Why are space rockets shot straight up? Wouldn’t it be easier to make a spacecraft that ascends like regular aircraft until it’s out of the atmosphere?
In: Technology
A simple answer is that an aircraft use the air to create lift and as you get higher and higher in altitude you have less and less air to create that lift, until eventually you get none as you get into space. You could design a rocket to be like an aircraft, using air as lift to get up in the atmosphere, but pass a certain point the wings are becoming less and less useful, until they are just dead weight.
There was several test done and so far the wings are simply not worth it, it’s more costly to make a rocket that start like an aircraft, than a straith up rocket using an arc as their trajectory.
Now you could point to the american shuttle which had wings. But those were used to slow down the craft in re entry and then provide enough lift when closer to the ground where air is more dense, to land the craft. They were not designed to carry the weight of the craft at launch, which is a LOT more massive at launch, than in re-entry.
We are also touching the subject of reusable craft. Most of those aircraft type of rocket are reusable, which is for cost saving. But the issue we realized in the last couple of decades is that the stress of launching into space is just too big. The amount of testing and maintenance required to make the craft ready for the next launch just eat up any saving from reusing the craft several times. Some companies still try to achieve a design that is reusable, cost efficient and long term save, but so far it’s simply cheaper and safer to make single use craft for launching into space. Something that make the whole aircraft type of rocket even less economically viable.
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