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84-473: Later rockets utilizing gunpowder were used to provide arrows with propulsive force and the term fire arrow became synonymous with rockets in the Chinese language . In other languages such as Sanskrit 'fire arrow' ( agni astra ) underwent a different semantic shift and became synonymous with 'cannon'. Although the fire arrow is most commonly associated with its rocket mechanism, it originally consisted of

168-464: A rocket if it is unguided. Anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles use rocket engines to engage targets at high speed at a range of several miles, while intercontinental ballistic missiles can be used to deliver multiple nuclear warheads from thousands of miles, and anti-ballistic missiles try to stop them. Rockets have also been tested for reconnaissance , such as the Ping-Pong rocket , which

252-420: A multi-stage rocket , and also pioneered the concept of a rocket launch pad (a rocket standing upright against a tall building before launch having been slowly rolled into place) and the rocket-launch countdown clock. The Guardian film critic Stephen Armstrong states Lang "created the rocket industry". Lang was inspired by the 1923 book The Rocket into Interplanetary Space by Hermann Oberth, who became

336-565: A nozzle . They may also have one or more rocket engines , directional stabilization device(s) (such as fins , vernier engines or engine gimbals for thrust vectoring , gyroscopes ) and a structure (typically monocoque ) to hold these components together. Rockets intended for high speed atmospheric use also have an aerodynamic fairing such as a nose cone , which usually holds the payload. As well as these components, rockets can have any number of other components, such as wings ( rocketplanes ), parachutes , wheels ( rocket cars ), even, in

420-496: A rocket , more specifically a solid-propellant rocket , is disputed. The History of Song attributes the invention to two different people at different times, Feng Jisheng in 969 and Tang Fu in 1000. However Joseph Needham argues that rockets could not have existed prior to the 12th century since the gunpowder formulas listed in the Wujing Zongyao are not suitable as rocket propellant. According to Stephen G. Haw, there

504-399: A rocket engine in the form of a fluid jet to produce thrust . For chemical rockets often the propellants are a fuel such as liquid hydrogen or kerosene burned with an oxidizer such as liquid oxygen or nitric acid to produce large volumes of very hot gas. The oxidiser is either kept separate and mixed in the combustion chamber, or comes premixed, as with solid rockets. Sometimes

588-475: A vehicle may usefully employ for propulsion, such as in space. In these circumstances, it is necessary to carry all the propellant to be used. However, they are also useful in other situations: Some military weapons use rockets to propel warheads to their targets. A rocket and its payload together are generally referred to as a missile when the weapon has a guidance system (not all missiles use rocket engines, some use other engines such as jets ) or as

672-493: A Portuguese blacksmith was brought back to Japan, was the problem solved. Much of Japan was involved with internecine wars during the Sengoku period (1467–1603), as feudal lords vied for supremacy. Matchlock guns were introduced midway through the period and saw extensive use in the later years of the conflict, playing a decisive role on the battlefield. In 1549, Oda Nobunaga ordered 500 guns to be produced for his armies at

756-773: A body of theory that has provided the foundation for subsequent spaceflight development. The British Royal Flying Corps designed a guided rocket during World War I . Archibald Low stated "...in 1917 the Experimental Works designed an electrically steered rocket… Rocket experiments were conducted under my own patents with the help of Cdr. Brock ." The patent "Improvements in Rockets" was raised in July 1918 but not published until February 1923 for security reasons. Firing and guidance controls could be either wire or wireless. The propulsion and guidance rocket eflux emerged from

840-415: A cardboard tube filled with black powder , but to make an efficient, accurate rocket or missile involves overcoming a number of difficult problems. The main difficulties include cooling the combustion chamber, pumping the fuel (in the case of a liquid fuel), and controlling and correcting the direction of motion. Rockets consist of a propellant , a place to put propellant (such as a propellant tank ), and

924-440: A carriage (similar to European cannons). The samurai- zutsu guns were custom-made for use only by the samurai, whose high social standing and wealth meant they could afford well-crafted and intricately designed guns which were longer and of larger caliber, as opposed to the cruder and inferior quality ban-zutsu used by the ashigaru . Hazama-zutsu or zama-zutsu guns were generally longer than most guns and had

