Different Types of Intermodal Movement by Air - Essay Example

Research Paper on Intermodal Movement by air Thesis ment: Intermodal movement by air includes multiple forms of movements through the air thatrange from aero plane commonly known as the airplane, the spacecraft and the rocket and each mode is distinct from another with several advantages and disadvantages. Cover Page Intermodal movement by air is always dominated by the aero planes and helicopters since they are heavily and frequently used for all civil and military purposes. The other modes such as rockets and spacecraft are not specifically used for common civilian necessities as they are not meant for those purposes. Rockets are mainly used for launching satellites, spacecraft, space shuttles and space research stations. A rocket is always misunderstood to be a spaceship by the laymen. Spacecraft, satellites and space shuttles are meant for space and planetary exploration in particular. Though aircraft, spacecraft and rockets share a common feature that they are airborne, they differ totally from each other in their looks and use. A rocket is a multipurpose instrument used in air, water and space with necessary modifications but the use of aircraft is sensibly limited to the earth atmosphere as they can not fly in the outer space with their wings and wing-shaped propellers where there is no gravitation. But the technology of rockets has become so simple that it has spread like a computer virus and is mostly misused by terror groups which have acquired the expertise. It is true that the rockets are playing the lead role in the space exploration at present but the day may not be far off when they would be replaced by the aircraft made up of air breathing rocket engines. Research Paper on Intermodal Movement by air 2 The movement by air, for both people and cargo, is bound to take new vistas. Use of different types of airborne vehicles for different purposes would undoubtedly pick up by leaps and bounds in this space age. Basically, airborne vehicles can broadly be divided into two classes such as atmospheric vehicles comprising airplanes and helicopters which move with in the earth’s atmosphere and non-atmospheric vehicles comprising space craft, space shuttles, deep space probes, satellites and rockets which move in earth’s outer atmosphere (Anderson, 2004). Each of them is totally different among themselves serving a different purpose and having its own advantages and disadvantages in relation to its use. For decades now, we have been extensively using aero planes and helicopters for airborne movement as other vehicles have not come in to use for common purposes. The use of spacecraft and rockets for the general transport of people and cargo from one country to another or between two long distance places on the earth is beyond imagination. The space vehicles, presently used for outer space exploration, would be of multiple uses when people travel to another planet in bulk in the far future. The face of each of these air borne vehicles is strikingly different. There are no similarities of any kind between an airplane and a rocket, and between aircraft and spacecraft. In fact, the purpose of these vehicles also totally differs from one another. Airplanes fly overhead with in the earth’s atmosphere and spacecraft fly much higher outside the earth’s atmosphere (Ray, 1992). The basic gravitational principles governing the propulsion and control systems guiding the airplanes and spacecraft do not have commonalities anywhere. Balloons, blimps, dirigibles and gliders were the first model of airborne vehicles used by aeronauts (Woodhouse, 1918) for flying prior to 1903 when the Wright brothers invented the Research Paper on Intermodal Movement by air 3 aero plane. Airplanes are therefore advanced versions of balloons and blimps. The two important components in an airplane are the wings and propeller. Wings lift the plane into the air by creating a difference in their top and bottom surfaces while the wing-shaped propeller takes forward it in the air. Motor operated propeller keeps cutting through the air and creates forward thrust and motion to the plane. As long as the propeller keeps turning through its propulsion system, the plane moves forward. Generally, the air breathing engines of an aero plane use oxygen, known as oxidizer, available from its surroundings in the air and burn the aviation fuel (Besancon, 1974). The propulsion system is a must for all airplanes but different types of aircraft use different types of propulsion devices for creating the thrust forward. Again, a rocket and a spacecraft are not the same, though they are in principle classified as non-atmospheric vehicles. But rockets operate in both earth’s atmosphere and outer space as well while the spacecrafts operate and move in the outer space. It is very unfortunate that most of the people look upon them with the same meaning. A rocket is similar to the propeller of an aero plane used to create forward thrust and movement to a spacecraft. A space vehicle, used to move in the outer space out side of the earth’s atmosphere, is always given a forward movement by a rocket which powers the vehicle all through. A rocket therefore