science

Troposphere (rocket family)

Troposphere (rocket family) is a science 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 Troposphere (rocket family) rather than just read about it. In short: Troposphere is a Congolese rocket family first developed in 2007 at the private enterprise Développement Tous Azimuts (DTA). The project is managed by Jean-Patrice Keka Ohemba Okese, head of DTA, a graduate of the Institut Supérieur des Techniques Appliquées (ISTA).

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Troposphere is a Congolese rocket family first developed in 2007 at the private enterprise Développement Tous Azimuts (DTA). The project is managed by Jean-Patrice Keka Ohemba Okese, head of DTA, a graduate of the Institut Supérieur des Techniques Appliquées (ISTA). The program aimed at launching experimental rockets that would not exceed an altitude of 36 km. The launch site is located in an area owned by DTA at Menkao, 120 km East of Kinshasa. The program was financed by DTA at the beginning, but after the success of the Troposphere 2 and 4 rockets the project gained government support.

Rockets

Troposphere 1 and 3 Troposphere 1, which was planned for launch in April 2007, was canceled due to technical problems. Troposphere 3 scheduled for October 12, 2007 was also a failure.

Troposphere 2 The first successful rocket, Troposphere 2 (30.94 kg and 0.19 m in diameter), launched in 2007 and reached an altitude of 1500 m (1.5 km).

Troposphere 4

Troposphere 4 is the second successfully launched experimental rocket of the Troposphere program, managed by Jean-Patrice Keka. The rocket with a thrust of 1 ton was launched on July 10, 2008, 5:40 pm from Menkao, 120 kilometres (75 mi) east of Kinshasa. The rocket reached an altitude of 15 kilometres (49,000 ft) after 47 seconds, with a speed of Mach 2.7. The launch of the Troposphere 4 rocket took place in the presence of the Congolese Minister of Higher Education, University and Scientific Research, Leonard Masuga Rugamika. After the success of this launch, the Congolese government decided to get involved with the Troposphere project.

Troposphere 5

Troposphere 5 is a two stage solid-propellant rocket with a thrust of 70 kN (7 tons), launched on March 29, 2009. It is the third rocket in the program. It was an initiative of the private enterprise Developpement Tous Azimuts (DTA) with headquarters in Lubumbashi (Katanga Province), created in 2007. Troposphere 5 carrying a rat named Kavira on board, was designed to reach an altitude of 36 km and a speed of Mach 3. The rocket was launched at Menkao launch site. Launch ended in failure - the rocket took off but had deviated from its course and was lost in the distance. The cost of this rocket has been estimated at $50,000. Despite Troposphere 5 being equipped with an escape chute, Kavira was never found and was officially reported to have died in the name of science. According to Keka the experiment provided valuable data for future tests by the DTA. The investigations showed that the failure was caused by a degradation of the solid propellant due to poor transportation conditions, which caused an unbalanced thrust.

Troposphere 6 DTA is currently working on the next rocket, Troposphere 6. Troposphere 6 is a three-stage solid-propellant rocket and Keka claimed that the rocket could reached up to altitude of 200 km. Troposphere 6 was scheduled to be launched in the end of 2016. A crowd funding has been set up to support Congolese space rocket set to launch sometime between fall of 2019 to spring of 2020. Its aim is to send a satellite Njiwas into space to take a picture of Earth at an altitude of 200 km.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Troposphere (rocket family)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Troposphere (rocket family) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 Troposphere (rocket family) 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 Troposphere (rocket family) 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 Troposphere (rocket family)

In research: Troposphere (rocket family) appears in science 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 Troposphere (rocket family) 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: Troposphere (rocket family) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Experimental rockets, Rocket families, Science and technology in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Troposphere (rocket family) 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 Troposphere (rocket family) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Troposphere (rocket family) 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 Troposphere (rocket family) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Troposphere (rocket family) in simple terms?

Why does Troposphere (rocket family) matter?

Because it connects several science 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 Troposphere (rocket family)?

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 Troposphere (rocket family).