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1008-432: A chemical reaction is initiated between the fuel and the oxidizer in the combustion chamber, and the resultant hot gases accelerate out of a rocket engine nozzle (or nozzles ) at the rearward-facing end of the rocket. The acceleration of these gases through the engine exerts force ("thrust") on the combustion chamber and nozzle, propelling the vehicle (according to Newton's Third Law ). This actually happens because

1092-499: A decomposing monopropellant ) that emit a hot exhaust gas . A rocket engine can use gas propellants, solid propellant , liquid propellant , or a hybrid mixture of both solid and liquid . Some rockets use heat or pressure that is supplied from a source other than the chemical reaction of propellant(s), such as steam rockets , solar thermal rockets , nuclear thermal rocket engines or simple pressurized rockets such as water rocket or cold gas thrusters . With combustive propellants

1176-530: A failed launch. A successful escape of a crewed capsule occurred when Soyuz T-10 , on a mission to the Salyut 7 space station , exploded on the pad. Solid rocket propelled ejection seats are used in many military aircraft to propel crew away to safety from a vehicle when flight control is lost. A model rocket is a small rocket designed to reach low altitudes (e.g., 100–500 m (330–1,640 ft) for 30 g (1.1 oz) model) and be recovered by

1260-435: A fixed location on the ground, but would also be possible from an aircraft or ship. Rocket launch technologies include the entire set of systems needed to successfully launch a vehicle, not just the vehicle itself, but also the firing control systems , mission control center , launch pad , ground stations , and tracking stations needed for a successful launch or recovery or both. These are often collectively referred to as

1344-561: A high pressure combustion chamber . These nozzles turn the hot gas from the combustion chamber into a cooler, hypersonic , highly directed jet of gas, more than doubling the thrust and raising the engine efficiency from 2% to 64%. His use of liquid propellants instead of gunpowder greatly lowered the weight and increased the effectiveness of rockets. In 1921, the Soviet research and development laboratory Gas Dynamics Laboratory began developing solid-propellant rockets , which resulted in

1428-460: A month the cities and fortresses were lost, and everything in the eight directions had crumbled. Although it was [partly] due to there having been a century of peace and the people not being familiar with warfare that this happened, it was really because the Japanese had the use of muskets that could reach beyond several hundred paces, that always pierced what they struck, that came like the wind and

1512-615: A musket. The last use of samurai armour and traditional weapons in Japan, including tanegashima , was during the Satsuma Rebellion (1877), when the Meiji government's newly established Imperial Japanese Army put an end to the last samurai and their resistance to modernization. Japanese arquebuses are classified by the location of their native gunsmiths as well as with the weight of the ball by momme . The most common users of

1596-504: A piece of hemp cloth tightly tied, and sealed fast with molten pine resin. Light the fuse and then shoot it off from a bow. Incendiary gunpowder weapons had an advantage over previous incendiaries by using their own built-in oxygen supply to create flames, and were therefore harder to put out, similar to Greek fire . However unlike Greek fire, gunpowder's physical properties are solid rather than liquid, which makes it easier to store and load. The rocket propelled fire arrow appeared later. By

1680-543: A pointed tip traveling at high speeds, model rocketry historically has proven to be a very safe hobby and has been credited as a significant source of inspiration for children who eventually become scientists and engineers . Hobbyists build and fly a wide variety of model rockets. Many companies produce model rocket kits and parts but due to their inherent simplicity some hobbyists have been known to make rockets out of almost anything. Rockets are also used in some types of consumer and professional fireworks . A water rocket

1764-417: A pouch of gunpowder attached to an arrow. This type of fire arrow served the function of an incendiary and was launched using a bow or crossbow. According to the Wujing Zongyao the fire arrow was constructed and used in the following manner: Behind the arrow head wrap up some gunpowder with two or three layers of soft paper, and bind it to the arrow shaft in a lump shaped like a pomegranate. Cover it with

