Cosmos is a mysterious space that cannot but bewitch. Tsiolkovsky believed that it was in space that the future of mankind lay. So far there are no serious reasons to argue with this scientist. Cosmos offers endless possibilities for the development of mankind and the expansion of living space. In addition, he hides the answers to numerous questions. Today, man has begun to actively use outer space. Therefore, our future depends on how rockets fly up. No less important is the understanding of this process by people. Below we will tell you about what speed a space rocket can develop and how long it will take to get to certain space bodies.

Immediately it should be said that the question: “How fast does a rocket take off?” Is not quite correct. Yes, and in general, equate space flights with classic units of measurement is not correct. After all, it doesn’t matter how fast the rockets fly, there are many of them and they all have different characteristics. Those used to put astronauts into orbit, do not fly as fast as cargo. Unlike cargo, a person is limited by overloads. Such cargo rockets, such as, for example, the super-heavy Falcon Heavy can take off pretty quickly.

Calculate the exact units of speed - not easy. First of all, because they largely depend on the payload of the launch vehicle. It is possible that a fully loaded booster takes off much slower than a half-empty one. But there is one more common value that all rockets aspire to - cosmic speed.

There is a first, second and third cosmic velocity. The first is the required speed, which allows one to move in orbit and not fall on the planet - these are 7,9 kilometers per second. The second is required in order to leave the earth orbit and head towards the orbit of another celestial body. Third - allows the spacecraft to overcome the attraction of the Solar System (SS), as well as leave it. Today, Voyager-1 and Voyager-2 are flying at such a speed. But contrary to the words of journalists, they have not left the SS borders. In terms of astronomy, they will need at least 30 thousand years to get to the Orta cloud. Heliopause is not considered the boundary of the star system. This is just a place where the solar wind collides with the intersystem environment.

Humanity does not stop traveling around the earth. To reach the moon, it was necessary to overcome the attraction of the Earth, for this the rocket must reach speeds of 40 000 km per hour or 11,2 km per second.

To get to Earth orbit, the speed of the rocket must be 29 thousand km per hour or 7,9 km per second. If you need to send a spaceship on an interplanetary journey, then the speed should be 40 thousand km per hour (11,2 km per second),

What should be the speed of the ship for a flight to the moon?

For a flight to the moon, the ship must launch at orbital speed on 29. ths. km per hour, and then grow to about 40 thousand th. per hour.

A spacecraft at such a speed can retire at a distance at which the pull of the moon is stronger than the earth. Modern technology allows us to develop ships that correspond to the above-mentioned movement speed. But if the ship’s engines do not act, it will be accelerated by the attraction of the Moon and simply fall on it with great force, destroying the ship. For this reason, if, at the very beginning of the journey, jet engines accelerated the spacecraft toward the Moon, then when lunar gravity was compared with that of the Earth, the engines began to act in the opposite direction. Thus, a soft landing on the moon was ensured, in which all the people on the ship remained intact.

There is no air on the moon, so it can be found only in special space suits. The first person to come down to the surface of the moon was Neil Armstrong, an American, and this happened in 1969. Then there was the first acquaintance of mankind with the composition of the lunar soil. His study has allowed us to better understand the history of the formation of the solar system. Then geologists hoped to find on the moon some valuable substances that could be mined.

The mass of the Earth significantly exceeds the mass of the Moon. It means that it will be easier to take off from the latter and the road to deep space will also be easier. It is possible that in the future humanity will use this opportunity. The speed of departure into orbit is much less and is 6120 km per hour or 1,7 km per second.

How much to fly to Mars and other planets?

The distance to the planet Mars is about 56 million km. Taking into account the capabilities of the latest technologies, it will take at least 210 days to go to Mars. It turns out that 266 666 kilometers per day at a speed of 3 kilometers per second or 11 111 kilometers per hour. One of the main problems when flying to other planets - the speed of a rocket in space, kilometers per hour, will not be enough. At the moment, a more realistic flight will seem to Mars for Martian samples.

If you can fly to the near planet Mars for about 210 days, which is difficult physically, but is achievable for humans, then flights to other planets are simply impossible as a result of people's physical abilities.

It is worth noting that the speed of the rocket depends on the engine. The faster the gases will escape from the engine nozzle, the faster the rocket will fly. The gas, which is formed during the combustion of modern chemical fuel, develops speed 3-4 km per second (10 800 - 14 400 km per hour). In this case, the maximum speed of movement that can be reported to a rocket with a spacecraft is reduced.

Special ion engines for spacecraft

Electrons and ions in special accelerators can accelerate to speeds close to the speed of light, namely 300 thousand kilometers per second. But such accelerators are for the time being its massive structures that are not suitable for aircraft. However, installations in which the velocity of the discharge of charged particles is approximately 100 km per second can be installed on rockets. As a result, they can tell the body connected to them a greater speed of movement than a rocket with chemical fuel can achieve. Unfortunately, the ionic space engines developed to date have low thrust force, and for the time being they cannot launch a multi-ton rocket into the orbit with the ship.

But it makes sense to install them on the ship so that they work as soon as the ship flies in orbit. Being located on the ship hull, they can constantly maintain its orientation and gradually increase the speed of the ship with a slight effect above that which it was informed by means of chemical fuel.

The development of such electrojet engines operating in orbit is carried out using various physical phenomena. One of the main tasks facing the creators of ionic space engines is to adapt them for flights to other planets.

The possibility of achieving significant flight speeds of a rocket in space with such engines than with chemical fuel makes it more realistic to develop ships for flights to nearby planets.