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Questions tagged [srb]

Questions regarding the solid rocket boosters used to propel spacecraft, often during launch.

7 votes
1 answer
275 views

Why does this sounding rocket have black sooty exhaust with mach-diamond-like oscillations? Is this unusual?

File footage of a sounding rocket with a dark, non-luminescent, sooty exhaust with mach-diamond-like oscillations is shown in the video 1957-1959 IBM 704 Computer - Vanguard Satellite Program "...
10 votes
1 answer
2k views

How would larger solid rocket boosters have improved the space shuttle's capabilities?

I was told that the new SLS that NASA is building is using the same SRBs that the space shuttle used just with one extra segment added. Five instead of the original four. If the shuttle had used these ...
22 votes
1 answer
9k views

How were the Space Shuttle SRBs ignited? (with what?)

I'm unable to find how exactly the Space Shuttle's SRBs were ignited, or what exactly was used to ignite the rocket. I'm trying to figure out the best way to instantly ignite a solid rocket reliably,...
13 votes
4 answers
1k views

How are SRBs and solid rocket motors transported safely? Do they ever end up on trucks driven down public highways?

The BBC News article The Rocket Scientists Mixing Up a Giant Firework begins with: In a remote corner of tropical South American jungle, French scientists are mixing a ‘cake’ with a difference – a ...
15 votes
1 answer
2k views

What is the purpose of the aft skirt on the Space Shuttle and SLS Solid Rocket Boosters?

The Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) used by the Space Shuttle and SLS have a skirt near the bottom. What is it for? Is it only to support the stack?
20 votes
3 answers
4k views

How does a single SRB control attitude?

The Ares I-X was a test flight from the Constellation program for crewed Ares I-launched Orion capsules. If liquid fueled rocket motors can gimbal, how do solid rocket motor-propelled spacecraft ...
3 votes
1 answer
165 views

Are the Delta IV Heavy’s attachments for SRBs removable?

The Delta IV (which uses solid rockets in a couple configurations) shares a "Common Booster Core" with the Delta IV Heavy, which does not. Since Delta IV must have attachments for the solid ...
8 votes
1 answer
233 views

What is the cabling on the exterior of the SLS solid rocket boosters that wasn't on the shuttle solid rocket boosters?

I noticed what appears to be foamed-over cabling running roughly parallel to the systems tunnel on the exterior of the SLS Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). The cabling appears to run all the way from the ...
4 votes
1 answer
1k views

Why do the Titan SRBs have an angled engine bell?

Looking at pictures of Titan rockets with solid rocket boosters, the bell is at an angle. Why would they do that? https://historicspacecraft.com/Rockets_Titan.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
1 vote
0 answers
54 views

How is the rocket equation affected by changing the number of engines or boosters? [duplicate]

Specific impulse is not affected by the number of boosters or engines on a rocket, correct? Let's say I take a rocket with two SRBs and add to more for the first stage. The specific impulse of the ...
4 votes
1 answer
731 views

For Shuttle SRB solid fuel perforations, what is the shape of the double-truncated-cone?

I understand the 11-point star perforations in the solid fuel in the top-most SRB section. Several articles say that the remaining sections had a double-truncated-cone perforation. Is my illustration ...
5 votes
3 answers
442 views

What happens if you use an expired solid rocket booster?

Prior to the launch, there was media coverage about how the SLS solid rocket boosters were set to expire in December (which could have caused the launch to be delayed). Was this expiration date based ...
7 votes
0 answers
722 views

What makes exhaust from aluminum-based SRB propellant so bright?

The brightness and color of the extremely bright light produced by the Space Shuttle SRB's is discussed in this answer and in comments below it, though the main subject there is the dim blue light ...
4 votes
1 answer
626 views

What was the Lockheed design solution for the shuttle SRB field joint and how was it superior to the failure prone Morton Thiokol field joint?

In an effort to quickly post this question I've elected to (for the moment) not provide links to my searches. I've found tons of references, studies, reports, images etc to the failed Thiokol field ...
19 votes
3 answers
3k views

Why were they using segmented boosters on Space Shuttle?

After learning how the solid fuel is protecting the casing of the SRB from the heat of the combustion in this answer I have to ask this question. As we know, it's exactly this segmentation of the ...

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