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Posts tagged space agency

emu family

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this is my sneaky way of showing the size differences between some famous rockets.

for those who don’t know, the ‘v-2’ rocket (aka a4) on the far left was 14 metres tall and was the first rocket to ever reach space in 1944. it was built by the nazis to bomb london (but luckily they mostly missed).

the ‘saturn v’ on the right was the rocket that brought people to the moon in 1968-72, and is still the largest rocket ever launched as of now (2021/08) at 110 metres tall. however, spacex’s 120m tall ‘starship’ is going to break that record when it launches (hopefully) later this year.

sugar rocket

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yes, you can make a rocket with nothing more than table sugar and fertiliser. makes sense if you think about it. sugar has a lot of energy, and potassium nitrate has oxygen, which are the main two ingredients you need for a big boom.

if you want to try this at home, maybe consider looking up some more detailed instructions online. don’t get your pyrotechnical advice from a comic strip, kids.

reusability

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the hybrid jet/rocket spaceplane concept is being developed the british company ‘reaction engines’, a company who’ve been working on their ‘skylon’ spaceplane project for about the last 30 million years (so naturally i expect them to finish aaany day now).

the reusable two-stage rocket concept was pioneered by the american company ‘spacex’, who currently reuse the 1st stage of their ‘falcon 9’ rocket and are planning on reusing both stages on their upcoming ‘starship’ rocket. pretty much every other private space company is going this route. cuz you know, it actually works.

the ‘catch-the-rocket-in-midair’ concept sounds so insane you’d think i just made it up, but it’s actually the plan of the new zealand-based company ‘rocket lab’, who are eventually going to start catching their ‘electron’ rocket 1st stages with a helicopter. can’t wait to watch it.

of course, i could’ve also mentioned the space shuttle, but calling that “reusable” is about as generous as calling a potato chip a vegetable. “partially-somewhat-refurbishable” would be a more honest description.

the rocket equation

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the rocket equation is the reason we don’t live in the star trek universe. because a rocket has to carry all its fuel, it grows exponentially the further you want it to go.

rocket that goes up a few hundred metres? size of a water bottle.
rocket that goes into orbit? size of a dinosaur.
rocket that goes to the moon and back? size of skyscraper.

if we lived on a smaller planet with weaker gravity (like mars), space travel would be relatively easy. if we lived on a larger planet with stronger gravity (like saturn), space travel would be impossible. instead we live on earth, where space travel is only just possible, but incredibly difficult.

sedna & dini’s space agency

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yay! rocket comics are back!

so for the next bunch of comics i’m going to attempt to explain rocket science in 4-panel-comic form. which should be a piece of cake, i mean it’s hardly brain surgery, right?

assistant

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poor yuri. too loyal for her own good. lucky she has some impressive english vocabulary and upper body strength for a bunny.

funny story: when i drew this comic i looked up reference images for cordless drills, and i’m still getting stupid cordless drill ads months later. seriously google, please leave me alone.

rocket-eating tree

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(click here for a high resolution version of this illustration)

another day, another illustration that took me way longer than it should have because i have no idea what i’m doing. this time starring my tribute to the primary antagonist and undisputed best character of the peanuts universe, the kite-eating tree.

and good grief! is that yuri? classic sedna readers rejoice, the bun is back! and with a slight redesign (because let’s be honest, she looked pretty terrible in classic sedna). expect to see more yuri in the next few comics.

emu 3

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kids, always remember your parachute. or at least make sure your neighbours have insurance.

for the curious:
specific impulse = fuel efficiency
delta-v = amount of fuel (measured in potential velocity)
t.w.r. = thrust-to-weight ratio = rockety-power vs gravity
(if it’s less than 1, you won’t be going to space today)