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1848-614: A rail at extremely high speed. The world record for this is Mach 8.5. Larger rockets are normally launched from a launch pad that provides stable support until a few seconds after ignition. Due to their high exhaust velocity—2,500 to 4,500 m/s (9,000 to 16,200 km/h; 5,600 to 10,100 mph)—rockets are particularly useful when very high speeds are required, such as orbital speed at approximately 7,800 m/s (28,000 km/h; 17,000 mph). Spacecraft delivered into orbital trajectories become artificial satellites , which are used for many commercial purposes. Indeed, rockets remain

1932-693: A reference to 1264, recording that the "ground-rat", a type of firework , had frightened the Empress-Mother Gongsheng at a feast held in her honor by her son the Emperor Lizong . Subsequently, rockets are included in the military treatise Huolongjing , also known as the Fire Drake Manual, written by the Chinese artillery officer Jiao Yu in the mid-14th century. This text mentions the first known multistage rocket ,

2016-504: A sense, a person ( rocket belt ). Vehicles frequently possess navigation systems and guidance systems that typically use satellite navigation and inertial navigation systems . Rocket engines employ the principle of jet propulsion . The rocket engines powering rockets come in a great variety of different types; a comprehensive list can be found in the main article, Rocket engine . Most current rockets are chemically powered rockets (usually internal combustion engines , but some employ

2100-440: A smaller caliber than even the ban-zutsu . These guns were used on castles and ships primarily as long range defensive weapons. As the tan-zutsu became a status symbol among the kibatai (cavalry), it eventually made its way into becoming a cavalry gun. These guns were similar in structure to the tan-zutsu , but had a longer barrel and were fairly easy to reload on horseback. Shateki-zutsu were made purely for

2184-454: A solid combination of fuel with oxidizer ( solid fuel ), or solid fuel with liquid or gaseous oxidizer ( hybrid propellant system ). Chemical rockets store a large amount of energy in an easily released form, and can be very dangerous. However, careful design, testing, construction and use minimizes risks. In China, gunpowder -powered rockets evolved in medieval China under the Song dynasty by

2268-403: A time when the benefits of firearms over traditional weapons were still relatively questionable to other daimyō . However the new firearm had undoubted advantages in range in comparison with traditional bows . In addition, bullets could penetrate almost any armor and shield. Joseon official Ryu Seong-ryong quoted: In the 1592 invasion , everything was swept away. Within a fortnight or

2352-724: A variety of means. According to the United States National Association of Rocketry (nar) Safety Code, model rockets are constructed of paper, wood, plastic and other lightweight materials. The code also provides guidelines for motor use, launch site selection, launch methods, launcher placement, recovery system design and deployment and more. Since the early 1960s, a copy of the Model Rocket Safety Code has been provided with most model rocket kits and motors. Despite its inherent association with extremely flammable substances and objects with

2436-416: Is a type of model rocket using water as its reaction mass. The pressure vessel (the engine of the rocket) is usually a used plastic soft drink bottle. The water is forced out by a pressurized gas, typically compressed air. It is an example of Newton's third law of motion. The scale of amateur rocketry can range from a small rocket launched in one's own backyard to a rocket that reached space. Amateur rocketry

2520-406: Is less necessary, a pressurised fluid is used as propellant that simply escapes the spacecraft through a propelling nozzle. The first liquid-fuel rocket , constructed by Robert H. Goddard , differed significantly from modern rockets. The rocket engine was at the top and the fuel tank at the bottom of the rocket, based on Goddard's belief that the rocket would achieve stability by "hanging" from

2604-550: Is only slight evidence that rockets existed prior to 1200 and it is more likely they were not produced or used for warfare until the latter half of the 13th century. Rockets A rocket (from Italian : rocchetto , lit.   ''bobbin/spool'', and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air . A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely from propellant carried within

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2688-558: Is split into three categories according to total engine impulse : low-power, mid-power, and high-power . Hydrogen peroxide rockets are used to power jet packs , and have been used to power cars and a rocket car holds the all time (albeit unofficial) drag racing record. Corpulent Stump is the most powerful non-commercial rocket ever launched on an Aerotech engine in the United Kingdom. Launches for orbital spaceflights , or into interplanetary space , are usually from

