I think a more apt question would be, “what is the main similarity between a jet and rocket

engine?” (They both produce thrust!), because essentially they are very different in almost all
aspects.

Jet engines are air breathing turbo machines, having complex set of moving parts which results
in a heavy machine. These engines operate using a set of compressors and turbines to
compress, burn and expand incoming air, so that it is thrust out at a high velocity. They have the
capacity to produce thrust up to 54 tons (in the case of GE 90 engines, one of the largest jet
engines in production), due to which they are best used to produce lift force by accelerating
forward, rather than using all its thrust to move upwards. They use Jet 1A, a kerosene type of
liquid fuel, in a high Air:Fuel mixture (50:1 to 130:1) and typically use 4.76kg/s of fuel during
cruise, making them very economical and efficient.

In contrast, rocket engines are simple in design as they are essentially light, simple (no moving
parts), nozzles through which products of combustion are accelerated. They do not require
continuous supply of air/oxygen and instead use either solid propellants (contains oxidizers and
fuel in solid form) or liquid propellants (liquid oxygen and fuel stored in seperate tanks) to
produce a combustion mixture which exits the engine at very high velocity. Due to this, rocket
engines have the unique ability to produce thrust in a vacuum environment unlike jet engines.
Rocket engines can produce thrust of up to 690 tons (as in the case of F-1 engines, the largest
rocket engine that was produced). These engines use up a lot of fuel, burning about 788kg/s of
fuel and 1788kg/s of oxygen, and are used to directly thrust the rocket upwards.

PS Apologies if it looks littered, but that’s just how different these engines are!
----

What is the difference between a jet engine and a rocket engine?

Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan on Amazon Prime Video.
I think a more apt question would be, “what is the main similarity between a jet and rocket
engine?” (They both produce thrust!), because essentially they are very different in almost all
aspects.

Jet engines are air breathing turbo machines, having complex set of moving parts which results
in a heavy machine. These engines operate using a set of compressors and turbines to
compress, burn and expand incoming air, so that it is thrust out at a high velocity. They have the
capacity to produce thrust up to 54 tons (in the case of GE 90 engines, one of the largest jet
engines in production), due to which they are best used to produce lift force by accelerating
forward, rather than using all its thrust to move upwards. They use Jet 1A, a kerosene type of
liquid fuel, in a high Air:Fuel mixture (50:1 to 130:1) and typically use 4.76kg/s of fuel during
cruise, making them very economical and efficient.
In contrast, rocket engines are simple in design as they are essentially light, simple (no moving
parts), nozzles through which products of combustion are accelerated. They do not require
continuous supply of air/oxygen and instead use either solid propellants (contains oxidizers and
fuel in solid form) or liquid propellants (liquid oxygen and fuel stored in seperate tanks) to
produce a combustion mixture which exits the engine at very high velocity. Due to this, rocket
engines have the unique ability to produce thrust in a vacuum environment unlike jet engines.
Rocket engines can produce thrust of up to 690 tons (as in the case of F-1 engines, the largest
rocket engine that was produced). These engines use up a lot of fuel, burning about 788kg/s of
fuel and 1788kg/s of oxygen, and are used to directly thrust the rocket upwards.

PS Apologies if it looks littered, but that’s just how different these engines are!
Master's course in hybrid electric vehicle design & analysis.
Thank you for the A to A.

The answer is: air!

Both engines need oxygen for combustion of the fuels they carry. In both engines, combustion
produces gases with high energy which are exhausted from a tailpipe.

In modern turbofan jet engines, used in civilian transports, the combustion gases are made to
drive turbines, which turn the compressors, which bring air into the engine and pressurise it prior
to combustion. But right in front of the front compressor (there are two compressors in modern
engines, and three in the Rolls-Royce Trent family) is a large-diameter fan, turned by that same
compressor. Air taken in by the outer diameter of the fan is exhausted immediately behind
through an opening known as a fan nozzle. This massive amount of low-velocity air is what
produces the majority of the thrust (about 90% nowadays) in modern commercial engines. The
rest of the thrust comes from the high-velocity jet exhaust at the tail of the engine.

In any jet engine, the oxygen needed for fuel combustion comes from atmospheric air.

Rockets serve a different purpose. They are expected to go into the outer reaches of the
atmosphere, or even beyond. Under those circumstances, sufficient oxygen is not available in
the atmosphere for combustion, so rockets carry their own oxygen along with the fuel.

In the aeronautical industry, the problem of high speed flight was of relatively academic interest
until the mid-1930s. Two technical developments of immediate pre-war years brought the area
into the spotlight. The first one was the appearance of the jet engine. The second development,
the introduction of powerful, streamlined monoplane fighter, brought a series of mysterious
accidents involving high speed dives. The phenomenon became known as compressibility -
shock waves of compressed air causing the airframe to disintegrate. Earliest traces of such
accidents go back to 1937 with the Messerschmitt Bf 109.
Eventually scientists identified the reason for the problem. The name "sound barrier" was born -
it was actually seen upon as an actual physical barrier that would have to be overcome. Equally
important, the barrier was also psychological - there were many voices arguing that supersonic
flight would be impossible.

To research the area, the British and American governments decided to develop specialized
research airplanes that would be used as flying labs - to record and take data on flow conditions
at transonic speeds. In effect these airplanes were to be research tools using the sky as a
laboratory.

Chuck Yeager is famous for booming the California desert 60 years ago on the first supersonic
flight of the experimental Bell XS-1 (later X-1) rocket plane. This was a rocket-powered plane.

---
Typically jet engines includes Ramjet, rockets, turbojets, turbofan. Confusing?

Jet engines are the one which gets thrust by producing jets in the downstream or you can say
these "reaction engines". Rocket is also one type of jet engine only the difference is, It does not
require outer air for combustion because rockets carry oxygen and other propellant with them
and combustion happens with oxygen reacting with liquid propellant or they just have solid
propellant. however in normal jet engine (I assume you are talking about commercial jet engines
like Airbus, Boeing etc.) they take oxygen from atmosphere and combustion happens inside the
combustion chamber and exhaust gases passes through convergent nozzle in case of subsonic
aircraft with a very high velocity to produce thrust.