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Why does a rocket need to travel 25,000 miles per hour (about 40,000 kilometers per hour) to flee Earth? – Bo H., age 10, Durham, New Hampshire

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There's a reason why a rocket has to go so fast to flee Earth. It's about gravity – something for all of us Experience every moment of daily.

Gravity is the force that pulls you towards the bottom. And that's a superb thing. Gravity keeps you grounded; otherwise you’ll float into space.

But gravity also makes it difficult to go away Earth when flying into space as a rocket. Escaping our planet's gravitational pull is difficult – gravity isn't just strong, it's strong extends removed from Earth.

Like a balloon

As a rocket scientistOne of the things I teach students is how rockets overcome gravity. This is how it really works:

Essentially, the rocket must generate thrust – that’s, generate force burning propellant to supply hot gases. It then shoots these hot gases out of a nozzle. It's like blowing up a balloon, releasing it, and watching it fly away because the air rushes out.

More specifically, the rocket fuel consists of each fuel and oxidizer. The fuel is usually something flammable, often hydrogen, methane or kerosene. The oxidizer is frequently liquid oxygen, which reacts with the fuel and causes it to burn.

When flying into space and escaping from Earth, rockets require plenty of power, so that they use up fuel in a short time. That's an issue since the rocket can't carry enough fuel to maintain pushing endlessly; The amount of fuel required would make the rocket too heavy to get off the bottom.

So what happens while you run out of fuel? The thrust stops and gravity slows the rocket until it step by step falls back to Earth.

Luckily, scientists can launch the rocket with some sideways momentum in order that it misses Earth when it returns. You may even do that in order that it falls across the Earth repeatedly endlessly. In other words, it goes into orbitand begins to orbit the planet.

Many launches intentionally don’t leave Earth completely behind. Thousands of satellites are currently orbiting our planet. They make phones and TVs work, show weather patterns to meteorologists, and even can help you pay with a bank card on the food market or refill on the gas pump. Sometimes you possibly can see these satellites within the night sky, including the International Space Station.

Escape from the earth

Suppose the goal is to let the rocket escape Earth's gravity endlessly so it could actually fly into the depths of space. That's when scientists do it a neat trick called staging. They launch with a big rocket after which, once in space, throw it away to make use of a smaller rocket. This allows the journey to proceed without the load of the larger rocket and requires less fuel.

But even the staging shouldn’t be enough; At some point the rocket will run out of fuel. But if the rocket goes fast enough, it could actually run out of fuel and still roll away from Earth endlessly without gravity pulling it back. It's like riding a motorcycle: construct up enough speed and eventually you'll have the opportunity to roll up a hill without having to pedal.

And just as there’s a minimum speed required to coast the bike, there’s also a minimum speed required for a rocket to coast into space: 25,020 miles per hour (approx. 40,000 kilometers per hour).

Scientists call this speed the escape velocity. A rocket must fly so fast that the momentum pushing it away from Earth is stronger than the force of gravity pulling it back. If you decelerate, you’ll enter Earth orbit.

Escape from Jupiter

Larger or more massive objects have a stronger gravitational pull. A rocket launching from a planet larger than Earth would have to realize the next escape velocity.

Jupiter, for instance, is probably the most massive planet in our solar system. It is so big that it could swallow 1,000 Earths. Therefore, a really high escape velocity is required: 133,100 miles per hour (about 214,000 kilometers per hour), greater than five times the escape velocity of Earth.

But the acute example is a black holean object so massive that its escape velocity is exceptionally high. So high, actually, that even light – which travels at 370 million miles per hour (about 600 million kilometers per hour) – shouldn’t be fast enough to flee. That's why it's called a black hole.

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Even though she's only 17, Donald Trump's granddaughter appears to be having fun with her role as an up-and-coming, up-and-coming woman YOU are an influencerwhile sharing cleverly produced videos on social media of the fun she has along with her beloved President-elect “Grandpa.”

But Kai Trump can only achieve this much to melt the image of a person who has been compared by critics to essentially the most dangerous fascists in history and who frequently utters insults and profane remarks. His election opponent, Kamala Harris received around 74 million votes to his 76 million.

With her latest video The film, released Tuesday, also featured the teenage golf prodigy as “Grandpa,” who seemed a little bit out of his element as a guest at Elon Musk's SpaceX launch last week.

In a very “chilling” moment from Kai Trump's behind-the-scenes video, Trump might be seen sending Musk into an “embarrassing spiral” after asking him if a rocket engine might be reused – after it was thrown into the Gulf of Mexico crashed in a ball of fireplace, the Daily Beast reported.

Last week, Trump accompanied Musk, his top campaign donor and rumored latest expert adviser on government efficiency, to observe the most recent test flight of his Starship rocket system, the Daily Beast reported. Trump was joined on the occasion by Kai Trump and her good friend, in addition to Kai Trump's father Donald Trump Jr. and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Musk, who can also be a NASA contractor, planned to indicate Trump a repeat of the “incredible maneuver” one among his Starship rocket ships performed in October, the Daily Beast reported. At that point, huge mechanical arms protruding from the launch tower managed to successfully “catch” the rocket's “Super Heavy” carrier after it made the precise movements required to return to the launch site. SpaceNews.com reported.

