It's ONLY Rocket Science: An Introduction in Plain English

365 Pages·2008·10 MB·English

by  Lucy Rogers

Astronomers’ Universe
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Dr. Lucy Rogers
It’s ONLY Rocket Science
An Introduction in Plain English
Dr. Lucy Rogers CEng MIMechE FRAS
Isle of Wight, UK.
www.itsonlyrocketscience.com
ISBN 978-0-387-75377-5 e-ISBN 978-0-387-75378-2
DOI: 10. 1007/978-0-387-75378-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007939660
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For Laura and Hannah

Acknowledgements
There are many people and organizations that have helped, either
directly or indirectly, to make this book a reality. I would first like
to thank the British Association for the Advancement of Science
and the Guardian Newspaper, for encouraging me, as an engineer,
to become involved with the media. I was fortunate enough to be
awarded one of the BA’s Media Fellowships at the Guardian news-
paper, and this scheme opened my eyes to the possibility of sharing
science with everyone, and not just limiting it to academia and
industry. Without this scheme and the wise words of Tim Radford,
the then science editor at the Guardian, I would never have started
writing.
I would also like to thank John Thomson and West Didsbury
Astronomical Society for rekindling my interest in astronomy, and
to Starchaser Industries for the opportunity to actually play, I mean
work, with rockets through all stages of development.
My thanks also go to the team at Springer, particularly John
Watson, who first believed in the project, and also to Harry Blom,
my editor, and his assistant editor Chris Coughlin.
I have been constantly amazed at the generosity of the many
people who have taken the time to answer my questions and
explain facets of rocket science that, at the start of the project, I did
not even know were involved. These include the staff at NASA, in
particular Kylie Clem, Allard Beutel and Jennifer Ross-Nazzal and
also to Colin R. McInnes, A.D. King, Russell Eberst, Claude Phipps,
Gregory Benford and also the members of the HearSat email list.
Neil Chance read the first draft of each chapter and, with que-
ries and probing questions, made me think much more deeply than
I had originally intended. The book is much clearer because of this,
and I thank him for it. I would also like to thank Jan Foy and John
Langley for their encouragement and time.
I must also thank my brother, Benjamin Rogers, who, since
our school days, has explained many aspects of science and maths
clearly and patiently. He has provided invaluable support when my
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viii Acknowledgements
understanding of the physics involved in rocket science wavered.
However, any mistakes in the book are mine.
Finally my love and thanks go to my parents and to my
partner Stephen J. Griffiths, who have supported and encouraged
me throughout the whole process of preparing this book.
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Solar Wind and the Van Allen Radiation Belts. . . . . . . . . . 2
Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Propulsion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Orbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Inclination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Eccentricity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Space Debris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Magnitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Space Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2 Rockets and Spacecraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Pre-spacefl ight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Rocket Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Multistaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Launch Pad to Orbit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Launch Vehicles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Sounding Rockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Attitude Control and Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Gravity Gradients and Tidal Forces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Spin Stabilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Three Axis Stabilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Magnetic Torquers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Spacecraft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Communication and Navigation Spacecraft. . . . . . . . . 40
Fly-by Spacecraft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Orbiter Spacecraft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Atmospheric Spacecraft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Lander and Rover Spacecraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Observatory Spacecraft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
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