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Glossary
- Action
- A force (push or pull) acting on an object. See Reaction.
- Active Controls
- Devices on a rocket that move to control the rocket's direction in
flight.
- Attitude Control Rockets
- Small rockets that are used as active controls to change the attitude
(direction) a rocket or spacecraft is facing in outer space.
- Canards
- Small movable fins located towards the nose cone of a rocket.
- Case
- The body of a solid propellant rocket that holds the propellant.
- Center of Mass (CM)
- The point in an object about which the object's mass is centered.
- Center of Pressure (CP)
- The point in an object about which the object's surface area is centered.
- Chamber
- A cavity inside a rocket where propel-lants burn.
- Combustion Chamber
- See Chamber.
- Drag
- Friction forces in the atmosphere that "drag" on a rocket to slow
its flight.
- Escape Velocity
- The velocity an object must reach to escape the pull of Earth's gravity.
- Extravehicular Activity (EVA)
- Spacewalking.
- Fins
- Arrow-like wings at the lower end of a rocket that stabilize the rocket
in flight.
- Fuel
- The chemical that combines with an oxidizer to burn and produce thrust.
- Gimbaled Nozzles
- Tiltable rocket nozzles used for active controls.
- Igniter
- A device that ignites a rocket's engine(s).
- Injectors
- Showerhead-like devices that spray fuel and oxidizer into the combustion
chamber of a liquid propellant rocket.
- Insulation
- A coating that protects the case and nozzle of a rocket from intense
heat.
- Liquid Propellant
- Rocket propellants in liquid form.
- Mass
- The amount of matter contained within an object.
- Mass Fraction (MF)
- The mass of propellants in a rocket divided by the rocket's total
mass.
- Microgravity
- An environment that imparts to an object a net acceleration that is
small compared with that produced by Earth at its surface.
- Motion
- Movement of an object in relation to its surroundings.
- Movable Fins
- Rocket fins that can move to stabilize a rocket's flight.
- Nose Cone
- The cone-shaped front end of a rocket.
- Nozzle
- A bell-shaped opening at the lower end of a rocket through which a
stream of hot gases is directed.
- Oxidizer
- A chemical containing oxygen compounds that permits rocket fuel to
burn both in the atmosphere and in the vacuum of space.
- Passive Controls
- Stationary devices, such as fixed rocket fins, that stabilize a rocket
in flight.
- Payload
- The cargo (scientific instruments, satellites, spacecraft, etc.) carried
by a rocket.
- Propellant
- A mixture of fuel and oxidizer that burns to produce rocket thrust.
- Pumps
- Machinery that moves liquid fuel and oxidizer to the combustion chamber
of a rocket.
- Reaction
- A movement in the opposite direction from the imposition of an action.
See Action.
- Rest
- The absence of movement of an object in relation to its surroundings.
- Regenerative Cooling
- Using the low tem-perature of a liquid fuel to cool a rocket nozzle.
- Solid Propellant
- Rocket fuel and oxidizer in solid form.
- Stages
- Two or more rockets stacked on top of each other in order to reach
higher altitudes or have a greater payload capacity.
- Throat
- The narrow opening of a rocket nozzle.
- Unbalanced Force
- A force that is not coun-tered by another force in the opposite direction.
- Vernier Rockets
- Small rockets that use their thrust to help direct a larger rocket
in flight.
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