Hello Antimatter Fans:


It's the weekend, and we have a great technical question today.


Sandra L. , from Los Angeles (yes, women do enjoy rockets and Space!) writes:

Please tell us what the rocket looks like as it goes from the launchpad to space.

Is it slow to accelerate, like the we've seen with the Space Shuttle or does it fly into Space very, very quickly?

Sandra, maybe you can come out for one of the launches some day. It's amazing to watch a solid fuel rocket rip into the sky. One can only imagine if you've never witnessed it.

For now, let me tell you that the launches you generally see on television from Florida are using solid rocket boosters or SRBs which are much larger than ours--and, although we use solid fuel boosters, ours burn at a significantly faster rate and cause much quicker acceleration in the initial burn--and so our rocket goes lickity-split right up into the deep blue sky over New Mexico.

Those SRBs pushing the Space Shuttle only carry it to between 25 and 35 nautical miles above the earth, but they have burned a little over 2 Million pounds of fuel. We go about twice that far, but our payload doesn't weigh anything close to what those big boys are pushing.

Our rocket is spin stabilized, so it spins at 6-8 Hz, which means it spins from 6-8 times a second, and it burns for between 10 and 13 seconds--but that's long enough to get it into space. Imagine it spinning, ripping through the oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere--and recognize that it is going to create some pretty significant heat--at least in the initial burn.

Keep in mind that the payload is not nearly as heavy as the payload of two SRBS,and a triple engined liquid fuel launch vehicle driving a Shuttle into an orbital plane.

I hope that answers your question about the speed and what the launch looks like. Remember..you can be as close to Space as anyone by simply enjoying Antimatter Energy Beverage. Pick some up at a location near you. If you can't find it, email us and let us know where you would like for us to contact to have them stock it just for you.

Thanks again for your question, and your support of Antimatter Energy Beverage, America's only Space-Based Energy Drink.