Return to. Rocket engines harness the energy to get a spaceship off the ground. Learn about solid-fuel rocket engines, liquid-propellant rockets and the future of rocket engines. Brain, Marshall. "How Rocket Engines Work. " 01 April 2000. HowStuffWorks. com. <http://science. howstuffworks. com/rocket. htm> 25 September 2008. www. howstuffworks. com/rocket. htm www. howstuffworks. com/rocket. htm. Rocket Vehicles and Complete Systems. www. xcor. com/. How to select rocket engines - a step-by-step guide. Click Here How do you stage "Composite Propellant" rocket engines? See Newsletter #91. www. apogeerockets. com/rocket_motors. asp www. apogeerockets. com/rocket_motors. asp. var wikiImage = new Image(); wikiImage. onload = function() &ob;if(this. height A rocket engine is a jet engine that takes all its reaction mass ("propellant") from within tankage and forms it into a high speed jet, thereby obtaining thrust in accordance with Newton's third law. en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Rocket_engine. How Rocket Engines Work Brain, Marshall. "How Rocket Engines Work. " 01 April 2000. HowStuffWorks. com. <http://science. howstuffworks. com/rocket. htm> 28 September 2008. www. howstuffworks. com/rocket1. htm www. howstuffworks. com/rocket1. htm. Rocket engines are the most extreme examples of power sources for things that fly. The history of rocket engine development is filled with the most incredible stories of engineering dedication and skill. www. enginehistory. org/rocket_engines. htm www. enginehistory. org/rocket_engines. htm. Rocket engines harness the energy to get a spaceship off the ground. Learn about solid-fuel rocket engines, liquid-propellant rockets and the future of rocket engines. Brain, Marshall. "How Rocket Engines Work. " 01 April 2000. HowStuffWorks. com. <http://science. howstuffworks. com/rocket. htm> 25 September 2008. www. howstuffworks. com/rocket. htm www. howstuffworks. com/rocket. htm. The thrust equation shown above works for both liquid rocket and solid rocket. engines. There is also an efficiency parameter called the specific impulse which works for both types of rockets and greatly simplifies the performance analysis for rockets. Model Rocket Engines: www. grc. nasa. gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/rockth. html. There are two main categories of rocket engines; liquid rockets and solid rockets. In a liquid rocket, the propellants, the fuel and the oxidizer, are stored separately as liquids and are pumped into the combustion chamber of the nozzle where burning occurs. www. grc. nasa. gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/rocket. html www. grc. nasa. gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/rocket. html.