Rocket-powered Aircraft
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Rocket-powered Aircraft
A rocket-powered aircraft or rocket plane is an aircraft that uses a rocket engine for propulsion, sometimes in addition to airbreathing jet engines. Rocket planes can achieve much higher speeds than similarly sized jet aircraft, but typically for at most a few minutes of powered operation, followed by a gliding flight. Unhindered by the need for oxygen from the atmosphere, they are suitable for very high-altitude flight. They are also capable of delivering much higher acceleration and shorter takeoffs. Many rocket aircraft may be drop launched from transport planes, as take-off from ground may leave them with insufficient time to reach high altitudes. Rockets have been used simply to assist the main propulsion in the form of jet assisted take off (JATO) also known as rocket-assisted takeoff ( RATO or RATOG). Not all rocket planes are of the conventional takeoff like "normal" aircraft. Some types have been air-launched from another plane, while other types have taken off v ...
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Pedro Paulet
Pedro Eleodoro Paulet Mostajo (2 July 1874 or 4 July 1875 – 30 January 1945) was a Peruvian diplomat and engineer. Some early rocket experts described him as a pioneer in aeronautics, saying that he was the first person to build a liquid-propellant rocket engine and modern rocket propulsion system, but his experiments were never independently verified. Early life and education Pedro Eleodoro Paulet Mostajo was born on 2 July 1874, to the well-esteemed family of Pedro Paulet and Antonia Mostajo y Quiroz in Tiabaya District, Tiabaya, Arequipa, Peru; his father died three years later. As a child, Paulet was fascinated with flight and combustion. With the steam locomotives traveling through Arequipa, Paulet would try to learn how the large machines were propelled as a child. He was sent to the San Vicente de Paul School by his mother, with the school being founded by the Lazarist French priest Hippolyte Duhamel. After Duhamel gifted Paulet the 1865 French novel ''From the Earth to ...
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Fritz Von Opel
Fritz Adam Hermann von Opel (4 May 1899 – 8 April 1971), known as Fritz Adam Hermann Opel until his father was ennobled in 1917, was the only son of Wilhelm von Opel and a grandson of Adam Opel, founder of the Opel company. He is remembered mostly for his Opel RAK demonstrations of the world's first crewed rocket-powered ground and air vehicles that earned him the nickname "Rocket Fritz" and which were also highly effective as publicity stunts for his family's automotive business. Life and career Opel was born in Rüsselsheim. He studied at the Technische Universität Darmstadt and received his doctorate from the university. After graduation, he was made director of testing for the Opel company and also put in charge of publicity. Fritz von Opel was a grandson of Adam Opel and son of Wilhelm von Opel. His sister was Elinor von Opel, a cousin Georg von Opel. When his father Wilhelm was raised to hereditary nobility in 1917, his descendants were also ennobled. In 1929 he ma ...
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Opel RAK
Opel-RAK were a series of rocket vehicles produced by German automobile manufacturer Fritz von Opel,https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0904rocket/ article by Walter J. Boyne in Air Force Magazine, September 1, 2004 of the Opel car company, in association with others, including Max Valier, Julius Hatry, and Friedrich Wilhelm Sander. Opel RAK is generally considered the world's first large-scale rocket program, significantly advancing rocket and aviation technology as well as instrumental in popularizing rockets as means of propulsion. In addition Opel RAK demonstrations were also highly successful as publicity stunts for the Opel car company. The Lippisch Ente (meaning “duck” in German), the world's first rocket-powered glider and piloted for its first flight on June 11, 1928, by Fritz Stamer at Wasserkuppe, was bought and operated by Opel in context of the Opel RAK program but is not formally designated an Opel RAK series number. Also a rocket-powered RAK-Motoclub mot ...
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Verein Für Raumschiffahrt
The Verein für Raumschiffahrt ("''VfR''", ) was a German amateur rocket association prior to World War II that included members outside Germany. The first successful VfR test firing with liquid fuel (five minutes) was conducted by Max Valier at the Heylandt Works on January 25, 1930; and additional rocket experiments were conducted at a farm near Bernstadt, Saxony. Space travel and rocketry gained popularity in Germany after the June 1923 publication of Herman Oberth's book '' Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen'' () and the expanded 1929 work '' Wege zur Raumschiffahrt'' (''Ways to Spaceflight''). The VfR was founded in 1927 by Johannes Winkler, with Max Valier and Willy Ley after their participation as expert advisers for Fritz Lang's early science fiction film '' Frau im Mond'' (''The Woman in the Moon''). Ley and Hermann Oberth had hoped to receive funding from Lang for a real-life experimental rocket launch coinciding with the movie's premiere. Valier had assisted in ...
