Re:SpaceX Grasshopper Flies High
by jessriedel on Tuesday April 23, 2013 @01:03PM
(#5596369)
Rockets don't have stages because they run out of propellant, they have stages so that you don't spend 99% percent of your fuel pushing engines and tanks into orbit which you don't need once you get there.
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> "they have stages so that you don't spend 99% percent of your fuel pushing engines and tanks into orbit"
In fact you can kinda make a rocket that can reach orbit that doesn't have "stages" but rather jettisons engines themselves. Early Atlas rockets did this: they had one set of fuel tanks but two engines. About two minutes into the flight they would jettison one of the engines.