 553 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:57,120 Speaker 1: program would rely on two variants of a launch vehicle 554 00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:01,040 Speaker 1: called the Saturn. The Saturn one or I B if 555 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:04,520 Speaker 1: you prefer, that's the one B for all Apollo missions 556 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:09,200 Speaker 1: up to and including Apollo seven. Then starting with Apollo eight, 557 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:13,040 Speaker 1: they switched to the Saturn five, so a follow eight 558 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:16,560 Speaker 1: to Apolo seventeen used the Saturn five launch vehicle. The 559 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:20,360 Speaker 1: Saturn one was the first heavy lift spacecraft launch vehicle 560 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:22,920 Speaker 1: in the United States, and while NASA was originally going 561 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:26,560 Speaker 1: to use it for the early Apollo missions, the organization 562 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:29,320 Speaker 1: ultimately decided that the cuts they would need to make 563 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,680 Speaker 1: in payload weight in order to make this work weren't 564 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:35,800 Speaker 1: worth the efforts, so instead they decided that they would 565 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:40,760 Speaker 1: use the upgraded Saturn one B instead. Uh It was 566 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 1: a two stage rocket, with the second stage called the 567 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,440 Speaker 1: S four B, which I talked to about in previous episodes. 568 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 1: A modified version of the S four B would become 569 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: the third stage for the Saturn five. The Saturn five 570 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:56,000 Speaker 1: was capable of sending a fueled CSM Command Service Module 571 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: and LM or lunar module to the Moon. The S 572 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,240 Speaker 1: four B would provide the thrust needed to go from 573 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:06,760 Speaker 1: an Earth orbit into a translunar injection. So the Centurn 574 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:10,200 Speaker 1: five was the only vehicle that the US had that 575 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,480 Speaker 1: would have that capability of actually getting someone to the moon. 576 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,640 Speaker 1: The Soviet counterpart to the Saturn five was not an 577 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:20,600 Speaker 1: R seven variant. It was a launch vehicle called the 578 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:24,440 Speaker 1: N one. It was a super heavy lift launch vehicle 579 00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 1: and had three stages. The Soviets wanted the INN one 580 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,600 Speaker 1: to deliver cosmonauts to the Moon during the Space Race, 581 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:33,760 Speaker 1: so this was gonna be the launch vehicle that would 582 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:36,880 Speaker 1: put cosmonauts to the Moon, hopefully beating the Americans in 583 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:40,560 Speaker 1: the process. The development of the N one started several 584 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:44,280 Speaker 1: years after the Saturn five development process had already begun, 585 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:48,040 Speaker 1: so the Americans were already ahead on rocket design, so 586 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:50,840 Speaker 1: the Soviets are behind. As a result, there was a 587 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:54,239 Speaker 1: ton of political pressure to rush through the design and 588 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,040 Speaker 1: production of the launch vehicle, and there was a lack 589 00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:58,680 Speaker 1: of funding to do it too, so it was the 590 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:03,120 Speaker 1: worst of all worlds. Uh. This ended up including a 591 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:07,480 Speaker 1: design for the most powerful first stage rocket ever constructed. 592 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:11,440 Speaker 1: The designer of the N one was Sergei Koraev, but 593 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:15,439 Speaker 1: he died during a surgical procedure in nineteen sixty six, 594 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:17,800 Speaker 1: which was kind of in the middle of the process 595 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,000 Speaker 1: of developing the INN one that caused further problems in 596 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:25,720 Speaker 1: that whole development process. Obviously, there were only four test 597 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:30,080 Speaker 1: launches held for the N one, and every single one 598 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:34,320 Speaker 1: of those test launches resulted in failure. The second one 599 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:39,600 Speaker 1: resulted in a launch pad explosion so spectacular it entered 600 00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:44,080 Speaker 1: the history books as the ninth largest non nuclear man 601 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,560 Speaker 1: made explosion. It was equal to the detonation of a 602 00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:51,840 Speaker 1: kilo ton of T and T. So the project was scrapped. 603 00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:54,960 Speaker 1: No one outside the Soviet Union would even learn about 604 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:59,880 Speaker 1: this until the Soviet Union itself collapsed. It was finally 605 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:03,080 Speaker 1: revealed in the late nineteen eighties after the Soviet Union 606 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,879 Speaker 1: had collapsed. So for for more than a decade, more 607 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:10,920 Speaker 1: than two decades, the United States had no idea that 608 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: this was going on over at the Soviet Union, or 609 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:17,319 Speaker 1: at least very little confirmed idea of it. The Space 610 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,759 Speaker 1: Shuttle program, which I'm going to talk about in our 611 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:23,040 Speaker 1: next episode, had its own launch vehicle. One of the 612 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:27,960 Speaker 1: interesting things about that vehicle is that the Space Shuttle 613 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:32,360 Speaker 1: would be attached to an external tank. And also attached 614 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:35,960 Speaker 1: to this external tank, we're a pair of solid fuel 615 00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:41,319 Speaker 1: rocket boosters, and those boosters could be recovered and reused. 616 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:44,880 Speaker 1: The external tank could not be reused, so it was 617 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:47,600 Speaker 1: not designed to be recovered. The tank was essentially just 618 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:52,160 Speaker 1: a fuel tank. So the shuttle itself had three main engines, 619 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:55,879 Speaker 1: and the external tank would provide fuel to those three 620 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:58,640 Speaker 1: main engines. Those engines would ignite it left off, and 621 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:02,120 Speaker 1: the two solid fuel rocket boosters would ignite at liftoff. 622 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:06,799 Speaker 1: Once the solid fuel rocket boosters had burned through, they 623 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:10,880 Speaker 1: would jettison from the external tank, fall back to Earth 624 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:15,200 Speaker 1: and get recovered for reuse. And then the Space Shuttle 625 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:18,480 Speaker 1: would eventually jettison the external tank as it was heading 626 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,520 Speaker 1: up toward orbit. The external tank would not be reused. 627 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:24,600 Speaker 1: But I'll talk more about the Space Shuttle in our 628 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:27,359 Speaker 1: next episode, and I'll also use that time to talk 629 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:30,319 Speaker 1: a little bit about the private launch vehicles that were 630 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:32,520 Speaker 1: created by SpaceX. I was going to do it in 631 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,240 Speaker 1: this episode, but these shows are running kind of along 632 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:38,520 Speaker 1: because I get gabby about all right, let's be honest, 633 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:41,560 Speaker 1: I get gabby about everything, but I I get particularly 634 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:44,719 Speaker 1: gabby about space stuff. And I know that's the case. 635 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:49,160 Speaker 1: So we're gonna save that SpaceX discussion for the end 636 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,680 Speaker 1: of the next episode. That's when we'll talk about the 637 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:55,239 Speaker 1: Space Shuttle program. That will be the conclusion of the 638 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:59,319 Speaker 1: space block of content, and then we'll switch gears or 639 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:03,600 Speaker 1: we'll change navigation to go to some new destination. If 640 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:06,080 Speaker 1: you guys have suggestions for what I should talk about 641 00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:08,760 Speaker 1: an upcoming episodes of tech Stuff, send me an email. 642 00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:12,080 Speaker 1: The address is tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, 643 00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:14,759 Speaker 1: or you can drop me a line on Facebook or 644 00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 1: Twitter to handle at both of those is tech Stuff 645 00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:20,040 Speaker 1: hs W. Don't forget. 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