Meriam, Kraige & Bolton — Kinetics of Systems of Particles: Problem 4_58

4/58 The space shuttle, together with its central fuel tank and two booster rockets, has a total mass of $2.04(10^6)$ kg at liftoff. Each of the two booster rockets produces a thrust of $11.80(10^6)$ N, and each of the three main engines of the shuttle produces a thrust of $2.00(10^6)$ N. The specific impulse (ratio of exhaust velocity to gravitational acceleration) for each of the three main engines of the shuttle is 455 s. Calculate the initial vertical acceleration $a$ of the assembly with all five engines operating and find the rate at which fuel is being consumed by each of the shuttle’s three engines.