2772-493: The ban-zutsu , were not best suited in open field battles and were instead used as status symbols for mounted samurai. They were occasionally used for self-defense by high ranking commanders. At the advent of firearms, Japanese armies had to come up with reliable ways of repelling the widespread use of guns; whether it would be the creation of full plated and soon bullet-proof armor, bulletproof bundles of bamboo called taketaba  [ ja ] or heavy iron pavises . With

2856-641: The tanegashima were peasant foot soldiers commanded by the samurai, the ashigaru . Where warfare changed during the Sengoku era exponentially with massed pike, archer, and eventually arquebus formations, large quantities of guns were needed and produced to equip the teppogumi (gun units) of the feudal Japanese armies. As these guns were primarily used by the ashigaru , they were of low quality and were stored in arsenals where they could be used again. Tan-zutsu were generally matchlock pistols that due to their inferior range and firepower compared to

2940-496: The 'fire-dragon issuing from the water' (Huo long chu shui), thought to have been used by the Chinese navy. Medieval and early modern rockets were used militarily as incendiary weapons in sieges . Between 1270 and 1280, Hasan al-Rammah wrote al-furusiyyah wa al-manasib al-harbiyya ( The Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War Devices ), which included 107 gunpowder recipes, 22 of them for rockets. In Europe, Roger Bacon mentioned firecrackers made in various parts of

3024-603: The Battle of Caishi , near present-day Ma'anshan , during a Jin maritime incursion. By 1206, "gunpowder arrows" ( huoyaojian ) rather than just "fire arrows" ( huojian ) were mentioned. In 1245, a military exercise was conducted on the Qiantang River using what were probably rockets. The Mongols also made use of the fire arrow during their campaigns in Japan. Probably as a result of the Mongolian military campaigns

3108-616: The Italian rocchetta , meaning "bobbin" or "little spindle", given due to the similarity in shape to the bobbin or spool used to hold the thread from a spinning wheel. Leonhard Fronsperger and Conrad Haas adopted the Italian term into German in the mid-16th century; "rocket" appears in English by the early 17th century. Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima , an important early modern work on rocket artillery , by Casimir Siemienowicz ,

3192-493: The Portuguese Empire in 1543. It was used by the samurai class and their ashigaru "foot soldiers", and within a few years its introduction in battle changed the way war was fought in Japan forever. It, however, could not completely replace the yumi (longbow). Although the Japanese developed various techniques to improve the gun's shortcomings, specifically its slow rate of fire and inability to fire in

3276-557: The Saturn V and Soyuz , have launch escape systems . This is a small, usually solid rocket that is capable of pulling the crewed capsule away from the main vehicle towards safety at a moments notice. These types of systems have been operated several times, both in testing and in flight, and operated correctly each time. This was the case when the Safety Assurance System (Soviet nomenclature) successfully pulled away

3360-619: The Tokugawa shogunate , a powerful entity that would maintain peace, stability, and prosperity in Japan for the following 250 years. This is known as the Edo period (1603–1868). From the mid-17th century, Japan decided to close itself to interaction with the West except for the Dutch Republic through its policy of sakoku . Contrary to popular belief, this did not lead to Japan "giving up

3444-650: The United States Navy led by Matthew C. Perry in 1854 started a period of rearmament. The tanegashima was an antiquated weapon by the 1800s and various samurai factions acquired advanced firearms including the minié rifle , breech-loading and repeating rifles. The samurai era ended in 1868 with the Meiji period ; Japan turned to a national conscription army with modern weapons and uniforms. Some gunsmiths did replace their matchlock-type tanegashima into percussion cap mechanisms while retaining its design as

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3528-437: The " ground segment ". Orbital launch vehicles commonly take off vertically, and then begin to progressively lean over, usually following a gravity turn trajectory. Tanegashima (Japanese matchlock) Tanegashima ( 種子島 ) , most often called in Japanese and sometimes in English hinawajū ( 火縄銃 , "matchlock gun") , was a type of matchlock -configured arquebus firearm introduced to Japan through