is a propulsion system that launches and moves a satellite in the earth orbit or a spacecraft in the outer space beyond earth’s gravitational pull. Rockets are again of different types operating on both solid and liquid fuel. Solid fuel rockets provide higher amount of thrust over a short period of time but are less used for space crafts and shuttles as they require too many complicated and cumbersome mechanisms (Coil, 1905). Liquid fuel rockets are generally used to launch spacecraft and shuttles as they are more Research Paper on Intermodal Movement by air 4 efficient and produce a more powerful chemical reaction by combining two types of gasses and resulting in a controlled explosion to provide a lift and the required forward thrust for the spacecraft or satellite (Jones, 2002). The most promising type of next generation rocket is the Ion propelled one which operates on controlled nuclear fusion and discharges charged ions based on which a spacecraft moves in the space (Prantzos, 2000). But it is operational in the outer space only and requires lot of research and investment. Water rocket is another type of rocket which operates in water but it is not our subject matter here. Since rockets are operational in the earth’s atmosphere too, many countries are increasingly resorting to the use of rocket propelled missile systems to attack the enemy camps in times of war. A missiles propulsion system generally operates on either a jet engine, or solid or liquid fuelled rocket engine or combination of both. Rocket propelled missile systems are on high demand these days as they can hit the enemy targets with in the desired time frame. Jet engine propelled missiles are not that much faster as rocket guided missiles (Wilson, 2001). A rocket can therefore be used either for constructive purposes such as launching spacecraft or satellites into outer space for planetary and space exploration or for destructive purposes such as missile attacks on enemy camps for killing people and damaging properties for victory in war zones. A spacecraft, meant for exploring the outer space, operates in a totally different atmosphere as there would be no air in the upper atmosphere or space. A rocket powering a spacecraft has to carry its own oxidizer-liquid oxygen-and fuel. In the upper atmosphere, lift or forward motion can not be created through the wings or a propulsion system. The base for launching a space Research Paper on Intermodal Movement by air 5 vehicle through a rocket emanates from the Newton’s Third Law which explains that an equally powerful reaction follows an action in the opposite direction (Coil, 1905). When you watch a space vehicle or satellite being launched from a rocket on a TV screen in a live telecast, you would find hot colorful gasses emanating downward from its tail end to the ground in an interesting action while the rocket itself moves upward with the spacecraft in the opposite direction in the resulting reaction. The point to be noted down is that the basic mechanism in the propulsion systems used to give a forward thrust to aero planes as well as the space vehicles is the same known as ‘reaction’ (Kallis Jr., 2004). In both the cases, gases are released under high pressure in the opposite direction of the flight to have forward thrust in the required direction but the engines of an aero plane precisely use the oxygen available from its surroundings in the air while the engines of a rocket has to carry its own oxidizer. In both the cases, lifting and forward movement of the vehicles should be done simultaneously. The main advantage with rockets is that they could work in water too, in addition to air and space with the desired changes in the engines but the engines of an airplane can not take it into outer space or into water. Still, the aero planes have their own advantages. They are used as civil aircraft for carrying passengers, fighter aircraft for bombing and destroying the enemy camps and cargo aircraft for carrying goods of all kinds. In some countries, the airlines carry both passengers and cargo too in their aircraft. Aircraft can also be divided into manned and unmanned categories. A manned aero plane must be piloted by an authorized pilot either for civil or defense needs while a pilotless aircraft can be operated remote-control for both civilian and military purposes. Siuru (1994) Research Paper on Intermodal Movement by air 6 argues that a pilotless aircraft can be extensively used for important civilian tasks such as monitoring high power transmission lines, oil pipelines and a nation’s borders. Rockets are of multipurpose nature as they are used for launching satellites and spacecraft in to outer space and also for taking warheads and missiles into an enemy camp in a war between nations. But these days, the rockets are the most talked about subject as terrorist outfits all over the world are firing rocket-guided missiles and warheads to attack public and governmental properties in their conflicting zones. In fact, no other airborne moving system was so misused as rockets all over the world, especially by such terrorist groups as Taliban and Al-Qaida (Gutman, 2008). As the rocket technology has spread like a virus, it is falling in