Why don't our space shuttles take of like jets?

Question

Is it those huge boosters? whatever....rockets

Answer 1

he escape velocity which is about 11 km/sec cannot be achieved by conventional jet technology. For achieving this kind of speed liquid hydrogen along with liquid oxygen is used as fuel which generates the tremendous thrust required.

hence space shuttle use rockets and boosters.

Answer 2

None of the 5 users before me gave the right answer, and only chrismalvis2001 came close. The reason is very simple: The wings are just too small to provide the necessary lift at a speed the spacecraft could initially go during take off on earth. Or we can express it as follows: The amount of "fuel" we need is way too heavy to be lifted by these rather small wings, the spacecraft has.
In clear words: With that amount of weight, a take off like a usual plane cannot be done, the necessary lift can't be reached. Therefore the only possible way is to start like a rocket. For the weight is still too high to reach the wanted orbit, they added the two boosters, that are seperated first during launching after only 20 or 30 seconds.

Answer 3

There are two reasons.

The first is that jets need oxygen, so they stop working once you get about around 10 miles up. Pretty useless for getting all the way to space, but you could use them for the first bit of the trip. Rockets carry their own oxidant.

The second is that jets have moving parts. Once you get really fast, the friction of the atomosphere over the moving parts makes them heat up too much to work, Rockets do not have moving parts.

People are trying to overcome the latter with modified ram jets, which could breathe air to very high altitude and dramatically cut the cost of getting to space (most of the stuff the rocket carries is its own oxygen).

Answer 4

Well, I know that there is some research being done with sub-orbital planes, and though it will take a lot of time and money, I believe that one day space ships will leave the ground as a conventional jet, then "morph" into a craft with the ability to break from orbit and continue on as a "conventional" type of spacecraft. Never underestimate the power of the human mind, and the ability of making the shift from "what if" to "why not". That is what got us this far and I hope to see more advances in the future.

Answer 5

Look, Space shuttles need a lotta feul to get into space, and clear the atmosphere. the fuel would weigh too much for it to handle taking off horizontally. and those boosters, rockets, etc., they're for providing the extra speed needed to clear the atmosphere. u know, space shuttles don't take off completely vertically, it's more of an angle than u think. it uses the earth's axis spin to catch some extra speed on the way.

love.

p.s: i swear i'm not a geek! :(

Answer 6

to get the space shuttle up to a speed where it would be able to attain an orbit around the earth you need to go fast....really fast.

jets work by taking in a little bit of air from its surrounding and propelling it by combustion out the engines exhaust at very high speeds. because momentum is conserved this produces thrust. jets need this air to work and when you are getting to certain altitudes this air just isnt dense enough to produce enough thrust. rockets on the other hand carry large amounts of propellant to do this job. it is however pretty heavy stuff and so it is better to take off vertically so to avoid needing the lift necessary to get such an enormous load into the air.

Answer 7

The escape velocity is much higher than the speed needed to fly. the shuttle also need to carry it's own oxygen supply for the motors, hence the reason you use a rocket.

Answer 8

Jets use atmospheric air to work, so they effectively breath... A spacecraft cannot work with jet engines.

The power that is required to put something in orbit is immense and the most cost effective way to do it is to take off vertically.