3612-569: The 13th century. They also developed an early form of multiple rocket launcher during this time. The Mongols adopted Chinese rocket technology and the invention spread via the Mongol invasions to the Middle East and to Europe in the mid-13th century. According to Joseph Needham, the Song navy used rockets in a military exercise dated to 1245. Internal-combustion rocket propulsion is mentioned in

3696-572: The Congreve rocket in 1865. William Leitch first proposed the concept of using rockets to enable human spaceflight in 1861. Leitch's rocket spaceflight description was first provided in his 1861 essay "A Journey Through Space", which was later published in his book God's Glory in the Heavens (1862). Konstantin Tsiolkovsky later (in 1903) also conceived this idea, and extensively developed

3780-571: The L3 capsule during three of the four failed launches of the Soviet Moon rocket, N1 vehicles 3L, 5L and 7L . In all three cases the capsule, albeit uncrewed, was saved from destruction. Only the three aforementioned N1 rockets had functional Safety Assurance Systems. The outstanding vehicle, 6L , had dummy upper stages and therefore no escape system giving the N1 booster a 100% success rate for egress from

3864-508: The Ming army and in 1400 rocket arrow launchers were recorded to have been used by Li Jinglong . In 1451, a type of mobile rocket arrow launcher known as the "Munjong Hwacha " was invented in Joseon. The Japanese version of the fire arrow was known as the bo hiya . The Japanese pirates ( wokou , also known as wako or kaizoku) in the 16th century were reported to have used the bo hiya which had

3948-634: The Soviet Katyusha rocket in the artillery role, and the American anti tank bazooka projectile. These used solid chemical propellants. The Americans captured a large number of German rocket scientists , including Wernher von Braun, in 1945, and brought them to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip . After World War II scientists used rockets to study high-altitude conditions, by radio telemetry of temperature and pressure of

4032-779: The Soviet Union ( Vostok , Soyuz , Proton ) and in the United States (e.g. the X-15 ). Rockets came into use for space exploration . American crewed programs ( Project Mercury , Project Gemini and later the Apollo programme ) culminated in 1969 with the first crewed landing on the Moon – using equipment launched by the Saturn V rocket. Rocket vehicles are often constructed in the archetypal tall thin "rocket" shape that takes off vertically, but there are actually many different types of rockets including: A rocket design can be as simple as

4116-404: The appearance of a large arrow. A burning element made from incendiary waterproof rope was wrapped around the shaft and when lit the bo hiya was launched from a mortar like weapon hiya taihou or a wide bore Tanegashima matchlock arquebus . During one sea battle it was said the bo hiya were "falling like rain". The dating of the appearance of the gunpowder propelled fire arrow, otherwise known as

4200-549: The armory of Goa in Portuguese India , which was captured by the Portuguese in 1510 . The name tanegashima came from the Japanese island ( Tanegashima ) where a Chinese junk with two Portuguese adventurers on board was driven to anchor by a storm in 1543. The lord of the Japanese island, Tanegashima Tokitaka (1528–1579), purchased two matchlock muskets from the Portuguese and put a swordsmith to work copying

4284-689: The atmosphere, detection of cosmic rays , and further techniques; note too the Bell X-1 , the first crewed vehicle to break the sound barrier (1947). Independently, in the Soviet Union's space program research continued under the leadership of the chief designer Sergei Korolev (1907–1966). During the Cold War rockets became extremely important militarily with the development of modern intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The 1960s saw rapid development of rocket technology, particularly in

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4368-460: The caliber of the ban-zutsu being too weak to penetrate these protection methods, a new, yet harder to handle and expensive gun with a larger gun caliber was needed to equip the ashigaru formations that encountered these obstacles; the chu-zutsu was such a solution. Guns of the o-zutsu caliber (20 momme (≈ 75 g (2.6 oz)) and more) were practically portable hand cannons and were used as siege weapons employed to knock down

