Payload (air and space craft) — In military aircraft or space exploration, the payload is the carrying capacity of an aircraft or space ship, including as cargo, munitions, scientific instruments or experiments. External fuel, when optionally carried, is also considered part of … Wikipedia
Propellant mass fraction — In aerospace engineering, the propellant mass fraction is a measure of a vehicle s performance, determined as the portion of the vehicle s mass which does not reach the destination. In a spacecraft, this is an orbit, while for aircraft it is… … Wikipedia
Mass fraction — The mass fraction may refer to: Propellant mass fraction, in aerospace engineering, the amount of mass left behind such as the stages of rockets Payload fraction, also in aerospace engineering, characterizes the efficiency of the mass to be… … Wikipedia
Single-stage-to-orbit — The VentureStar was a proposed SSTO spaceplane. A single stage to orbit (or SSTO) vehicle reaches orbit from the surface of a body without jettisoning hardware, expending only propellants and fluids. The term usually, but not exclusively, refers… … Wikipedia
Scramjet — Part of a series on Aircraft propulsion Shaft engines (to drive pr … Wikipedia
Spacecraft propulsion — A remote camera captures a close up view of a Space Shuttle Main Engine during a test firing at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial… … Wikipedia
Rocket propellant — is mass that is stored, usually in some form of propellant tank, prior to being used as the propulsive mass that is ejected from a rocket engine in the form of a fluid jet to produce thrust.Chemical rocket propellants are most commonly used,… … Wikipedia
Reaction Engines Skylon — In aerospace, Skylon is a proposal by Reaction Engines Limited (managed by British rocket scientist Alan Bond) for a single stage, turbojet based, airbreathing orbital spaceplane.The vehicle would be a hydrogen powered aircraft that would take… … Wikipedia
Interstellar travel — Montage of fusion powered rocket concepts from 1987–2004, which could form the basis for an interstellar vehicle. Included are: VISTA (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories,1987), Discovery II (NASA/GRC, 2002), Human Outer Planet Exploration… … Wikipedia
Mass ratio — Astrodynamics Orbital mechanics Equations … Wikipedia
