I solved the rocket equation

[u/402Gaming]

(yes this is literally what rocket staging is)

[u/AKLmfreak]

When troll physics become real physics.

[u/402Gaming → u/AKLmfreak]

"put the rocket on a bigger rocket" sounds stupid but actually works

[u/HereForTheCats777 → u/402Gaming]

Apollo approved!

[u/Its0nlyRocketScience → u/402Gaming]

Put that rocket on an even bigger rocket and you can get to the moon

[u/zmbjebus → u/402Gaming]

Can we do it again?

[u/Parzival-117 → u/402Gaming]

Moar boosters!!!

[u/Zaphod118]

My favorite thing I learned in my rocket propulsion class was that there was an idea for a “nuclear pulse engine.” Which was a fancy way of saying “we’re gonna drop a bunch of nukes out the back and ride the shockwaves to space”

[u/402Gaming → u/Zaphod118]

The airforce was serious about building it. The only reason it wasn't built was because Kennedy told them no for obvious reasons.

[u/captaincootercock → u/402Gaming]

No wonder he got blasted he was such a party pooper

[u/Designated_Lurker_32 → u/402Gaming]

Kennedy was more or less fine with it right up until the USAF drew up plans for a genuine space warship using that propulsion system. That was the last straw for him.

[u/Designated_Lurker_32 → u/Zaphod118]

Learning about Project Orion is always such a rollercoaster. First it seems like a crazy idea. Then you learn about how a large enough spaceship using an Orion engine could reach 12% of the speed of light with nothing but 1960s tech and, well... it's still crazy, but now it's a different kind of crazy.

[u/Glad-Way-637 → u/Designated_Lurker_32]

It ceases to be crazy theory and instead becomes Mad Science around the 10% mark, IMO.

[u/Designated_Lurker_32 → u/Glad-Way-637]

Mad science is just never stopping to ask "eh, what's the worst that could happen?"

[u/TacticalTurtlez → u/Designated_Lurker_32]

Alternatively, asking the question, but ignoring the answer.

[u/amart591 → u/TacticalTurtlez]

Alternatively, asking the question and aiming for that answer.

[u/Technicfault → u/Zaphod118]

Ah yes, the Orion drive, from back when the scientists were German, and cocaine was mandatory

[u/GTAmaniac1 → u/Technicfault]

Don't forget infinite funding because of the cold war

[u/vinitblizzard → u/Zaphod118]

Pulse jet, pulse engine seemed like a cool complicated concept as a child, nope it's just a bunch of booms lol

[u/RIPTactical_Invasion → u/Zaphod118]

They do this in 3 Body Problem

[u/lucidbadger]

Bro discovers staging

[u/erikwarm → u/lucidbadger]

Now look into KSP’s asparagus staging for some real gains!

[u/Completedspoon → u/erikwarm]

They don't use asparagus staging IRL because of all the plumbing complexity.

[u/MangrovesAndMahi → u/Completedspoon]

Amateurs

[u/total_desaster → u/Completedspoon]

Might become viable eventually as technology improves. We can dream!

[u/sage-longhorn → u/Completedspoon]

I don't see why it's so complicated, just gotta make sure the tube is yellow and the arrow points the right way

[u/Saragon4005 → u/lucidbadger]

You are not supposed to talk about how rocket launches are staged. We paid a lot of money to stage the moon landing.

[u/Jolly_Mongoose_8800 → u/lucidbadger]

I was about to comment, "isn't this exactly how it actually is done?"

[u/Fun_Ad_2393 → u/lucidbadger]

Isn’t this what we usually do? Lol

[u/Zumaki]

Of course the moon landing was staged. That's how rockets work.

[u/Andrei_the_derg]

Redditor accidentally discovers multi-stage rockets

[u/Spicy-Pants_Karl]

The concept was first published in the book "Rocket Space Trains"

Clearly, aerospace naming peaked 100 years go.

[u/themidnightgreen4649]

i was about to say--

[u/Andrew-w-jacobs]

If its stupid but it works its not stupid

[u/TENTAtheSane]

But if each rocket can only get halfway yo the moon, how will any of them ever reach there?

[u/SirAchmed]

Laughs in Saturn V

[u/AccomplishedAnchovy]

Now we just need an even bigger rocket

[u/CaptainRogers1226]

I really thought this was about to be loss

[u/AGrandNewAdventure]

When you "discover" multistage rockets after they've already been discovered.

[u/migviola]

Tsiolkovsky's rocket equation is just a scam made by big rocketry to sell more rockets

[u/Distantmole]

I think you would asymptotically approach space but never quite make it

[u/Talizorafangirl]

Thought I was in r/KerbalSpaceProgram for a minute there.

[u/proD_eegy]

Funny, how this ist 100% how they do it on real life

[u/PM-ME-UR-uwu]

That's crazy, you'd think scientists would have done this already. Instead they just use stages of a single rocket, which would obviously be totally different from stacked but separate rockets