4452-597: The court produced 350,000 fire arrows and sent them to two garrisons. On March 1, 1126, the Song general Li Gang used a fire arrow machine known as the Thunderbolt thrower during the Jingkang Incident . By 1127, the Jin were also using fire arrows produced by captured Song artisans. In 1159, fire arrows were used by the Song navy in sinking a Jin fleet. In 1161, the general Yu Yunwen used fire arrows at

4536-410: The deflecting cowl at the nose. In 1920, Professor Robert Goddard of Clark University published proposed improvements to rocket technology in A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes . In 1923, Hermann Oberth (1894–1989) published Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen ( The Rocket into Planetary Space ). Modern rockets originated in 1926 when Goddard attached a supersonic ( de Laval ) nozzle to

4620-463: The dynamics of rocket propulsion is due to William Moore (1813). In 1814, Congreve published a book in which he discussed the use of multiple rocket launching apparatus. In 1815 Alexander Dmitrievich Zasyadko constructed rocket-launching platforms, which allowed rockets to be fired in salvos (6 rockets at a time), and gun-laying devices. William Hale in 1844 greatly increased the accuracy of rocket artillery. Edward Mounier Boxer further improved

4704-425: The engine like a pendulum in flight. However, the rocket veered off course and crashed 184 feet (56 m) away from the launch site , indicating that the rocket was no more stable than one with the rocket engine at the base. Rockets or other similar reaction devices carrying their own propellant must be used when there is no other substance (land, water, or air) or force ( gravity , magnetism , light ) that

4788-609: The exhaust stream , propellant flow, spin , or gravity . Rockets for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th-century China . Significant scientific, interplanetary and industrial use did not occur until the 20th century, when rocketry was the enabling technology for the Space Age , including setting foot on the Moon . Rockets are now used for fireworks , missiles and other weaponry , ejection seats , launch vehicles for artificial satellites , human spaceflight , and space exploration . Chemical rockets are

4872-698: The film's scientific adviser and later an important figure in the team that developed the V-2 rocket. The film was thought to be so realistic that it was banned by the Nazis when they came to power for fear it would reveal secrets about the V-2 rockets. In 1943 production of the V-2 rocket began in Germany. It was designed by the Peenemünde Army Research Center with Wernher von Braun serving as

4956-506: The fire arrows later spread into the Middle East , where they were mentioned by Al Hasan Al Ramma in the late 13th century. In 1374, the kingdom of Joseon also started producing gunpowder and by 1377 was producing cannons and fire arrows, which they used against wokou pirates. Korean fire arrows were used against the Japanese during the invasion of Korea in 1592. In 1380, an order of "wasp nest" rocket arrow launchers were ordered by

5040-460: The first launch in 1928, which flew for approximately 1,300 metres. These rockets were used in 1931 for the world's first successful use of rockets for jet-assisted takeoff of aircraft and became the prototypes for the Katyusha rocket launcher , which were used during World War II . In 1929, Fritz Lang 's German science fiction film Woman in the Moon was released. It showcased the use of

5124-410: The force (pressure times area) on the combustion chamber wall is unbalanced by the nozzle opening; this is not the case in any other direction. The shape of the nozzle also generates force by directing the exhaust gas along the axis of the rocket. Rocket propellant is mass that is stored, usually in some form of propellant tank or casing, prior to being used as the propulsive mass that is ejected from

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5208-516: The gun"; if anything, the gun was used less frequently because the Edo period did not have many large-scale conflicts in which a gun would be of use. Often the katana was simply the more practical weapon in the average small-scale conflicts. Isolation did not eliminate the production of guns in Japan—on the contrary, there is evidence of around 200 gunsmiths in Japan by the end of the Edo period. However,

5292-528: The guns in the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592, in which about a quarter of the invasion force of 160,000 were gunners. They were extremely successful at first and managed to capture Seoul just 18 days after their landing at Busan . The internal war for control of Japan was won by Tokugawa Ieyasu , who defeated his rivals at the Battle of Sekigahara in October 1600. Three years later, he established

