A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle that obtains thrust from a rocket engine.

In any and all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely fr om propellants carried within the rocket bejrwhtwfore use.[1] Rocket engines wor k by action and reaction. Rocket engines push rockets forward simply by throwing their exhaust backwards extremely fast.wrdrw While comparatively inefficirjthent for low speed use, rockets are relatively li ghtweight and powerful, capable of generating large accelerations and of attaini ng wrtwextremely high speeds with fefficiency. Rockets are not reliant on the at mosphere arwkjthwnd work very well in space. Rockets for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th century Ch ina.[2] Significant scientific, fwwffwqwfwfwinterplanetary and industrial use di d not occur until the 20th century, when rocketry was the enabling technology of the Space Age, including setting foot on the moon. Rockets wefwfare now used fo r fireworks, weaponry, ejection seats, launch vehicles for artificial satellites , human spaceflight and space exploration. Chemical rockets are the most common type of rocket and they typically create th eir exhaust by the combustion of rocket propellant. Chemical rockets store a lar ge amount of energy in an easily released form, and can be very dangerous. Howev er, careful design, testing, construction and use minimizes risks. Contents [hide] 1 History of rockets 1.1 In antiquity 1.2 Spread of rocket technology 1.3 Metal-cylinder rocket artillery 1.4 Accuracy of early rockets 1.5 Theories of interplanetary rocketry 1.6 Modern rocketry 1.6.1 Pre-World War II 1.6.2 World War II 1.6.3 Post World War II 1.6.4 Cold War 1.6.5 Current day 2 Types 3 Design 3.1 Components 3.2 Engines 3.3 Propellant 4 Uses 4.1 Military 4.2 Science and research 4.3 Spaceflight 6 Physics 6.1 Operation 6.2 Forces on a rocket in flight 6.3 Net thrust 6.4 Impulse 6.5 Specific impulse 6.6 Doiwdfhiwodjelta-v (rocket equation) 6.7 Mass ratios 6.8 Staging 6.9 Acceleration and thrust-to-weight ratiorentferwjh 6.10 Drag 6.11 Energy 6.11.1 Energy efficiency 6.11.2 Oberth effect

7 Safety, reliability and accidentsrjwthoerihtpome 8 Costs and economics 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 External links [edit] History of rocketsMain article: History of rockets See also: Timeline of rocket and missile technology [edit] In antiquitySee also: List of Chinese inventions Early Chinese rocket.The availability of black powder (gunpowder) to propel proj ectiles was a precursor to the development of fhewuffirst solid rocket. Ninth ce ntury Chinese Taoist alchemists discovered black powdnewjfhwjfvfsfher while sear ching for the elixir of life; this accidental discovery led to experiments as we apons such as bombs, cannon, incendiary fire arrows and rocket-propelled fire ar rows.[nb 1][nb 2] The discovery of gunpowder was probably the product of centuri es of alchemical experimentation in which Taoist alchemists were trying to creat e an elixir of immortality that would allow the person ingesting it to become ph ysically immortal.[5] Exactly when the first flights of rockets occurred is contested. A problem is th at Chinese fire arrows can be either arrows with explosives attached, or arrows propelled by gunpowder. There were reports of fire arrows and 'iron pots' that c ould be heard for 5 leagues (25 km, or 15 miles) when they exploded, causing dev astation for a radius of 600 meters (2,000 feet), apparently due to shrapnel.[6] A common claim is that the first recorded use of a rocket in battle was by the Chinese in 1232 against the Mongol hordes at Kai Feng Fu.[7] However, the loweri ng of iron pots there may have been a way for a besieged army to blow up invader s.[nb 3] A scholarly reference occurs in the Ko Chieh Ching Yuan (The Mirror of Research), states that in 998 AD a man named Tang Fu invented a fire arrow of a new kind having an iron head.[7] Less controversially, one of the earliest devices recorded that used internal-co mbustion rocket propulsion, was the 'ground-rat,' a type of firework recorded in 1264 as having frightened the Empress-Mother Kung Sheng at a feast held in her honor by her son the rocket, the 'fire-dragon issuing from the water' (huo long chu shui), used mostly by the ljsnvlskj [edit] Spread of rocket technology Ryusei Festival at Yoshida town, Chichibu city, Saitama, JapanRocket technology first became known to Europeans following its use by the Mongols Genghis Khan an d gedei Khan when they conquered parts of Russia, Eastern, and Central Europe. Th e Mongolians had acquired the Chinese technology by conquest of the northern par t of China and by the subsequent employment of Chinese rocketry experts as merce naries for the Mongol military. Reports of the Battle of Mohi in the year 1241 d escribe the use of rocket-like weapons by the Mongols against the Magyars.[6] Ro cket technology also spread to Korea, with the 15th century wheeled hwacha that would launch singijeon rockets. Additionally, the spread of rockets into Europe was also influenced by the Ottomans at the siege of Constantinople in 1453, alth ough it is very likely that the Ottomans themselves were influenced by the Mongo l invasions of the previous few centuries. In their history of rockets published on the Internet, NASA says "Rockets appear in Arab literature in 1258 A.D., des cribing Mongol invaders' use of them on February 15 to capture the city of Baghd ad."[6] Between 1270 and 1280, Hasan al-Rammah wrote al-furusiyyah wa al-manasib al-harb iyya (The Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War Devices), which includ ed 107 gunpowder recipes, 22 of which are for rockets.[11] According to Ahmad Y Hassan, al-Rammah's recipes were more explosive than rockets used in China at th