For the Nov. 19 Starship launch, the rocket successfully lifted off from the SpaceX Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas, at 5 p.m., SpaceNews.com reported. Its booster separated from the vehicle's upper stage about two minutes and 45 seconds after launch. The launch vehicle began to return to the launch site, but just over a minute later, air traffic controllers announced a “booster offshore diversion,” meaning the launch vehicle wouldn’t return to the launch pad but would as a substitute plunge into the Gulf of Mexico.

The reusability of the boosters was a key a part of SpaceX's effort to halve the associated fee of every $100 million Starship flight, the Daily Beast reported.

Kai Trump's video, which she also shares as a YouTube vlog, captures the moments when Musk told Trump: “We had some concerns about the tower, so it was ordered to land out at sea.”

In the video, where Kai stands near Trump, Trump appeared unusually calm and maybe a little bit awestruck, clearly missing the meaning of what the billionaire was saying.

That's because Trump muttered, “Amazing.” The former reality TV star then asked Musk, “Can they use that again?” Can they get it from the ocean?”

Musk appeared to do a double take and even give the president-elect a “side glance,” the Daily Beast said. Musk awkwardly replied, “Uhh, it will. …it's…it's probably going to explode. That’s my guess.”

Cruz, standing next to Trump, jumped in to cover up Trump's question by leading Musk to explain that he already had “higher” versions of the booster in production and one of them was ready for use. “Well, here we go,” Cruz said.

According to Kai Trump's video and other news reports, Trump actually said little else that day. A report in the Telegraph reiterated the view that Trump's trip with Musk to the SpaceX rocket launch was “uncomfortable” for both men, even though they have spent the weeks since the election virtually “joined on the hip” at Mar-a-Lago.

According to Darren Stanton, a former police officer and body language expert, Trump actually looked like a “fish out of water” and appeared to have been intimidated by Musk during the Starship test flight.

Trump showed none of his “alpha male personality” and “power gestures” during the event, Stanton told The Telegraph. “Trump has been very restless…usually he seems like this alpha male, the most powerful and powerful person in the room. I think he’s pretty intimidated by Musk,” Stanton said. “He was overwhelmed – his hands were just at his side like a mannequin.”

It's hard to believe that Kai Trump wanted her “grandpa” to seem “overwhelmed.” As Daily Beast entertainment writer Eboni Boykin-Patterson said in another reportKai Trump, whose mother is Vanessa Trump, has taken on a role in Trumpworld that was once filled by her aunt Ivanka Trump. Since Kai Trump spoke at the Republican National Convention — to show “the side of my grandfather that individuals don't often see” — she has become the photogenic young female relative trying to “clean up” Trump's image, Boykin said -Patterson too.

At the start of her video, Kai Trump gently poked fun at her grandfather — while also providing her roughly 2.6 million followers with some of the “ambitious” content that social media users are looking for, Boykin-Patterson wrote. While the teenager exuberantly showed off the luxurious accommodations on Trump's private jet, she and her friend also spent a few moments Recording a TikTok clipin which they mimicked their grandfather's golf swing and his meme campaign dance moves, set to the Village People's “YMCA.”

The Daily Beast said the result of Kai Trump's posts was “a less complicated, smiling perspective” on Trump, whom it described as a “hard employee” for “all Americans.” The teenager also shares slideshows of her 78-year-old grandfather with a broad smile along with her followers. “And if that’s all you see of this kind, loving grandfather, you’d think he never tried to overturn an election,” Boykin-Patterson wrote.

Originally published: November 27, 2024 at 11:27 am PST

World News

WASHINGTON (AP) — Several U.S. soldiers were injured in a suspected rocket attack on a military base in Iraq, U.S. defense officials said Monday. The variety of attacks on American forces by Iranian-backed militias has increased recently.

The attack got here as tensions within the Middle East rise after a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and the highest political leader of Hamas in Iran were killed in suspected Israeli strikes last week. Both groups are backed by Iran.

U.S. defense officials said troops at al-Asad air base were still assessing casualties and damage. On Monday morning, Iraqi security officials confirmed the attack, but no group has claimed responsibility.

The officials spoke about military operations on condition of anonymity.

In recent weeks, Iran-backed Iraqi militias have resumed attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria after a months-long hiatus. Previously, three US soldiers were killed in an attack on a base in Jordan at the top of January, after which the US carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.

Between October and January, an umbrella organization calling itself the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” recurrently claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying they were a retaliatory measure for Washington's support of Israel within the war against Hamas within the Gaza Strip and aimed to expel US troops from the region.

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV heavy rocket carrying a secret spy satellite lifted off from Space Launch Complex 37B at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at 12:53 p.m. on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. ULA transported the cargo for the US National Reconnaissance Office.

This is the last flight of a heavy Delta IV rocket. It was the third highest capability launch vehicle on the planet, after NASA's Space Launch System and SpaceX's Falcon Heavy.