A rocket is a jet propulsion device that carries its own solid or liquid propellants, which provide the fuel and oxidizer for combustion. It develops thrust by ejecting mass at high velocity. Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion explains this principle: the rocket's increase in momentum is proportional to the momentum of the exhaust. Rockets can operate in space and the atmosphere, deliver high thrust, and be kept ready to fire. They are used in fireworks, missiles, and spaceflight. Solid-propellant rockets contain a mixture of solid fuel and oxidizer, while liquid-fuel rockets require pumping fuel and oxidizer into the combustion chamber.

How does a rocket work?

A rocket works by ejecting mass at high velocity, creating thrust in the opposite direction, based on Newton's third law of motion . Unlike jet engines, rockets carry their own oxidizing agent , enabling them to operate in space. Thrust is maximized by a high mass discharge rate or high exhaust velocity. Chemical rockets burn condensed-phase propellants, converting them into hot gaseous products. Nozzles accelerate this gas to high velocity. Navigation, guidance, and control systems ensure the rocket reaches its intended orbit.

What is the difference between a rocket and a missile?

A rocket is a jet propulsion device that carries its own fuel and oxidizer. It is often used to describe jet-propelled missiles. Rockets can be used in fireworks , guided missiles , and launch vehicles for spaceflight. A missile is a weapon or object that is forcibly propelled at a target. Guided missiles can be directed to a target after being launched. Tactical guided missiles have shorter ranges for combat, while strategic guided missiles have longer ranges and can be either cruise or ballistic. Cruise missiles use air-breathing engines for continuous propulsion, and ballistic missiles use rocket engines for initial flight before following an arcing trajectory.

How are rockets used in space exploration?

Rockets are essential for space exploration because they can operate in space and the atmosphere, deliver high thrust, and have relatively simple propulsion systems. They transport spacecraft beyond Earth's atmosphere into orbit or to other destinations. Since the 1950s, rockets have launched crewed spacecraft, uncrewed space probes, and satellites into space. To reach Earth orbit, a launch vehicle must accelerate its payload to a minimum velocity of 28,000 km per hour. To travel to the Moon or Mars, it must reach approximately 40,000 km per hour. Space probes, uncrewed spacecraft, use rockets for research, sending images back to Earth. For example, in 1977, the United States launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 via rockets to explore the outer solar system.

What are the main parts of a missile?

A missile is a rocket-propelled weapon designed to deliver an explosive warhead with great accuracy at high speed. Missiles can be tactical, for use in battle, or strategic, for striking distant targets. The main parts of a missile are: * Warhead The section containing the explosive, chemical, or incendiary charge. * Propulsion Missiles can be propelled by liquid-fueled or solid-fueled rocket engines, with solid fuel preferred for military use. * Guidance System The most important part, using electronic sensors to locate the target and relay instructions for course correction to the control mechanism. Ballistic missiles use inertial guidance systems to compare the missile’s actual speed and position to the positions needed to hit the target. * Control Systems Adjust the missile's flight path using aerodynamic vanes or thrust vectoring, which deflects the rocket engine's exhaust. * Stabilizing Fins Steady the missile in flight.

How do guidance systems help missiles reach their targets?

Guidance systems are crucial for missiles to hit their targets. Tactical missiles use electronic sensors to locate targets by detecting emitted or reflected energy. For example, heat-seeking missiles use infrared sensors to home in on the hot exhaust of jet engines, while antiradiation missiles target radar emissions. Ballistic missiles rely on inertial guidance systems, comparing the missile's actual position and speed to the required parameters for hitting the target. The guidance system then sends corrective commands to the control system. Some missiles use active guidance, tracking targets via self-generated emissions, but this method can be susceptible to jamming or decoys.

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Components of an infrared-homing (“heat-seeking”) air-to-air missile.

At a Glance

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Key People:: Wernher von Braun; Walter Robert Dornberger

Related Topics:: CSS-N-3 SLBM; SS-6 Sapwood; CSS; Kormoran; Martel

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Top Questions

What is a rocket?
A rocket is a jet propulsion device that carries its own solid or liquid propellants, which provide the fuel and oxidizer for combustion. It develops thrust by ejecting mass at high velocity. Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion explains this principle: the rocket's increase in momentum is proportional to the momentum of the exhaust.

Rockets can operate in space and the atmosphere, deliver high thrust, and be kept ready to fire. They are used in fireworks, missiles, and spaceflight. Solid-propellant rockets contain a mixture of solid fuel and oxidizer, while liquid-fuel rockets require pumping fuel and oxidizer into the combustion chamber.
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How does a rocket work?
A rocket works by ejecting mass at high velocity, creating thrust in the opposite direction, based on Newton's third law of motion. Unlike jet engines, rockets carry their own oxidizing agent, enabling them to operate in space.

Thrust is maximized by a high mass discharge rate or high exhaust velocity. Chemical rockets burn condensed-phase propellants, converting them into hot gaseous products. Nozzles accelerate this gas to high velocity. Navigation, guidance, and control systems ensure the rocket reaches its intended orbit.
2 Britannica Sources
1. launch vehicle: Navigation, guidance, and control
2. rocket: General characteristics and principles of operation
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What is the difference between a rocket and a missile?
A rocket is a jet propulsion device that carries its own fuel and oxidizer. It is often used to describe jet-propelled missiles. Rockets can be used in fireworks, guided missiles, and launch vehicles for spaceflight.

