Created By: Marcy Grauer National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Created By: Marcy L. Grauer NHMFL

do not depend on air, even for burning their fuel. Rockets take advantage of some basic laws of nature that were discovered by the brilliant scientist Isaac Newton late in the 17th century. One of these, called Newton's third law, says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This explains what is going on when you blow up a balloon, then let it go without tying a knot. The air rushes out of the mouth of the balloon and that pushes the balloon in the opposite direction. This law also tells us that, to build a powerful rocket, we need to shoot out a lot of high-speed material opposite the direction we want the rocket to go. That is exactly what a rocket engine is designed to do. Most rockets use high-speed exhaust gases from burning rocket fuel to propel themselves up and away from Earth's surface to the vacuum of space. Unlike planes, they don't need air to lift them up. Rockets not only
make space exploration possible, but they also enable us to explore our own planet in ways we could never do even from an airplane.

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/phonedrmarc/2003_april.shtml

Comets are difficult objects to study, they can have huge orbits