A rocket is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely from propellant carried within the vehicle; therefore a rocket can fly in the vacuum of space. Rockets work more efficiently in a vacuum and incur a loss of thrust due to the opposing pressure of the atmosphere.
A hybrid-propellant rocket is a rocket with a rocket motor that uses rocket propellants in two different phases: one solid and the other either gas or liquid. The hybrid rocket concept can be traced back to the early 1930s.
The aerospike engine is a type of rocket engine that maintains its aerodynamic efficiency across a wide range of altitudes. It belongs to the class of altitude compensating nozzle engines. Aerospike engines were proposed for many single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) designs. They were a contender for the Space Shuttle main engine. However, as of 2023 no such engine was in commercial production, although some large-scale aerospikes were in testing phases.
Robert Hutchings Goddard was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, which was successfully launched on March 16, 1926. By 1915 his pioneering work had dramatically improved the efficiency of the solid-fueled rocket, signaling the era of the modern rocket and innovation. He and his team launched 34 rockets between 1926 and 1941, achieving altitudes as high as 2.6 km (1.6 mi) and speeds as fast as 885 km/h (550 mph).
A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to launch instruments from 48 to 145 km above the surface of the Earth, the altitude generally between weather balloons and satellites; the maximum altitude for balloons is about 40 km and the minimum for satellites is approximately 121 km. Certain sounding rockets have an apogee between 1,000 and 1,500 km, such as the Black Brant X and XII, which is the maximum apogee of their class. Sounding rockets often use military surplus rocket motors. NASA routinely flies the Terrier Mk 70 boosted Improved Orion, lifting 270–450-kg (600–1,000-pound) payloads into the exoatmospheric region between 97 and 201 km.
A water rocket is a type of model rocket using water as its reaction mass. The water is forced out by a pressurized gas, typically compressed air. Like all rocket engines, it operates on the principle of Newton's third law of motion. Water rocket hobbyists typically use one or more plastic soft drink bottle as the rocket's pressure vessel. A variety of designs are possible including multi-stage rockets. Water rockets are also custom-built from composite materials to achieve world record altitudes.
The National Association of Rocketry (NAR) is a non-profit tax-exempt scientific organization dedicated to consumer safety, youth education, and the advancement of technology in the hobby of sport rocketry in the United States. Founded in 1957, the NAR is the oldest and largest spacemodeling organization in the world with over 8,000 members and 200 affiliated clubs across the U.S. It was established in 1957 by Orville Carlisle and G. Harry Stine. It supports all aspects of safe consumer sport rocket flying, from small model rockets with youth groups to very large high-power rockets flown by adult hobbyists.
Amateur rocketry, sometimes known as experimental rocketry or amateur experimental rocketry, is a hobby in which participants experiment with fuels and make their own rocket motors, launching a wide variety of types and sizes of rockets. Amateur rocketeers have been responsible for significant research into hybrid rocket motors, and have built and flown a variety of solid, liquid, and hybrid propellant motors.
The X Prize Cup is a two-day air and space exposition which was the result of a partnership between the X Prize Foundation and the State of New Mexico that began in 2004 when the Ansari X-Prize was held. This led to plans to build the world's first true rocket festival. Three X-Prize Cups have been held: in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Each X Prize Cup hosts different events and demonstrations, such as rocket-powered bicycles, rocket jet packs; but particularly notable are the Lunar Lander Challenge and the Space Elevator Games. 85,000 visitors attended the 2007 X Prize Cup. Although there was no X Prize Cup in 2009, there was a Lunar Lander Challenge.
The American Rocketry Challenge is an annual American model rocketry competition for students in grades six to 12 sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry. Co-sponsors include NASA, United States Department of Defense, the American Association of Physics Teachers and the Civil Air Patrol. Previously known as the "Team America Rocketry Challenge," the name was changed following the 2019 event.
CU Spaceflight is a student-run society at Cambridge University. It is founded with the aim of achieving access to space, with minimal financial expenses. The society is supported by the Cambridge-MIT Institute.
The United Kingdom Rocketry Association (UKRA) is an enabling body set up to promote and represent high power, medium power and model rocketry in the United Kingdom for educational, recreational and amateur research purposes. UKRA is also the specialist body to the BMFA with responsibilities for High Power Rocketry, and is the United Kingdom body recognized by the Civil Aviation Authority.
The UK Youth Rocketry Challenge (UKRoC) is a youth rocket building competition, established in 2007. It provides secondary school student teams (of 3 to 5 members aged 11 to 18), a realistic experience in designing a flying aerospace vehicle that meets a specified set of mission and performance requirements. Students have to work together in teams, emulating the practices of real aerospace engineers. Not intended to be easy, and considered well within the capabilities of secondary school students with a good background in science and maths, and some craftsmanship skills.
A CanSat is a type of sounding rocket payload used to teach space technology. It is similar to the technology used in miniaturized satellites. No CanSat has ever left the atmosphere, nor orbited the Earth.
Katie Savannah Steele is an American model rocketeer. She is actively involved in National Association of Rocketry. She has been featured in several magazines, including Sport Rocketry. Her notable works include three separate national championships at the National Association of Rocketry's Annual Meet. She is known for competing on the United States team in the World Space Modeling Championships in Serbia in 2010 and acting as assistant team manager of United States junior team in World Space Modeling Championships in Liptovský Mikuláš Slovakia in 2012 and at the European Spacemodeling Championships in Shumen, Bulgaria in 2013 and Lviv, Ukraine in 2015. Steele and her two sisters, Caroline, and Cassidy have also competed as a team at the Team America Rocketry Challenge (2010). The Steele family has been involved with model rocketry since 2004.
The Air Cargo Challenge is an aeronautical engineering student competition that is held in Europe every two years.
Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering is a student-run society within Delft University of Technology, with over 190 members. The main focus of the student group is the development of rocket technology on a non-profit basis. All development, from engines to electronics, is done in-house. Although several projects take place in DARE, the group's two flagship projects are Stratos and Project Sparrow. Stratos includes the Stratos I rocket which was launched in 2009 and set the European altitude record for amateur rocketry at 12.5 km. The follow-up of this rocket was the Stratos II+, which was launched on 16 October 2015, reaching an altitude of 21.5 km and breaking the European altitude record. In summer of 2018, Stratos III was launched, disintegrating 20 seconds after the launch. Its successor, Stratos IV, was set to launch to 100 km, but never did due to ground systems failures during the launch campaign. Project Sparrow successfully developed a LOX/Ethanol, regeneratively cooled engine, and Stratos V, the latest flagship project, is building a reusable rocket around it. Even though DARE cooperates with the military to safely conduct launch campaigns, DARE's technology is strictly non-military. Approximately 70 percent of members come from the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering of Delft University of Technology, with the remaining 30% coming from other faculties, including Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics and Industrial Design. DARE also features a very high number of international students, with about half of the students coming from outside the Netherlands.
The Scientific Workgroup for Rocketry and Spaceflight (WARR) is a scientific workgroup situated at Technical University of Munich, composed mainly of its students. It was founded by students in 1962 with the goal to compensate for the lack of a chair for space technology at the university at the time. Since the establishment of such a chair in 1966, the group has conducted practical projects, starting with the first successful development and of a hybrid rocket in Germany. One rocket of this type was launched in 1972, another is on permanent display at Deutsches Museum. WARR has attained some public attention by for its projects in space elevator competitions, small satellites interstellar spaceflight concepts, and for winning all SpaceX Hyperloop pod competitions.
Space Concordia, commonly referred to as SC, is a student organisation at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, dedicated to the development of space technology.
