How much fuel does a rocket use a minute?

Answer 1

Rocket fuel is not used to travel any distance. It is used to change your speed. A rocket may use many tons of RP-1 in the first 10 minutes to change it's speed from 0 to 17,500 MPH, and travel a few hundred miles while doing that, then it orbits Earth, traveling over 25,000 miles every hour and a half, and using zero fuel to do it. Or a rocket could use a ton of fuel to hover motionless just above the ground for a short time without going anywhere at all.

Rocket scientists never talk about how much fuel it takes to go how far. They talk about Delta-V. That is a mathematical term that means change in velocity, because the Greek letter delta is used in math to refer to a change and V is the letter used to mean velocity. There is an equation, called the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation, or ideal rocket equation, that is used to calculate how much propellant is needed to get a certain Delta-V, or change in speed. Then you use other equations related to gravity, and if you are in the atmosphere, air drag, to calculate how the velocity of the rocket changes with time.

It is nothing at all like calculating miles per gallon in a car. Even in an airplane it is not so simple, because a slow airplane could fly 80 MPH against a strong 80MPH wind and not go anywhere at all, while burning fuel as it did. Or a helicopter can hover while burning fuel and not go anywhere at all.

Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky...