[AR] Re: Valley Tech throttleable restartable solids (!)
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2020 17:37:23 -0400 (EDT)
On Fri, 27 Mar 2020, ken mason wrote:
...An historic side note and memory refresher, For the cancelled NOVA
moon rocket, Aerojet built and hot fired the worlds largest monolithic
solid rocket in Florida, the 260". It was cast and fired in the same
cell so transportation wasn't an issue,at least for the prototypes but
would of been problematic for the flight motors even if ultimately they
were segmented at~22 feet in diameter. Fortunately level (engineering)
heads prevailed this time.
There were also a number of proposals to use the 260in solids in various
ways in the Saturn program -- notably, as Saturn V strap-ons. They were
the only solids large enough to make good strap-ons for a rocket that big.
(I once saw a drawing of one upgraded-SV scheme. Stretched tanks,
improved engines, and down at the bottom, some little strap-ons -- they
looked like the early Thor/Delta strap-ons, so small that it was hard to
believe they'd make a useful contribution. Then you read the description
and discover that they're Titan III SRBs!)
Personally I think liquids should have a monopoly with these gigantic
booster requirements, manned or unmanned. The Russians think so, less
politics I guess.
I'd definitely go along with that. The Russians didn't really have a
choice -- they didn't make the same massive investment in solids in the
late 50s and early 60s, so for a long time they didn't have the technology
for big solids.
Henry
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