Final answer:
The initial thrust produced by a rocket's engines was 3.36 × 10^7 N, found by considering the acceleration and mass of the rocket. As the rocket burns fuel and its mass decreases, the thrust increases due to Newton's third law.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student asks about the initial thrust produced by a rocket's engines, which is a Physics concept. Thrust in rockets is a reaction force described in Newton's third law of motion and is a result of expelling fuel out of the rocket's back. The initial thrust can be found by knowing the acceleration of the rocket and its mass. In this case, the rocket's engines produced a thrust of 3.36 × 107 N. This happens because as the rocket expels fuel, its mass m decreases, and since the velocity of the ejected fuel ve and the rate of fuel burn ∆m/∆t remain constant, the thrust increases.
It's also important to understand that a rocket works more efficiently in a vacuum as it doesn't rely on the air or ground to propel itself forward but instead by expelling gas at high velocities. The kinetic energy of the spacecraft is altered due to the expulsion of the fuel, despite the mass of the fuel being quite significant when compared to the overall mass of the rocket.