The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies is proud to present The Aerospace Advantage, with Heather ”Lucky” Penney as the host. Every week, Lucky takes listeners into the world of aerospace power and help the audience understand what it takes to fly and fight in the sky, while also protecting America’s interests in space. Whether talking to top generals, standing on a flight line full of combat aircraft, looking at a rocket being prepared for launch, or hearing from those who have laid it all on the line in defense of the nation—this podcast will afford unprecedented access and insight into where the combat aerospace community is going and why.
Episodes
Saturday Apr 11, 2026
Saturday Apr 11, 2026
Episode Summary:
This week we're talking about space launch. 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of liquid-fueled rockets, when Dr. Robert Goddard successfully pioneered the first launch from his aunt's farm in Auburn, MA. Like the Wright Brothers before him, Goddard’s breakthrough opened the door to a new domain and the exploration, operations, and economic development that have evolved ever since. Mitchell Institute experts and John Reed, the Chief Rocket Scientist at United Launch Alliance, discuss this milestone event, launch advancements over the past 100 years, the future of this technology, and why it all matters.
Note regarding ISP:
Isp or “Specific Impulse”, as we talked about, is a measure of a rocket efficiency. It is calculated as the Thrust force divided by the product of the mass flowrate of propellants times the gravitational acceleration in a 1 g field - (F/(mdot * g0). If we think about force in Newtons second law, with F=ma, we can see that we have mass divided by flowrate (or mass/sec) and acceleration divided by acceleration. These units resolve to what we term seconds of impulse. As we discussed, the acceleration of the fuel is a function of the exhaust velocity of the combustion products. This efficiency is driven by the combustion chamber design and chemical process as well as the nozzle design. These elements were all developed for rockets by Robert Goddard in his laboratory and field demonstrations.
Credits:
Host: Heather "Lucky" Penney, Director of Research, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies
Producer: Shane Thin
Executive Producer: Douglas Birkey
Guest: Charles Galbreath, Director, Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence (MI-SPACE)
Guest: John Reed, Chief Rocket Scientist, United Launch Alliance
Links:
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3GbA5Of
Website: https://mitchellaerospacepower.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MitchellStudies
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mitchell.Institute.Aerospace
LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nzBisb
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitchellstudies/
#MitchellStudies #AerospaceAdvantage #space #launch #ula
No comments yet. Be the first to say something!