Re:Orion has splashed down off the coast of Baja, California
by pfdietz on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @08:46AM
(#33968727)
Of course they are not efficient for that use case. That use case is not the same as the use case of getting to orbit. When the delta-V involved is similar to the exhaust velocity of the rocket the overall efficiency goes way up.
If you could vary the exhaust velocity of a rocket continuously, so it was equal to the total delta-V so far, the efficiency of converting jet kinetic energy to vehicle energy would be 100%, as the jet would be left stationary in the reference frame of the launcher. (This ignores gravitational potential energy and also that the mass ratio would diverge to infinity at zero velocity, but never mind that.) In practice, using a lower Isp first stage and a higher Isp upper stage partially implements this, and the overall efficiency isn't too bad.
If you could vary the exhaust velocity of a rocket continuously, so it was equal to the total delta-V so far, the efficiency of converting jet kinetic energy to vehicle energy would be 100%, as the jet would be left stationary in the reference frame of the launcher. (This ignores gravitational potential energy and also that the mass ratio would diverge to infinity at zero velocity, but never mind that.) In practice, using a lower Isp first stage and a higher Isp upper stage partially implements this, and the overall efficiency isn't too bad.