Can I hook 500 rockets to a TP tube and launch it into space?

Question

I am just trying to have fun

Answer 1

h**l it's easy,just follow the directions on the rockets.

Answer 2

So, can you do it with fireworks or Estes rocket motors?  Imagine that with one rocket engine it can go up 500 feet.  And a first stage could boost that engine to 175 feet. But with three engines, the first stage could boost the 2nd stage to 500 feet. So now the whole two stage rocket goes to 1000 feet. You want to get much, much higher, so you need many more stages.  Each lower stage needs to be much bigger than the one above it.  And, each stage has a probability that it will fail to work.  So, you need redundancy to get a good chance of success. But redundancy is heavy, so you need even more stages.  Real quick it becomes expensive. And there are structural problems with the TP tube.  It won't make it to space.

The pros talk about the soda can problem. Take a rocket like a Delta 2. The ratio of the fuel to the container is about the same as a soda can.  A little weight makes a big difference. But you need some structure to make it work. Can you get rid of some fuel? Yes, by increasing the specific impulse (efficiency of the engine).  But there are limits.  In the mean time, you have to reduce the weight of the structure as much as you can.

The Huntsville Alabama L5 society launched a rocket intended to reach space (you get an astronaut rating if you make it to 100 km - about 62 miles).  In their design, they had a balloon lift a rocket to about 10 miles. This doesn't help you get to orbit - you need escape velocity for that, and hardly anything else matters. But the high altitude helps in nozzle design, as the nozzle doesn't have to deal with a high pressure atmosphere, and then a low pressure one.  The rocket was then to climb to 100 km.  They launched it in 1997, but it didn't make it.  Still, it was very impressive and worth reading about.

I mean, holy c**p, this is the kind of project i'd like to get involved with. Do i have all the skills needed for such a project? Despite having an engineering degree and oodles of industry experience in two dozen kinds of business, the answer is "no". Having a club means that you can pool resources, like money.  But also you have a bunch of people thinking of cheaper and easier ideas that will get you closer to your goal. And, the club can pool skills. I mean, I don't know how to weld, but maybe we'd need some custom software or finite element analysis materials stress work. Beats sitting around the house watching reruns of Gilligan's Island.

And even if all you do is launch a cheap camera with a radio to 10 miles up on a balloon, you could get some great pictures. And who knows where you could go once you start moving.

Answer 3

it might work but rely rely rely unlikely lol

Answer 4

You would need to have it launch at 6.95 miles per second, or 25,020 miles per hour.

Answer 5

somehow, that wouldn't work. but try making a potato cannon out of PBC pipe (me and my bro blew a hole through our garage with one =D)

Answer 6

Then to justify my 2 points for answering, I'll give you a serious answer: you would have to link the rockets in stages instead of lighting them all at once.  The rockets (I'm assuming you are talking about bottle rockets you can buy at roadside fireworks stands) will only burn for a few seconds.  Adding more will not make the rocket go any faster, so one rocket or 500 rockets will only go to the same altitude.

Now, if you could link the rockets in stages so that the next one starts when the previous one is nearly spent, then you might have a chance.  Then, the limiting factor will be the oxygen required to burn the fuel at the higher altitudes.  If you could solve that problem, you've got it made!

Answer 7

No, the Rockettes dance best on Earth.

Answer 8

No. assuming you mean 500 normal fireworks rockets, it will not be enough, as the rockets are very ineffective and heavy. It will not even produce enough impulse for launching over the US definition of the boundary to space (about 85 km altitude).

Answer 9

think about the payload.

for a bottle rocket, the payload IS the bottle rocket.

try an experiment.  Tie two bottle rockets together and light only one.  Fly the same?  no, but this is what you are asking to do... so, light BOTH.   Flies just as high as one... d**n.... so tie an unlit one to the two, set to light when the first two burn out (as if that's gonna happen).  now you have two rockets sharing a payload 50% heavier than designed for... solution?  More rockets?  no, that just spreads out the problem.

in short.  Enjoy the 4th, don't lose any fingers.

Answer 10

The tube would burn up on it's way up. The material just won't make it. Perhaps some thin PVC would work a little better. The temperature your make-shift rocket will experience will set it on fire. Too much velocity for cardboard.

But heck... Go for it in the name of fun!

Answer 11

Sadly the answer is NO because

A falling object experiences two forces: gravitational force, and a large-velocity drag force. The addition of these two forces results in:

    F = m g - q A C_d \,

where

    m is mass of the object

    g is the acceleration due to gravity

    q is \frac{1}{2} \rho V^2 , which is commonly known as the dynamic pressure, where

        ÃƒÂÃ‚ is the fluid density (e.g. density of air)

        V is the fluid (or air) velocity

    A is the cross-sectional area of the object

    Cd is the drag coefficient of the falling object

The terminal velocity is reached when F = 0, so

    m g - q A C_d = 0 = m g - \frac{1}{2} \rho V^2 A C_d .

Solving for V to obtain the expression for terminal velocity,

    V_t = \sqrt{ \frac{2mg}{\rho A C_d} }

and the TP roll would burn up