5376-512: The guns will be the most important arms, therefore decrease the number of spears per unit, and have your most capable men carry guns". Oda Nobunaga used tanegashima in the Battle of Anegawa (1570), and again against the powerful Takeda clan in the Battle of Nagashino (1575), 3,000 gunners helped win the battle, firing by volleys of a thousand at a time. They were concealed across a river and used breastworks to effectively stop enemy infantry and cavalry charges while being protected. The defeat of

5460-445: The hail, and with which bows and arrows could not compare. The Japanese soon worked on various techniques to improve the effectiveness of their guns. They developed a staggered firing technique to create a continuous rain of bullets on the enemy. They also developed larger caliber barrels and ammunition to increase lethality. Protective boxes in lacquerware were invented to fit over the firing mechanism so it could still fire while it

5544-442: The hinges of gates as well as powerful anti-personnel and anti-cavalry weapons. A gun of this size was typically hard to operate (though varying on the momme), requiring plentiful amounts of gunpowder and proper training. One of the issues of operating such device was the powerful recoil and the difficulty of transporting, where sometimes larger o-zutsu were either rested on rice bales, hung from trees using ropes, or installed on

5628-403: The matchlock barrel and firing mechanism. The smith, Yaita Kinbee Kiyosoda, did not have much of a problem with most of the gun but "drilling the barrel helically so that the screw ( bisen bolt) could be tightly inserted" was a major problem as this "technique did not apparently exist in Japan until this time." The Portuguese fixed their ship and left the island, and only in the next year, when

5712-642: The mid-14 century rocket arrow launchers had appeared in the Ming dynasty and later on mobile rocket arrow launchers were utilized in China and later spread to Korea. The fire arrows propelled by gunpowder may have had a range of up to 1,000 ft (300 m). The fire arrows were first reported to have been used by the Southern Wu in 904 during the siege of Yuzhang . In 969, gunpowder propelled rocket arrows were invented by Yue Yifang and Feng Jisheng. In 975,

5796-482: The most common type of high power rocket, typically creating a high speed exhaust by the combustion of fuel with an oxidizer . The stored propellant can be a simple pressurized gas or a single liquid fuel that disassociates in the presence of a catalyst ( monopropellant ), two liquids that spontaneously react on contact ( hypergolic propellants ), two liquids that must be ignited to react (like kerosene (RP1) and liquid oxygen, used in most liquid-propellant rockets ),

5880-527: The necessary powder into his weapon before placing over the barrel and using his rammer to load both wadding and bullet into the barrel at the same time. After use, the hayago could be kept for repacking or discarded. In 1563 the Amago clan of Izumo Province won a victory over the Kikkawa clan with 33 of their adversaries wounded by tanegashima . In 1567, Takeda Shingen announced that, "Hereafter,

5964-479: The only way to launch spacecraft into orbit and beyond. They are also used to rapidly accelerate spacecraft when they change orbits or de-orbit for landing . Also, a rocket may be used to soften a hard parachute landing immediately before touchdown (see retrorocket ). Rockets were used to propel a line to a stricken ship so that a Breeches buoy can be used to rescue those on board. Rockets are also used to launch emergency flares . Some crewed rockets, notably

6048-439: The powerful Takeda clan brought about permanent changes in battle tactics. In the Battle of Numajiri (1584), Satake Yoshishige won against Hojo clan , due in part to the use of over 8600 matchlock rifles by their troops. The soldiers led by Date Masamune were 70% armed with guns. Japan became so enthusiastic about the new weapons that it possibly overtook every European country in absolute numbers produced. Japan also used

6132-470: The propellant is not burned but still undergoes a chemical reaction, and can be a 'monopropellant' such as hydrazine , nitrous oxide or hydrogen peroxide that can be catalytically decomposed to hot gas. Alternatively, an inert propellant can be used that can be externally heated, such as in steam rocket , solar thermal rocket or nuclear thermal rockets . For smaller, low performance rockets such as attitude control thrusters where high performance

6216-497: The rain, it remained inferior to the yumi in these respects, and the latter continued to be an important weapon on the battlefield. After Tokugawa Ieyasu destroyed the Toyotomi clan in the siege of Osaka and established the Tokugawa shogunate , the relatively peaceful Edo period arrived, and the use of tanegashima declined. The tanegashima seems to have been based on snap matchlocks that were produced in

