Water-powered Space shuttle !
Up till now, there has been no replacement for fossil fuel to propel rockets into outer space. The Average human might suggest to electrify rockets. But, rockets do not quite work in the same way that cars work. Although, there has been some effort to create electric propulsion. Still is no way near the propulsion the gasoline powered modern day rockets provide.
So, how about creating a “H20 Rocket”, a water powered rocket. A concept where basically water will be used as the fuel and pushed downwards via an electric powered water propulsion system.
Numbers
Let us get some rough figures of the feasibility of a H20 rocket based on some data of NASA’s space shuttle. So, to reach orbit we would require a thrust of more than 1.2 million pounds, let’s keep at 1.2 million pounds for our case. And let us say that the space shuttle will have 4 water thrusters that are able to produce this thrust. Meaning each Jet will produce 300,000 pounds of force. Plus, let’s give a value of 2571 m/s for the exhaust velocity, which is the rate at which the water is expelled from the jets. Moreover, let’s use the same cross-sectional area of jets on NASA’s Space Shuttle: 80m^2.
The mass-flow rate would be 205680000 kg/s. That would mean in order to reach orbit, for a time of 8.5 minutes. We would need 1.049 x 10^11 kg of water. To put that into perspective that would correspond to a volume of 1x10^8 m^3. That would roughly equal to 40,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools and 16.7 times greater than the mass of Great Pyramid of Giza.
This should roughly put into perspective that the “H20 Rocket” will probably remain as a theoretical concept, for now.
Work Cited:
Heppenheimer, T.A. (no date) Principles of Rocketry, Spaceflight :principles of rocketry. Available at: https://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/SPACEFLIGHT/rockets/SP6.htm#:~:text=The%20Solid%20Rocket%20Boosters%20of,(4%2C447%20meters%20per%20second (Accessed: 14 March 2024).
How long does it take to get to space? (no date) BBC Sky at Night Magazine. Available at: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/how-long-does-take-get-space#:~:text=NASA’s%20Space%20Shuttle%20took%20about,(100.6%20miles)%20above%20Earth. (Accessed: 14 March 2024).
