Why do rockets carry their own oxygen?

Rockets carry an oxidizer, often in the form of liquid oxygen, to burn their engine fuel.

Why does the rocket need to carry their own oxygen?

Since there is no air and space, rockets need to take oxygen with them into space. … That gas has pressure, and it pushes harder against the top of the rocket than the bottom, making it go up or forward. Since the fuel is burning, exhaust is released out the bottom.

Why do rockets carry oxygen in addition to fuel?

Oxygen makes a fine propellant for a rocket because it can be stored and handled readily in concentrated form by cooling it to its liquid form, and because in that form it reacts explosively with many convenient fuels: hydrogen, methane, kerosene, alcohol, etc.

How do rockets work in space if there is no oxygen?

In space, rockets zoom around with no air to push against. What's going on? Rockets and engines in space behave according to Isaac Newton's third law of motion: Every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. When a rocket shoots fuel out one end, this propels the rocket forward — no air is required.

How do rockets store liquid oxygen?

Overview: Liquid oxygen used as an oxidizer by the orbiter main engines is stored in a 900,000-gallon tank on the pad's northwest corner, while the liquid hydrogen used as a fuel is kept in an 850,000-gallon tank on the northeast corner.

Is there fire in space without oxygen?

Fires can't start in space itself because there is no oxygen – or indeed anything else – in a vacuum.

How does fire burn in space without oxygen?

Without gravity, hot air expands but doesn't move upward. The flame persists because of the diffusion of oxygen, with random oxygen molecules drifting into the fire. Absent the upward flow of hot air, fires in microgravity are dome-shaped or spherical—and sluggish, thanks to meager oxygen flow.

Does NASA use liquid oxygen?

The shuttle uses two types of liquid oxygen. 1. The oxygen loaded into the external tank, 141,750 gallons (1,350,000 pounds), is produced at Mims, Fla., by liquefying and sep- arating air. The oxygen is trucked to KSC in 6,000-gallon tank- ers.

Is oxygen used as a rocket fuel?

In rocket propellant Liquid oxygen is the most common cryogenic liquid oxidizer propellant for spacecraft rocket applications, usually in combination with liquid hydrogen, kerosene or methane. Liquid oxygen was used in the first liquid fueled rocket.

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