Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
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Tidbit
The Sidewinder, first introduced in 1956, is a bargain in the world of military missiles. The unit cost
of each missile is only $84,000.
Summary
In this chapter, you learned about the physics of rockets. We saw a little bit about how rockets
were first invented and about the development of rocket technology through the years. We
created a basic force diagram of a rocket in flight. We saw that in many ways modeling rockets
is similar to modeling airplanes. Both problems involve evaluating lift, drag, thrust, and gravity
forces. There are some new wrinkles when it comes to modeling rockets. For example, altitude
effects can be important when computing the thrust, drag, and gravity forces on a rocket.
Another unique feature of rockets compared to the other objects modeled in this topic is that
the mass of the rocket is continually changing during its flight.
Some of the other things you learned in this chapter include the following:
•
How to compute rocket engine thrust based on mass flow rate and exhaust velocity
•
What the specific impulse is and how it can be used to characterize rocket engines
•
How the gravitational acceleration decreases with increasing altitude
•
How to compute atmospheric pressure, density, and temperature as a function of alti-
tude using the U.S. Standard Atmosphere 1976 model
•
How to use the rocket equation to estimate the velocity of a rocket based on the exhaust
velocity and the initial and final masses of the rocket
•
How to compute circular orbit and escape velocities for a satellite
•
How multistage rockets can piggyback on top of each other to increase the performance
of a rocket
•
An introduction to rocket-powered missiles including the different ways a missile can
find its target
References
1. Specific Impulse of Various Types of Rocket Engines,
www.marsacademy.com/propul/
propul3.htm
.
2. Space and Tech Space Database,
www.spaceandtech.com/spacedata/engines/engines.shtml
.
3.
Encyclopedia Astronautica
,
www.astronautix.com/engines/f1.htm
.
4.
Wikipedia Encyclopedia
,
http://en.wikipedia.org
.
5. The Apollo Saturn Reference page,
www.apollosaturn.com/asnr/p9-13.htm
.
6. Pratt and Whitney Space Products,
www.pratt-whitney.com/prod_space_rd180.asp
.
7. Federation of American Scientists Military Analysis Network,
www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/
missile/index.html
.
