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PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE - To MARS with MER
How many parts are in a rocket and what is the most important part?
Gina
Kellog Elementary School
Chicago, IL
To tell you the truth we haven't stopped counting yet. I would say hundreds of thousands of parts. We have fuel pumps, fuel lines, tanks, electronic boards, just so many parts on a rocket.
This is going to sound like a silly answer, but the most important part of the rocket is the one that breaks because of those hundreds of thousands of parts if one of them breaks. Kaboom! It is all over.
Wayne Lee
EDL Chief Engineer
Jet Propulsion Laboratory