Rocket Answer Number 1

I've asked several people to answer the Rocket Question. Here's the response from Matt, one of Jodie's co-workers.

Okay, so disregarding wind resistance, it would fall just over 40000 meters, or 40 km. If you include wind resistance, it would much less of a fall. Assuming they catch the pot just above ground level, this puts the start point in the Stratosphere, which extends to 50km. This is the region where weather balloons fly, and is even above the ozone layer (for reference, most airliners don't fly above 20km, auroras form at around 100km, and the ISS orbits between 360 and 430km).

The other factor is can Rocket catch it. Well, in order to be able to launch, a rocket must be capable of producing more acceleration than what gravity is exerting, so his engines must be capable of producing a minimum of 9.9m/s worth of thrust. In this instance however, gravity will be working in his (?) favor, in addition to his engines which we already stated must be capable of producing more than 9.8m/s acceleration.