Watch NASA Test The Largest Rocket Booster Ever Made [VIDEO]

The Daily Caller ^ | March 11, 2015 | Giuseppe Macri

[BlueStateRightist]

NASA successfully tested the most powerful rocket booster ever built Wednesday in preparation for future missions to an asteroid and Mars.

The booster for the Space Launch System (SLS) — the most powerful rocket ever built — was anchored and ignited for the first time in the Utah desert for what is known as a “static test” — during which it fired for two consecutive minutes.

[BlueStateRightist]

Great video. I had a feeling of pride and nostalgia for our space program.

[bubbacluck]

Wow. The plants on the side of the hill appeared to be smoking from the heat. And 31 tons of CO2 to quench the engine heat post-test.

[thackney]

Huge NASA SLS Booster Put To Fire In Promontory, UT | Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPY-gMSXRBA

[knarf]

yup ... I was a kid when I first learned about it and not quite a man when we landed on the moon, and the space in between was filled with more than the occasional astronaut pressers and et cetera’s

[cripplecreek]

I’d like to see that in person.

[rktman]

Yeah, saw some of the horrified comments about See Uh O 2 usage.

[edwinland]

Wow really awesome. Thanks for posting. 3.6 million pounds of thrust! By comparison, the five F-1 rocket engines in the Saturn V each produced 1.5 million pounds of thrust, though they burned for longer (2.5 mins instead of 1.5).

This article is worth checking out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocketdyne_F-1

[rottndog]

Question:

If’n they point the business end of the rocket due west, will all that thrust speed the rotation of the Earth?

[Moonman62]

It’s just another way for the government to burn your money. We have no need for this booster. Imagine it’s stuffed with $100 bills. This test isn’t much different from the old Shuttle booster tests, either.

[chrisser]

This is a solid booster?

I’m curious if it burns in the same way that a model rocket engine does - basically from one end to the other. Would seem the body would have to withstand tremendous temperatures without the benefit of liquid fuel cooling.

Or maybe they push the propellant to the nozzle as it burns like a giant Playdoh extruder?

[thackney]

Photos: NASA's Space Launch System Rocket Booster Test in Pictures
http://www.space.com/28780-nasa-giant-rocket-booster-test-photos-sls.html

[thackney]

I’d like to see that in person.

Yeah, but from a decent distance.

[thackney]

The QM-1 booster, which was assembled from case parts previously flown on 23 space shuttle missions and an aft skirt used on the first shuttle flight, STS-1, in 1981, differs from those used during the earlier program in a number of ways.

The avionics (flight control) systems, have been upgraded for SLS to be more reliable and capable. In addition, the rubber-based ablative insulation used to shield the motor’s metal skin from the temperatures generated by the burning propellant has been reformulated to lighten the rocket by a couple of thousand pounds.

“The biggest change is that we added a segment, which is 25 percent more propellant for way more performance,” Precourt said. “The typical shuttle booster would give you about three million pounds, this is a little over 3.5 million pounds of thrust, so it’s the kind of performance we need to get our exploration journey to Mars off the ground.”

The booster’s additional segment, bringing the total to five, extends the length of the motor to 177 feet (54 meters). The SLS, in its initial 70-metric-ton (77 ton) configuration, will stand 321 feet (98 m) tall.

http://www.space.com/28795-giant-solid-rocket-booster-nasa-test.html

[thackney]

Solid booster, similar to Shuttle, see post #13

[chrisser]

Found this at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Solid_Rocket_Booster

“The fire 2 commands cause the redundant NSDs to fire through a thin barrier seal down a flame tunnel. This ignites a pyro booster charge, which is retained in the safe and arm device behind a perforated plate. The booster charge ignites the propellant in the igniter initiator; and combustion products of this propellant ignite the solid rocket motor initiator, which fires down the entire vertical length of the solid rocket motor igniting the solid rocket motor propellant along its entire surface area instantaneously.”

So it appears the fuel ignites through the entire center of the propellant core and then burns from inside out. I guess then propellant is acting as an insulator until it burns away, at least to a certain extent.

[Moonman62]

It’s a nice rocket with a nice heritage, but I don’t think we need the SLS.

[thackney]

What would you use to replace the thrust generated by them for the same applications?

[OldMissileer]

I’m curious if it burns in the same way that a model rocket engine does - basically from one end to the other.

A solid rocket motor "grain" is poured with a hollow core. Many cores are poured in the shape of a star pattern but other shapes have been used.

The motor is ignited at the top and the grain burns from the inside out via the hollow center.

[Moonman62]

Why would I need to?

[thackney]

The solid rocket boosters are used to produce short time thrust in the beginning stages of lift. If you think we should not use them, what would you use in their place and why not use the SRBs?