What is the most powerful rocket ever concived?

Answer 1

That humans have built so far, that'd be the Saturn 5 moonrocket of course!
(The apollao 8 rocket was also responsible for one of the loudest sounds ever made by humans!)

Answer 2

Jason T gave a good description of rockets that progressed beyond the simple paper stage, that were the most powerful.

However, there have been many many rocket designs that would be much more power that have been proposed. Most have never really gotten beyond the paper stage.

Here is a list of some of the most powerful ones that I know of
Saturn V Expansions - http://www.astronautix.com/lvfam/saturnv.htm - there were many proposed ideas to enlarge the Saturn V, and add boosters. The largest of these would've had a core stage that had 5 F-1s, and and 4 strap-on boosters, each of which would've had 2 F-1s

Nova - http://www.astronautix.com/lvfam/nova.htm - this was another proposed family, and the number of rockets and possible payloads vaired quite a bit. Some of these would've used the M-1 Engine, which was more powerful than the F-1.

Nexas - this was a single design for a single rocket, which would've been a Reusable Single Stage to orbit. This would've been huge - details can be found at http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/nexus.htm

Sea Dragon - Another huge design - this would've been a 2 stage vehicle that had to be launched from the water. Details can be found at http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/searagon.htm

Currently, the largest planed US vehicle is the Ares V. This is a shuttle derived vehicle, but its not anywhere near the size of the above rockets, and is only has the payload size of the Saturn V. Additionally, there is reason to believe that SpaceX is working on a large rocket as well, since they are working on an engine that is bigger than the F-1, but they haven't said anything beyond that.

Overseas, the Soviets/Russians have also worked on and considered some large Rockets.
The biggest one of these came from Chelomei, and were the UR-700 and the UR-900. Details about these rockets can be found at http://www.astronautix.com/lvfam/ur.htm

There were some other big rockets proposed, like a variation on Energyia, the N-1, and the R-56, but I am pretty certain that the largest that have been released to the public from the Soviet Union is the UR-700 and UR-900

There are other more powerful rockets, but all of them are non-chemical rockets, and utlizie something like anti-matter, fusion, or the like. I believe the most powerful one of these is the Bussard Ramjet Rocket - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet

Answer 3

The most powerful rocket ever successfully flown was the Saturn V. It had five engines generating a total of 7.5 million pounds of thrust. Each engine, designated F-1, generated 1.5 million punds of thrust, making them the most powerful single liquid-fuelled rocket engine ever made.

The Russian N1 rocket, which was to be their answer to the Saturn V, generated 10million pounds of thrust on liftoff, but it did so by clustering thirty smaller engines in the first stage. Also, due to the propellants used and the sturdy construction, it had a lower payload capacity than the Saturn V, depite its greater thrust at liftoff. It never actually worked. Four test flights resulted in four mid-flight explosions, one of which destroyed the launchpad.

The space shuttle solid rocket boosters are more powerful than the F-1 used in the Saturn V. They are the largest solid rocket boosters ever flown, and typically generate about 2.8 million pounds of thrust. However, with 2 of those and three main engines generating 400,000 pounds each, the shuttle still has a lower liftoff thrust overall than the Saturn V.

A planned Russian rocket by the name of Energia would have had a configuration that was more powerful than the Saturn V overall. It consisted of a croe with up to 8 Zenit rockets attached around it. With all those rockets together it was a tremendously powerful vehicle, but that configuration was never flown.

Another powerful rocket concept was the Nova. Planned and designed for a possible role in the Apollo program, in which it would launch the entire spacecraft directly to the Moon, it was to have used 8 of the F-1 engines in its first stage, generating 12 million pounds of thrust. It was never built, however, as the Saturn V was adequate for the different flight plan that was eventually selected.

Answer 4

The Saturn V is the most powerful launch vehicle ever created by man, but its first stage has 5 actual rocket engines in it. The Russian Energia launch vehicle (which only flew 2 test flights) actually had more lift-off thrust than the Saturn V however.

The most powerful single rocket ever built is the solid-rocket booster used to take the shuttle into space.

Answer 5

The Saturn V. It's first stage F1 engines developed a total of 7 million pounds of thrust. 1 1/2 million pounds per engine. The largest jet engine yet developed the GE90115b develops 115,000 pounds of thrust. By the time of 1st stage shutdown, the 70 story or 363 ft tall rocket was traveling 6000 mph.

Karl wolf is right. When the Saturn Vs lifted off in Florida the seismic energy or noise could be detected as far north as Baltimore.

Answer 6

The Saturn 5, the rocket that took man to the moon.