engineering

Rocket Jets

Rocket Jets is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Rocket Jets rather than just read about it. In short: Rocket Jets was an attraction in Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. This attraction opened in 1967 with the new Tomorrowland and closed in 1997 for the New Tomorrowland update in 1998.

Key takeaways

Rocket Jets belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Rocket Jets to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rocket Jets from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Rocket Jets was an attraction in Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. This attraction opened in 1967 with the new Tomorrowland and closed in 1997 for the New Tomorrowland update in 1998. It was the third spinning rocket attraction in Tomorrowland and stood three stories above the ground. When Tomorrowland was redone for 1998, the Rocket Jets were replaced by a new attraction based on Orbitron at the entrance to Discoveryland in Disneyland Park (Paris).

Observatron The Rocket Jets remained in their place above the former PeopleMover station as the Observatron, a sculpture that was intended to spin and play music every fifteen minutes. There are only two tracks, from Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune (Space Mountain: From the Earth to the Moon) and Le Visionarium (The Timekeeper), both of which are defunct Disneyland Paris attractions (De la Terre à la Lune is now Space Mountain: Mission 2, while The Timekeeper was also an attraction at the Magic Kingdom in Florida). The rockets were replaced by satellite dishes and the Saturn V rocket in the center was replaced by a laser-beam. However, the Observatron often malfunctioned, as the machinery was built to operate more frequently and to carry the rockets, rather than the satellite dishes they were replaced with. It appeared to have mechanical issues, sometimes only playing music every 15 minutes, or not doing anything at all. In late 2006, the Observatron received much needed maintenance which allows the Observatron to now rotate every 15 minutes while playing its music as originally planned. As part of the maintenance, the old speakers were replaced with new ones and new speakers were added. Since this maintenance, the Observatron rarely breaks down and operates on a daily basis as intended. The Saturn V rocket that the rockets were attached to was sold on eBay by Disney Auction in 2005. One remains on display, along with Skyway gondolas, in "Little Green Men Store Command" with a space ranger design. During Disneyland's 50th anniversary, one of the satellite dishes was replaced by a 50 Mickey Mouse head.

In popular culture The Rocket Jets appear in a scene from the Disney animated film Meet the Robinsons alongside another Disneyland attraction, Space Mountain. The area they are shown in is known as "Todayland". The poster of the attraction appears as an easter egg in Monsters, Inc. on the kid bedroom during the scene when Mike Wazowski tries to make the kid laugh.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rocket Jets

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rocket Jets claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Rocket Jets before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Rocket Jets ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Rocket Jets

In research: Rocket Jets appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Rocket Jets in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Rocket Jets is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1967 establishments in California, 1997 disestablishments in California, Amusement rides closed in 1997, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rocket Jets outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Rocket Jets in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Rocket Jets means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Rocket Jets out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rocket Jets in simple terms?

Why does Rocket Jets matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Rocket Jets?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Rocket Jets.