This IS Rocket Science

And the rocket's red glare,

The bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night,

That our flag was still there.

Rockets have shaped how we live in this world and what we understand about the universe. They put the satellites up for GPS so we can navigate from one place to another; They help put the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit so we can understand all about the cosmos and see those incredible pictures of our universe. We’re fascinated by rockets and name things after them. The Houston Rockets are a famous basketball team. Radio city Rockettes are a famous musical show. When a pitcher throws a great fastball, we say, he’s throwing a rocket. How can we forget the “ROCKETMAN”, the North Korean dictator who conducts too many missile tests? 

When things are not hard, we say, “It’s not rocket science!”. Today however, my topic IS ROCKET SCIENCE. Today, I’ll explain everything you need to know about rockets. I’ll start with the science behind rockets. Then I'll explain the evolution of rockets, and how rockets have helped modern life. Not to worry -- I’ll explain them without troublesome equations so you can appreciate rockets even more.

Now let’s talk rocket science! Rockets work on the simple principle, “Action and reaction” are equal and opposite, also known as Newton’s third law. The simplest form of a rocket is a cannon. When you shoot a cannon ball, the cannon recoils. The recoiled cannon is the rocket!  

Let’s dig a bit deeper.

Let’s say you bounce a tennis ball against the floor. When the ball hits the ground, it exerts a force on it. This is called the action. The ground then pushes back against the ball with an equal force, called the reaction, in the opposite direction. This is how the ball bounces back up.

Another example of Newton’s third law is a balloon. Have you ever let go of a balloon filled with air? As air rushes out of the balloon, the balloon moves in the opposite direction. Of course, the balloon being unstable, goes all around. We’ll discuss stability shortly. 

Rockets work similar to the balloon. They also push off against the ground and the air to move in the opposite direction. A rocket uses hot explosive fuel to exert a powerful force.  The whole rocket is a continuous controlled explosion!

There are four forces which act on a rocket in flight: push↑, drag↓, lift←, and weight↓. Push is the upward movement of the rocket. Drag is obstruction of the rocket by air particles. Lift is the sideways movement of the rocket. Weight is gravity pulling the rocket down due to its mass. A rocket needs to have more push than drag to move upwards and more lift than weight to move sideways. The optimal rocket is lightweight and aerodynamic with lots of push. In addition to design of the rocket, external forces like wind and temperature can affect the rocket. When the rocket is trying to go up, balancing isn’t easy. Let’s demonstrate using a “model rocket”. If most of the mass is beneath this point, the rocket is stable. If most of the mass is above, it’s a different story. Unfortunately, this is how most rockets are. Luckily, there are ways to stabilize a rocket. This is where “rocket science” comes into picture. Two of the measures of stability for a rocket are center of mass and center of pressure. Center of mass is the point where the mass is evenly distributed on both sides. Center of pressure is the point where the area is evenly distributed on the top and bottom. When the center of mass is in front of the center of pressure, the rocket is stable. Fins are the easiest way to do this. They move the center of pressure back so the rocket is stable. This allows the rocket to fly straight.

Now let me briefly explain the parts of a rocket. There are too many different parts to explain, so let me talk about some of the more important ones. The structure system is basically the frame of the rocket. The propulsion system uses Newton’s Third Law to push the rocket up. The payload system is what holds the astronauts inside the rocket as well as any cargo. Finally, the guidance system is the computer which tells you the necessary data for flying in space and helps maneuver the spacecraft.

Now let’s talk about the history of rockets. The Chinese are the first documented creators of rockets. These rockets weren’t exactly what you would call a “rocket” today. They were more like fireworks used for celebration as well as defense. People first looked to rockets as vehicles as mankind finished conquering every landmark on the planet. Then World War II began, leading to worldwide war and the near perfection of the art of the rocket. NASA began building rockets for them when the space race began. The Space Race was a front of the Cold War. It was a competition between the United States and Soviet Russia about using rockets to launch men into space. As the Space Race progressed, so did rocket science. Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space, and the Russians completed the first spacewalk. United States president John F. Kennedy then challenged his country to lead the space race. The U.S. then took the lead and fulfilled this mission in 1969 by landing on the moon and returning in the Apollo 11 mission. The Space Race and Cold War then ended as more countries sent manned rockets to new space stations, orbital satellites which house astronauts who do important science experiments in space. And the future holds a lot for rocket technology. NASA, after shutting down the Space Shuttle program in 2011, has hired commercial companies such as SpaceX to send American astronauts to the ISS from American soil. I’m sure most of you have witnessed today’s historical launch of the Crew Dragon, which marked the beginning of a new age for space flight. NASA itself has developed Orion, the vehicle for Mars missions in the future, and uses project Artemis as a successor to Apollo for returning to the Moon for more scientific discoveries and even the establishment of a permanent settlement.

Rockets have made the lives of normal people both better and worse. Rockets have been used to create weapons of mass destruction, all the way from high precision missiles to machine guns. They have been used to commit mass genocide and plunge the world into chaos during two world wars. They have, in a way, kept us farther apart.

But rockets have also brought us together through technology such as GPS and video calling. GPS allows us to see where we are and how to get somewhere. GPS only works with four or more satellites. There are currently thirty-one GPS satellites in orbit. Every one of these satellites were brought there by a rocket. Video calling is enabled by satellites which were carried into orbit by rockets. No matter how much evil rockets have done, rockets have brought humanity much closer together.

That wasn’t so hard, was it? Today, you learned about rockets. You learned physics behind rockets which enables them to work, the history of rockets and how rocket technology has led to innovations which make our life better. You can walk away from this talk knowing that rocket technology has changed all of our lives, either for the worse or the better. Rockets have changed the modern man into the true “Rocketman”! Hence the lines from Elton John:

And I think it's gonna be a long long time

'Till touchdown brings me round again to find

I'm not the man they think I am at home

Oh no no no I'm a rocket man

Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone

And all this science you do understand

It's just my job five days a week

A rocket man, a rocket man

In the end, it’s not rocket science, right?