37
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Why doesn't SpaceX use solid rocket fuel?
Solid rockets are a good choice for cheap, compact high thrust, but they are significantly less mass-efficient than liquids.
SpaceX in particular has developed their rockets around reuse via powered ...
- 172k
35
votes
Accepted
Why do the walls of a solid rocket booster not glow red hot?
Solid fuel does not burn unless it has been vaporized by heat from combustion. The boundary between solid and gaseous fuel is located at the point where the temperature equals the fuel vaporization ...
- 27.9k
32
votes
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How were the Space Shuttle SRBs ignited? (with what?)
SRB Ignition
SRB ignition can occur only when a manual lock pin from each SRB safe
and arm device has been removed. The ground crew removes the pin
during prelaunch activities. At T minus ...
- 189k
30
votes
Do the solid rocket boosters of the Shuttle and SLS have a self-destruct system and was it activated during the Challenger disaster?
The shuttle stack broke up at ~73 seconds after launch of STS-51L. The Solid Rocket Boosters separated from the other elements and continued flying in a more or less stable manner (surprisingly). ...
- 189k
26
votes
Why do the walls of a solid rocket booster not glow red hot?
Simply - even a very thin layer of fuel is enough to isolate the heat. So only in the very last seconds will there be not enough fuel to isolate the heat flux.
Then there is a liner between the fuel ...
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23
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Could one actually make a grain silo rocket?
Since the term "grain" is already in use in the solid rocket context, I'm favoring the term "cereal".
Cereals contain about 66–76% carbohydrates -- mostly starch (55–70%) plus some ...
- 172k
22
votes
Why doesn't SpaceX use solid rocket fuel?
More reasons not to use solid rockets:
they have a low mass fraction: they require a heavy casing to withstand the internal pressure. Liquid-fueled rockets can be made much lighter.
a solid rocket ...
- 130k
21
votes
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Do launchers using only solid propellant exist?
The NASA Spaceflight article Japanese sounding rocket claims record-breaking orbital launch describes JAXA's use of its SS-520-4 sounding rocket to put the Tricom-1R cubesat (43201, 2018-016A) into ...
- 151k
21
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What is the difference between the solid fuel Boosters of the Shuttle and Artemis?
(This answer assumes the the SLS SRBs are the same as the Five-Segment Boosters (FSBs) studied for a shuttle upgrade...I believe they are, but have not seen this explicitly stated).
The thrust time ...
- 189k
20
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Has there ever been a completely solid fuelled orbital rocket?
There have been a few purely solid-fuel orbital rockets over the years. The first was the Scout from 1961; the only ones in current use are the Long March 11 and the Minotaur/Minotaur-C family. ...
- 15.9k
18
votes
For a typical Shuttle mission, how much solid fuel is leftover at SRB separation?
Offered as a supplement to the other answers, here are some data about SRBs thrust profiles and operation.
Thrust of a SRB is function of the area of the solid fuel burning, as shown below:
You can ...
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18
votes
Accepted
How does a solid propellant in a rocket work?
The solid propellant is stored in the engine, so it doesn't have to be moved.
The engine consists of a large cylinder that contains the propellant (indicated as 'grain' in the image, but it's a ...
- 130k
16
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Why doesn't Rocket Lab use a solid stage?
The Rutherford engines produce much less vibration than SRB's. This is actually a major selling point for Rocket Lab, as pointed out by Peter Beck here after 31:03:
...
- 5,505
15
votes
Do launchers using only solid propellant exist?
Orbital Sciences likes solid rockets. They've produced the Taurus/Minotaur all-solid booster. And, in its three-stage configuration the Pegasus is all-solid.
Ignoring that kerosene-fueled launch ...
- 189k
15
votes
Why isn't someone building a fully reusable solid fuel rocket?
The reason is refurbishment cost and turnaround:
For a liquid booster, you can more or less pump more fuel and you are ready to go.
With a SRB, it isn't so easy:
You need to dismantle everything, ...
- 13k
14
votes
Accepted
What solid fuel was used in the Katyushas rocket artillery of WW2?
From Russian wiki on RS-82:
RS-82 and RS-132 are unguided air-to-air, air-to-ground rockets developed during 1929-1937. Further developed into М-8, М-13 "Katyusha" rockets.
It seems the final ...
- 256
13
votes
Do launchers using only solid propellant exist?
In addition to SS-520-4, I would also point to Chinese CZ-11 rocket, Israeli Shavit and many others
- 3,024
13
votes
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Why was the Minotaur V built as a 5-stage design?
It's always easier to create a new launcher by making a small modification to a reliable existing launcher. Small solid rocket stages are relatively simple and reliable, so building up a launcher from ...
- 172k
13
votes
Accepted
Does this Soyuz vehicle burn coal or oil? What is its official name?
This is a diesel-electric locomotive TEM-2.
The more powerful modification of TEM-1 diesel locomotives.
In turn, TEM-1 locomotive is developed on the basis of TE-1 locomotives.
The TE-1 is soviet ...
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13
votes
How is solid rocket fuel sourced?
Partial answer: the ammonium perchlorate is manufactured in the western United States.
The two perchlorate manufacturing facilities located in Henderson, the
Kerr-McGee and the PEPCON plants, ...
- 189k
13
votes
Accepted
Could HIBEX propellant be used for amateur rockets?
According to Wikipedia,
HIBEX employed a star-grain "composite modified double-base propellant", known as FDN-80, created from the mixing of ammonium perchlorate, aluminum, and double-base ...
- 172k
12
votes
Why isn't someone building a fully reusable solid fuel rocket?
There are a few reasons that re-usable solid rocket boosters are not being built. The biggest reason is that people don't want solid rockets in the first place. Solid rockets can be stored loaded long ...
- 20.4k
12
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Why doesn't Rocket Lab use a solid stage?
Solid Rocket Motors are inexpensive to manufacture if you have the knowledge and experience already. For space use they are commonly made by weapons makers, sharing many production assets with weapon ...
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12
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Has there ever been a completely solid fuelled orbital rocket?
The SS-520 is a solid fuel rocket and is described in detail in my answer to Do launchers using only solid propellant exist? SS-520-5 has put the Tricom cubesat into orbit, therefore it also qualifies ...
- 151k
11
votes
How does solid propellant mean bulk temperature influence solid rocket thrust and specific impulse?
Increasing Propellant Mean Bulk Temperature (PMBT) increases the burn rate which increases the thrust and causes the motor to burn out sooner. The opposite is true for decreasing PMBT.
This graph ...
- 189k
11
votes
Why doesn't SpaceX use solid rocket fuel?
In addition to Russell’s excellent answer, I suspect solid rockets would be a thermal impossibility in a re-usable booster the size of Starship.
For a long cylindrical solid fuel rocket, most waste ...
- 27.9k
10
votes
Have there been any spacecraft with internal SRM other than CONTOUR?
The Soyuz descent module has SRMs that are fired just before touchdown. Does that count?
- 130k
10
votes
Accepted
Are more details about the fatal rocket motor accident at Cape Canaveral in April 1964 available?
According to this site, the rocket in question was an Vanguard X-248 rocket motor.
I have then dug up an contemporary news article, published in the Monroe News Star on Tuesday, April 14th, 1964 on ...
- 6,967
10
votes
The thrust in the calculation of specific impulse
There's no "the" specific impulse, in the sense that the performance of a rocket engine varies over time. For a given moment in time, the instantaneous specific impulse can be derived from ...
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