why not use a plane to get into space?

Question

why must we use rockets to get into space, could a jumbo jet (or similar) be converted and used to fly upward in spirals, carrying its own fuel/air mixture for once above useable oxygen

Answer 1

No air in space, no lift on the wings; The plane falls back to denser air. A rocket plane might do it, but the speeds are like mach 6 or better I believe. Also the usable atmosphere is only aboy 40% of the trip. No real sence wallowing around in the low regions wasting fuel sucking up poor oxidizers. Might as well just be a rocket from the beginning. The new ram jet technologies might change this a bit, but for now they tend to go boom alot.

The one technology that has succeded is an aircraft assisted lunch. Reference X-15 and recent attempts.

Answer 2

Space isn't an exact place.. Some people think space is where there is no air. Others would say its where we can't breathe anymore. Some say it starts at 50 miles, one international definition is 62 miles. Another one would be at the start of the exosphere at 350 miles (about) and still best would be at the end of the exosphere where the last traces of our atmosphere merge into the vacuum of deep space (about 6,000 miles). Ozone researchers talk about 100 to 250 miles. And so it goes.
According to wikipedia, (search exosphere) at 62 miles the SPEED a plane would have to fly to stay aloft would exceed the escape velocity. That means it would have to travel faster than a rocket just so it didn't fall. A airplane stays up because the AIR pushes it up. As you go higher there is less air and you have to go faster to get that same push BUT there is less air (as I said) so how do you go faster? You can't use a propeller, theres not enough there to be propelled with, and jet motors need air (oxygen) to give thrust and no air no oxygen. Carrying its own oxygen is exactly what some rockets do (or even better fuels). So once you're talking about NOT using the air as a fuel yuo're talking about a rocket. Planes are used to get into space, tho'. Some satellites and spyplanes (and other fancy science type vehicles) are carried up on a plane then they are launched high above the earth. But eventually you will need rockets.

Answer 3

A Commercial Airplane does not have powerful enough engines to lift itself without the aerodynamic lift of the wings. The wings produce lift only when they are moving through air. The maximum altitude that wings can lift a vehicle is measured in tens of thousands of feet. While one could provide an oxidizer to the engines the wings would not provide even enough lift to carry their own weight. The weight of the wings would increase the amount of fuel required to lift a vehicle to earth orbit. Significantly more power ful engines could be designed or many more engines could be added to the winged vehicle. With all that design work being needed to modify the airplane on might as well design a vehicle that will cost less to accomplish taking things to earth orbit. A wingless vehicle like the shuttle is probably close to the optimal shape for such a vehicle.

Answer 4

No, the skin of a plane is made of aluminum because it is strong and light. Aluminum would melt while re-entering the earth's atmosphere. Also, the stress on the structure would not hold up at high speed-rockets must travel at speeds of over 17,000 miles per hour to enter an orbit, aluminum will crumble at those speeds. That is what the shuttle is, a modified aircraft with rocket engines and tiled skin for re-entry. The price of one shuttle is over 10 billion dollars as opposed to the cost of an airliner, which is about 200 million dollars. The cost of modifying an airliner to do the job of the shuttle would be astronomical and impractical.....KECK

Answer 5

Burt Rutan did it. White Knight was an air breathing mother ship, it dropped Space Ship One at about 20k meters, and rockets powered Space Ship One to 100 km altitude.

the B-52 - X-15 combination did it in the 60's

Answer 6

A rocket takes a shorter trajectory than a plane. Therefore it uses less energy. A 747 style plane is less aero dynamic than any rocket. A rocket design is the most aerodynamic vehicle of all air craft. How would the stewardesses serve you if we did that ?

Answer 7

The airplane can no longer triumph over the Earth's gravity. yet enable us to think that the airplane is hooked as much as a rocket, geared up and designed for area, it wont be a airplane yet an area return and forth. in case you connect a airplane to a rocket it won't stand the rigidity. And if it does it incredibly is going to pass too slowly in area, so it could no longer get everywhere.

Answer 8

Yes it can, and once in space the windows will blow out due to the vaccuum, the plane will have no way of moving (the engine has no "air" to move, so the plane will not move at all), and even if you have ways to overcome these problems, the plane will probably burn up in re-entry.

Answer 9

AIRPLANE aren't design 4 those kind Gs, plane cant break throught the atmosphere, the cabinet, the way it takes off, u need a lot of thrust to break the atmosphere

Answer 10

An aeroplane needs air to fly in. the air actually supports flight It is too "thin" in space