/sci/ - Science & Math

>>10501833
>Why are missiles and space rockets painted white?
>posts a rocket painted red
???

>>10501853
*why are missile and rocket parts painted white

>>10501855
Some parts are painted white. Some parts are painted something other than white. This applies to literally everything in the world (that is painted).

>>10501833
this >>10501866
but also white pigments reflects all light and thus gets less hot than other colors.

Same reason towelheads use white towels.

>>10501833
Most launch vehicles are painted white to reduce the amount of heat absorbed from the Sun's rays. This is very important if the rocket is carrying large amounts of cryogenic fuels(which is pretty much all of them).

There are some exceptions. The Shuttle external tank was left unpainted because the vehicle was expensive enough and not painting the tank allowed for more payload (thus more kg of payload per $). Also the Shuttle had a cover for it on the launch pad which shaded the tank as well. The Russian R7 (Soyuz) rockets aren't painted white because the launch pad is already in a cold climate so white painting isn't as needed.

the white painted parts reflect light which produces a buoyant force on the rocket, reducing the fuel needed to get to orbit

A perfectly tidally locked rocket could be painted white in all the locations the sun hits it and painted black in all the locations there's shadow. Then it'd reflect light from the white side to stay cooler and radiate heat out the black to stay cooler.

>>10501833
To make it look like a sperm cell

To represent the rising Aryan spirit from this darkened earth.

>>10502318

>>10501833
'sup nigga?

Because its neutral stigma for aliens and technically only white people are allowed in space anyway. The niggers, I mean monkeys, never made it back. I dont want to go into space or orbit. That's retarded.

And early rockets were usually painted in black and white patterns so it would be clear if the were rotating/turning when looking at films later. Useful in crash analyses.