the wrong hands. This is the worst disadvantage with the rockets. Most of the rockets used to launch space vehicles and satellites are expendable and one-time systems giving no scope for their retrieval. Some rockets are reusable and used repeatedly for launching more satellites and space stations. The USA has pioneered this technology and its first reusable rocket, the Space Transportation System (STS), was launched on April 12, 1981(Jane, 1987). This was the first rocket used to take people and cargo to and from the orbiting earth stations. All of US’s later version space shuttles are based on the reusable rocket technology. Rockets generally operate through three or four stage motors and when the first stage motor ignites, the space vehicle is lifted up with increasing velocity. As long as the first stage motor keeps igniting, the vehicle continues to take higher altitude. When the first stage motor stops working, the second stage motor starts igniting and accelerates spacecraft’s altitude further and this process continues through several stages till the vehicle attains the desired altitude. Research Paper on Intermodal Movement by air 7 America’s space shuttles Columbia, Challenger, Discovery and Atlantis are some of the world famous and modern spacecraft that brought unparalleled recognition to the US space program. But these spacecraft were built with a huge cost of hundreds of millions of dollars and have their own advantages and disadvantages. These space shuttles, operated by high powered and multistage liquid-propellant guided rockets, face incalculable pressure while entering the outer and the earth’s atmospheres in their upwards and return journeys respectively. Any minute administrative, organizational or mechanical failures would lead to major disasters resulting in the waste of years of research and the huge investment apart from the loss of valuable lives. Both the Columbia and Challenger disasters were said to be the result of flawed communication, risky decision making and faulty spare parts (Gerber, 2007). Soon, the age of space shuttles being powered by rocket propulsion may abruptly end going by the trends of present research into space travel. That air planes themselves can be future space ships replacing the present rocket technology has been slowly emerging putting a question mark on the future use of rockets. Researcher Courtland (2009) fiercely argues in an internet article that the present air-breathing jet engines used in the aircrafts would gradually replace the rocket propelled space shuttles and space crafts. He says that the European Space Agency has heavily funded a UK firm to develop an aircraft called Skylon which would run on an air breathing rocket engine. He explains that the Skylon’s engine uses a heat exchanger to cool air at a heavy temperature to mix it with liquid hydrogen and burn. When it is up 26 Km in the air, the engine would switch on to conventional rocket mode to propel the plane into outer space by using the oxygen on board. Research Paper on Intermodal Movement by air 8 References Anderson, J.A.( 2004).The Standard Atmosphere. Introduction To Flight. ( PP.101). McGraw-Hill Professional. Ray, J. K. ( 1992). Rockets, Supersonic Aircraft, and America’s Early Space Programs: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab, Integrating aerospace science into the curriculum: K-12 (PP.106-107). Libraries Unlimited. Woodhouse, H. (1918). Military Aerostatics. Text Book of Military Aeronautics ( PP.157- 166). Harvard: Harvard University Press. Besancon, R.M ( 1974). The Encyclopedia of Physics (PP. 358-359, 363). University of Michigan Press. Coil, S. M (1905). Lox and Love: Robert Goddard, Solid Fuels, Liquid Oygen. Robert Hutchings Goddard ( PP 51). Orient Blackswan. Jones, T.D. , Michael Benson ( 2002). What makes a rocket go up? ( PP.27) The complete idiots guide to NASA. Alpha Books. Research Paper on Intermodal Movement by air 9 Prantzos , N.( 2000). Route to the Stars. Our Cosmic Future: humanitys fate in the universe (pp.102). Cambridge University Press. Wilson, J. ( 2001). Hours to Tokyo X-43 ( Research Aircraft). Popular Mechanics, 178 (7), 64-67. Coil, S.M (1905). Newton’s Law. Robert Hutchings Goddard ( PP 24). Orient Blackswan. Kallis Jr. S.A. ( 2004). Rocket planes. Radios "Captain Midnight": The Wartime Biography (pp. 257). McFarland, Siuru,B. , Siuru, W. D., & Busick, J. D. (1994 ) General Aviation Aircraft. Future flight: the next generation of aircraft technology ( pp. 172). McGraw-Hill Professional. Gutman, R. (2008). Silence Cannot Be the Strategy. How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban, and the Hijacking of Afghanistan. (PP. 138). The US Institute of Peace Press. Jane, F.T.( 1987). United States of America. Janes all the worlds aircraft. (pp.498). Janes Information Group. Research Paper on Intermodal Movement by air 10 Gerber, J., Jenson, E.L., & Kubena ( COL) J.L. ( 2007). Encyclopedia of white collar crime (PP. 192). Greenwood Publishing Group. Courtland, R. ( 2009). In New Scinetist. Retrieved March 20, 2009, from New Scinetist. Online: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16682-airbreathing-planes-the-spaceships-of-the-future.html Read More