Relativistic rocket equation

ID: relativistic-rocket-equation

For collinear motion without external forces, a rocket ejecting material backwards at constant speed in its instantaneous rest frame obeys . Here is the rocket's rest mass, including stored internal energy, and is its Lorentz factor in the chosen inertial frame. The equation follows from momentum conservation, conservation of relativistic energy, and the relativistic velocity-addition formula; expelled rest mass is not simply the decrease in rocket rest mass.

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