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Jet engines require oxygen to burn their fuel. When a jet gets to extremely high altitude, it is difficult to get enough air into the engine to keep the engines going. The limit for turbojets is about 40km. Ramjets can (theoretically) operate up to 75km altitude, but efficiency drops off above Mach 5 (1.5 km/s), which is far less than the escape velocity (11.2 km/s).

A rocket, on the other hand, carries oxidizer as well as fuel. It can continue to operate even when it gets above most of the atmosphere.

Rocket engines also have much higher thrust-to-weight ratio.

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14y ago

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