System-specific impulse

System-specific impulse refers to how well a rocket engine can change the motion of a spacecraft. Imagine you are on a swing, and you want to go higher, you need to push your legs forward and backward in a certain way. Just like your legs, rocket engines push out gas in a specific way to make the spacecraft move. This is called thrust. The system-specific impulse is a measure of how much oomph that rocket engine can give the spacecraft for every pound of fuel it uses. It's like how hard you can swing with each push of your legs, and the more powerful the swing, the higher you can go. The higher the system-specific impulse, the more efficient the rocket engine is at transferring the energy from the fuel to the spacecraft. So, when scientists and engineers design spacecraft, they need to consider the system-specific impulse of its engines to make sure it can move around in space effectively.