[AR] Re: APCP properties, was Re: Re: starship abort?

  • From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2023 20:14:57 -0400 (EDT)

On Fri, 28 Apr 2023, jake wrote:

I was wondering about that, that would have been a truly impressive mixer to watch from a very very great distance lol.

It could have happened -- Aerojet's big for the SRB contract proposed non-segmented boosters, which would have to be cast in a single operation, presumably likewise in pairs!

And they may already have been set up for it -- in the 60s, Aerojet made and fired a few prototypes of an enormous 280in-diameter non-segmented solid, penciled in as a strapon for the Saturn V.

They didn't get the SRB contract, partly because segmented solids were considered a better-known technology for big solids, partly because handling such massive solids would have required VAB crane upgrades(*), and partly because of the politics of Utah (where Thiokol was located).

(* You might wonder, how would the 280in monsters for the Saturn V have been handled? Well, differently. :-) The Saturn V, or more precisely an upgraded model of it, would have been assembled and rolled out to the pad without them. Then one of the crawlers would pick up a special handling frame, go get one 280in solid, deliver it to the pad and put it down in position, and repeat as necessary. I never saw an explanation of what would be done if the rocket had to be quickly moved back to the VAB due to an incoming hurricane -- one of the design cases for the crawler... )

Henry

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