Ballpark, what fraction of a rocket launch fuel energy need to orbit is to overcome atmospheric drag as opposed to overcoming gravity? Anyone know off the top of your head?
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Ballpark, it’s about 9.5 km/s of delta v needed to get to ISS orbit (400 km). Of that 9.5 km/s ~1.5 km/s is to counteract drag. Translating that to fuel in the rocket equation should be pretty ez.
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Using a specific impulse of 500s (for simplicity), without drag you’d need an initial to final mass ratio of ~5 to 1. With drag you’d need a mass ratio of ~7.3 to 1.
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