Posted on 08/31/2010 2:13:47 PM PDT by BenLurkin
NASA and aerospace company ATK Aerospace Systems successfully tested Tuesday the most powerful solid-fuel rocket engine ever, even though its future in the space program remains in doubt.
A huge roar and massive flames accompanied the two-minute "static" or non-flight test of the five-segment DM-2 (Demonstration Motor 2) rocket booster in the western desert state of Utah.
The DM-2 was designed as the first stage of the Ares I rocket to provide the lift-off thrust for the next generation of Orion spacecraft, which NASA hoped would return astronauts to the moon by 2020.
US President Barack Obama has said he plans to cancel the Constellation program in which the boosters would have been used, throwing the fate of the next-generation engine into question.
The second test of the DM-2 was aimed at seeing if it could work at lower temperatures and verify the performance of new design materials.
The solid rocket boosters are an upgrade in design over ones used to propel NASA's shuttle fleet into space and are the largest and most powerful ever designed for flight.
Once the shuttle program ends early next year, the United States will rely on Russia's Soyuz rockets to carry its astronauts to the International Space Station until a commercial US launcher can be developed, scheduled for 2015.
The second test of the DM-2, aided by more than 760 on-board measurement devices, showed the motor's performance had met all expectations.
"For every few degrees the temperature rises, solid propellant burns slightly faster," said Alex Priskos, first stage manager for Ares Projects at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
"Only through robust ground testing can we understand how material and motor performance is impacted by different operating conditions."
Obama's administration has proposed scrapping the costly and over budget Constellation rocket program.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Making Muslims feel good should be the priority of NASA.
Is the booster segmented and are there O-rings between them?
Great...maybe we can market it to the Muslim nations needing lift capacity.
Obozo Hussein is the Figurehead and Puppet for the Muslim Attack on America and Her Freedoms! There can be no other Conclusion!
Shouldn’t we be getting away from such rockets, and be developing newer technologies that will get us deeper into space, faster?
A fair question. Making a tube long enough and straight enough without segmentation I think would be a daunting task.
An even better question might be: "Is the booster constructed in such a way that burn-through can't happen, no matter what the temperature?
Of course, this all is supposed to be in support of the Ares program, which explicitly keeps everything in a vertical stack, with the most sensitive items up top. This way, each element in the stack can have issues, but the odds of it destroying the sensitive item at the top is diminished.
After seeing how failure modes combined with horizontal integration has lead to 14 dead astronauts, it was a no-brainer.
Could we have the Gitmo gang stand close to the rocket test?
Newer GREENER technologies without such an ugly carbon footprint!!!!!
A fair question. Making a tube long enough and straight enough without segmentation I think would be a daunting task.
I was under the impression that the primary reason for segmenting the shuttle boosters was transport; they had to be able to fit it on trains to get from the factory to Florida.
I saw a couple of shuttle booster test firings out there; a pretty amazing experience.
The Minute Man III is probably one of the biggest solid-fuel rockets we have and it lifts only about 2000lbs and is barely orbital.
A moon mission would require at least 20,000lbs.
It takes a lot of lift to get a mosque into orbit.
“Great...maybe we can market it to the Muslim nations needing lift capacity.”
Would be great for a pig roast.
I bet 100 megatons or so could get one into orbit. Let’s experiment.
“Is the booster segmented and are there O-rings between them?”
Since AFAIK these are five-segment SRBs, the answers are yes and yes.
info on Ares I:
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/aresi.htm
simulated launch:
http://www.technologyreview.com/video/?vid=378
op-ed:
http://www.newscientist.com/mobile/article/dn18408-ares-i-is-safest-choice-to-replace-shuttle.html
the current SRB proposed for use as a crew booster:
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/srbcev.htm
loads of proposed and actual rockets:
http://www.astronautix.com/fam/orbhicle.htm
shuttle:
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/shuleiss.htm
shuttle-derived vehicles:
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/shuttle.htm
shuttle SRB:
http://www.astronautix.com/stages/shulesrb.htm
Saturn V:
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/saturnv.htm
F1 engine:
http://www.astronautix.com/engines/f1.htm
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.