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Max Valier
Max Valier (9 February 1895 – 17 May 1930) was an Austrian rocketry pioneer. He was a leading figure in the world's first large-scale rocket program, Opel-RAK, and helped found the German ''Verein für Raumschiffahrt'' (VfR – "Spaceflight Society") that would bring together many of the minds that would later make spaceflight a reality in the 20th century. Biography Valier was born in Bozen in the County of Tyrol (now South Tyrol) and in 1913 enrolled to study physics at the University of Innsbruck. He also trained as a machinist at a nearby factory. His studies were interrupted by the First World War, during which he served in the Austro-Hungarian army's air corps as an aerial observer. After the war, Valier did not return to his studies, but became a freelance science writer. In 1923, he read Hermann Oberth's landmark book '' Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen'' (''The Rocket into Interplanetary Space'') and was inspired to write a similar work to explain Oberth's ideas ...
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Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for separating the New World of the Americas (North America and South America) from the Old World of Afro-Eurasia (Africa, Asia, and Europe). Through its separation of Afro-Eurasia from the Americas, the Atlantic Ocean has played a central role in the development of human society, globalization, and the histories of many nations. While the Norse colonization of North America, Norse were the first known humans to cross the Atlantic, it was the expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492 that proved to be the most consequential. Columbus's expedition ushered in an Age of Discovery, age of exploration and colonization of the Americas by European powers, most notably Portuguese Empire, Portugal, Spanish Empire, Sp ...
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Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircraft, the ''Spirit of St. Louis'', was built to compete for the $25,000 Orteig Prize for the first flight between the two cities. Although not the Transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown, first transatlantic flight, it was the longest at the time by nearly , the first First solo flight, solo transatlantic flight, and set a new flight distance Flight distance record, world record. The achievement garnered Lindbergh worldwide fame and stands as one of the History of aviation, most consequential flights in history, signalling a new era of International flight, air transportation between parts of the globe. Raised in both Little Falls, Minnesota and Washington, D.C., Lindbergh was the son of U.S. Congressman Charles August Lindbergh. He became ...
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Black Powder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium nitrate (saltpeter). The sulfur and charcoal act as fuels while the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms, artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics, including use as a blasting agent for explosives in quarrying, mining, building Pipeline transport, pipelines, tunnels, and road#Construction, roads. Gunpowder is classified as a Explosive#Low, low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate, low ignition temperature and consequently low brisance, brisance (breaking/shattering). Low explosives deflagration, deflagrate (i.e., burn at subsonic speeds), whereas high explosives detonation, detonate, producing a supersonic shockwave. Ignition of gunpowder packed behind a projectile generates ...
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BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online news coverage. The service has over 5,500 journalists working across its output including in 50 foreign news bureaus where more than 250 foreign correspondents are stationed. Deborah Turness has been the CEO of news and current affairs since September 2022. In 2019, it was reported in an Ofcom report that the BBC spent £136m on news during the period April 2018 to March 2019. BBC News' domestic, global and online news divisions are housed within the largest live newsroom in Europe, in Broadcasting House in central London. Parliamentary coverage is produced and broadcast from studios in London. Through BBC English Regions, th ...
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Tiltwing
A tiltwing aircraft features a wing that is horizontal for conventional forward flight and rotates up for vertical takeoff and landing. It is similar to the tiltrotor design where only the propeller and engine rotate. Tiltwing aircraft are typically fully capable of VTOL operations.Markman, Steve and Bill Holder. "Tilt-Wing VTOL Systems". ''Straight Up: A History of Vertical Flight''. Schiffer Publishing, 2000. . The tiltwing design offers certain advantages in vertical flight relative to a tiltrotor. Because the slipstream from the rotor strikes the wing on its smallest dimension, the tiltwing is able to apply more of its engine power to lifting the aircraft. For comparison, the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor loses about 10% of its thrust to interference from the wings. Another advantage of tiltwing aircraft is the ease of transition between VTOL and horizontal flight modes. A tiltrotor must first fly forwards like a helicopter, building airspeed until wing lift is sufficient to allo ...
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Delta Wing
A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (letter), delta (Δ). Although long studied, the delta wing did not find significant practical applications until the Jet Age, when it proved suitable for high-speed Subsonic aircraft, subsonic and supersonic flight. At the other end of the speed scale, the Rogallo wing, Rogallo flexible wing proved a practical design for the hang glider and other ultralight aircraft. The delta wing form has unique aerodynamic characteristics and structural advantages. Many design variations have evolved over the years, with and without additional stabilising surfaces. General characteristics Structure The long root chord of the delta wing and minimal area outboard make it structurally efficient. It can be built stronger, stiffer and at the same time lighter than a swept wing of equivalent aspect ratio and lifting capability. Because of this it is easy and rela ...
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