6300-418: The social life of firearms had changed: as the historian David L. Howell has argued, for many in Japanese society, the gun had become less a weapon than a farm implement for scaring off animals. With no external enemies for over 200 years, tanegashima were mainly used by samurai for hunting and target practice, the majority were relegated to the arms store houses of the daimyō . The arrival in Japan of

6384-523: The state of Wuyue sent to the Song dynasty a unit of soldiers skilled in the handling of fire arrows. In the same year, the Song used fire arrows to destroy the fleet of Southern Tang . Published in 1044, the Wujing Zongyao , or Complete Compendium of Military Classics , states that in 994 the city of Zitong was attacked by a Liao army of 100,000 men who were driven back by regular war machines and fire arrows. In 1083, Song records state that

6468-549: The technical director. The V-2 became the first artificial object to travel into space by crossing the Kármán line with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944. Doug Millard, space historian and curator of space technology at the Science Museum, London , where a V-2 is exhibited in the main exhibition hall, states: "The V-2 was a quantum leap of technological change. We got to the Moon using V-2 technology but this

6552-586: The vehicle; therefore a rocket can fly in the vacuum of space. Rockets work more efficiently in a vacuum and incur a loss of thrust due to the opposing pressure of the atmosphere. Multistage rockets are capable of attaining escape velocity from Earth and therefore can achieve unlimited maximum altitude. Compared with airbreathing engines , rockets are lightweight and powerful and capable of generating large accelerations . To control their flight, rockets rely on momentum , airfoils , auxiliary reaction engines , gimballed thrust , momentum wheels , deflection of

6636-519: The world in the Opus Majus of 1267. Between 1280 and 1300, the Liber Ignium gave instructions for constructing devices that are similar to firecrackers based on second hand accounts. Konrad Kyeser described rockets in his military treatise Bellifortis around 1405. Giovanni Fontana , a Paduan engineer in 1420, created rocket-propelled animal figures. The name "rocket" comes from

6720-535: Was fielded in the Napoleonic Wars . It was Congreve rockets to which Francis Scott Key was referring, when he wrote of the "rockets' red glare" while held captive on a British ship that was laying siege to Fort McHenry in 1814. Together, the Mysorean and British innovations increased the effective range of military rockets from 100 to 2,000 yards (91 to 1,829 m). The first mathematical treatment of

6804-531: Was first printed in Amsterdam in 1650. The Mysorean rockets were the first successful iron-cased rockets, developed in the late 18th century in the Kingdom of Mysore (part of present-day India) under the rule of Hyder Ali . The Congreve rocket was a British weapon designed and developed by Sir William Congreve in 1804. This rocket was based directly on the Mysorean rockets, used compressed powder and

6888-498: Was launched to surveil enemy targets, however, recon rockets have never come into wide use in the military. Sounding rockets are commonly used to carry instruments that take readings from 50 kilometers (31 mi) to 1,500 kilometers (930 mi) above the surface of the Earth. The first images of Earth from space were obtained from a V-2 rocket in 1946 ( flight #13 ). Rocket engines are also used to propel rocket sleds along

6972-410: Was raining, as were systems to accurately fire weapons at night by keeping fixed angles thanks to measured strings. Another development would be the hayago , a bamboo cartridge used to facilitate faster reloading. A hollow tube open at both ends, the hayago contained gunpowder, wadding, and a bullet. Upon tearing open the tube's paper seal at the bottom, a soldier could quickly use it to pour

7056-645: Was technology that was developed with massive resources, including some particularly grim ones. The V-2 programme was hugely expensive in terms of lives, with the Nazis using slave labour to manufacture these rockets". In parallel with the German guided-missile programme, rockets were also used on aircraft , either for assisting horizontal take-off ( RATO ), vertical take-off ( Bachem Ba 349 "Natter") or for powering them ( Me 163 , see list of World War II guided missiles of Germany ). The Allies' rocket programs were less technological, relying mostly on unguided missiles like

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