e time.[12][unreliable source?] The terminology used by al-Rammah indicated a Ch inese origin for the gunpowder weapons he wrote about, such as rockets and fire lances.[13] Ibn al-Baytar, an Arab from Spain who had immigrated to Egypt, gave the name "snow of China" (Arabic: thalj al-Sin) to describe saltpetre. Al-Baytar d n 1248.[14][15] The earlier Arab historians call saltpeter "Chinese snow" and " Chinese salt;" [16][17] The Arabs also used the name "Chinese arrows" to refer t o rockets.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24] The Arabs attached "Chinese" to various n ames for gunpowder related objects. "Chinese flowers" was the name for fireworks , while "Chinese Snow" was given to saltpeter and "Chinese arrows" to rockets.[1 3] While saltpeter was called "Chinese Snow" by Arabs, it was called "Chinese sa lt" by the Iranians/Persians.[25][26][27][28][29] The name Rocket comes from the Italian Rocchetta (i.e. little fuse), a name of a small firecracker created by the Italian artificer Muratori in 1379.[30] Kyeser was infatuated with the legend of Alexander the Great: here Alexander hol ds a rocket, the first depiction of oneKonrad Kyeser described rockets in his fa mous military treatise Bellifortis around 1405.[31] Between 1529 and 1556 Conrad Haas wrote a book that described rocket technology that combined fireworks and weapons technologies. This manuscript was discovered in 1961, in the Sibiu public records (Sibiu public records Varia II 374). His w ork dealt with the theory of motion of multi-stage rockets, different fuel mixtu res using liquid fuel, and introduced delta-shape fins and bell-shaped nozzles.[ 32] Lagari Hasan elebi was a legendary Ottoman aviator who, according to an account w ritten by Evliya elebi, made a successful manned rocket flight. Evliya elebi purpo rted that in 1633 Lagari Hasan elebi launched in a 7-winged rocket using 50 okka (140 lbs) of gunpowder from Sarayburnu, the point below Topkap Palace in Istanbul . Lagri Hasan elebis rocket flight depicted in a 17th-century engravingFor over two centuries, the work of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth nobleman Kazimierz Siemien owicz "Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima" ("Great Art of Artillery, the First Part", ] large chapter on caliber, construction, production and properties milit ary and civil purposes), including multi-stage rockets, batteries of rockets, an d rockets with delta wing stabilizers (instead of the common guiding rods). [edit] Metal-cylinder rocket artilleryIn 1792, the first iron-cased rockets were successfully developed and used by Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan, rulers of the Kingdom of Mysore in India against the larger British East India Company fo rces during the Anglo-Mysore Wars. The British then took an active interest in t he technology and developed it further during the 19th century. The Mysore rocke ts of this period were much more advanced than the British had previously seen, chiefly because of the use of iron tubes for holding the propellant; this enable d higher thrust and longer range for the missile (up to 2 km range). After Tipu' s eventual defeat in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War and the capture of the Mysore i ron rockets, they were influential in British rocket development, inspiring the Congreve rocket, which was soon put into use in the Napoleonic Wars.[34]