A missile is a weapon or object that is forcibly propelled at a target. Guided missiles can be directed to a target after being launched. Tactical guided missiles have shorter ranges for combat, while strategic guided missiles have longer ranges and can be either cruise or ballistic. Cruise missiles use air-breathing engines for continuous propulsion, and ballistic missiles use rocket engines for initial flight before following an arcing trajectory.
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How are rockets used in space exploration?
Rockets are essential for space exploration because they can operate in space and the atmosphere, deliver high thrust, and have relatively simple propulsion systems. They transport spacecraft beyond Earth's atmosphere into orbit or to other destinations. Since the 1950s, rockets have launched crewed spacecraft, uncrewed space probes, and satellites into space.

To reach Earth orbit, a launch vehicle must accelerate its payload to a minimum velocity of 28,000 km per hour. To travel to the Moon or Mars, it must reach approximately 40,000 km per hour. Space probes, uncrewed spacecraft, use rockets for research, sending images back to Earth. For example, in 1977, the United States launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 via rockets to explore the outer solar system.
3 Britannica Sources
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What are the main parts of a missile?
A missile is a rocket-propelled weapon designed to deliver an explosive warhead with great accuracy at high speed. Missiles can be tactical, for use in battle, or strategic, for striking distant targets.

The main parts of a missile are:
* Warhead The section containing the explosive, chemical, or incendiary charge.
* Propulsion Missiles can be propelled by liquid-fueled or solid-fueled rocket engines, with solid fuel preferred for military use.
* Guidance System The most important part, using electronic sensors to locate the target and relay instructions for course correction to the control mechanism. Ballistic missiles use inertial guidance systems to compare the missile’s actual speed and position to the positions needed to hit the target.
* Control Systems Adjust the missile's flight path using aerodynamic vanes or thrust vectoring, which deflects the rocket engine's exhaust.
* Stabilizing Fins Steady the missile in flight.
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How do guidance systems help missiles reach their targets?
Guidance systems are crucial for missiles to hit their targets. Tactical missiles use electronic sensors to locate targets by detecting emitted or reflected energy. For example, heat-seeking missiles use infrared sensors to home in on the hot exhaust of jet engines, while antiradiation missiles target radar emissions.

Ballistic missiles rely on inertial guidance systems, comparing the missile's actual position and speed to the required parameters for hitting the target. The guidance system then sends corrective commands to the control system. Some missiles use active guidance, tracking targets via self-generated emissions, but this method can be susceptible to jamming or decoys.
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2. missile: Propulsion, control, and guidance
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missile, a rocket-propelled weapon designed to deliver an explosive warhead with great accuracy at high speed. Missiles vary from small tactical weapons that are effective out to only a few hundred feet to much larger strategic weapons that have ranges of several thousand miles. Almost all missiles contain some form of guidance and control mechanism and are therefore often referred to as guided missiles. An unguided military missile, as well as any launch vehicle used to sound the upper atmosphere or place a satellite in space, is usually referred to as a rocket. A propeller-driven underwater missile is called a torpedo, and a guided missile powered along a low, level flight path by an air-breathing jet engine is called a cruise missile.

A brief treatment of military missiles follows. For full treatment, see rocket and missile system.

Propulsion, control, and guidance

Although missiles can be propelled by either liquid-fueled or solid-fueled rocket engines, solid fuel is preferred for military uses because it is less likely to explode and can be kept ready-loaded for quick launch. Such engines commonly propel tactical guided missiles—i.e., missiles intended for use within the immediate battle area—toward their targets at twice the speed of sound. Strategic missiles (weapons designed to strike targets far beyond the battle area) are either of the cruise or ballistic type. Cruise missiles are jet-propelled at subsonic speeds throughout their flights, while ballistic missiles are rocket-powered only in the initial (boost) phase of flight, after which they follow an arcing trajectory to the target. As gravity pulls the ballistic warhead back to Earth, speeds of several times the speed of sound are reached.

Types

Tactical guided missiles are generally categorized according to the location of the launch platform and target. There are five types, air-to-air, air-to-surface, surface-to-air, antiship, and antitank, or assault.

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Ballistic missiles are most often categorized as short-range, medium-range, intermediate-range, and intercontinental ballistic missiles (SRBMs, MRBMs, IRBMs, and ICBMs). SRBMs are effective to 300 miles (480 km), MRBMs from 300 to 600 miles (480 to 965 km), IRBMs from 600 to 3,300 miles (965 to 5,310 km), and ICBMs more than 3,300 miles (5,310 km).

ICBMs are usually launched from silos, which are reinforced canisters sunk into the ground for protection. Shorter-range ballistic missiles and some ICBMs are launched from railroad cars or wheeled trailers that offer the protection of mobility. “Hot-launched” ballistic missiles are launched directly from their canisters, while “cold-launched” missiles are ejected from the canisters by compressed gas before the rocket engines ignite. Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) are ejected in this manner to the ocean surface from tubes within the submerged vessel. See also cruise missile; rocket; smart bomb; torpedo.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.

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Propulsion, control, and guidance

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