Posted on 07/21/2022 9:53:36 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Before the SLS program was officially started, the five-segment SRB concept was proven out with three development motor (DM) firings in 2009, 2010, and 2011.
Those previous firings flight-qualified the five-segment SRB. Now, the Flight Support Booster (FDB) tests examine overall process quality, changes, and modifications...
FSB-2 will test a newly qualified motor ignition system along with qualifying a new ablative nozzle lining. A new thrust vector control (TVC) system will also be tested, as part of early testing related to the Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension (BOLE) boosters...planned to fly from Artemis IX onwards.
There are enough Shuttle-era SRB steel casings and other equipment for eight SLS flights; since the SLS SRBs will not be reused, new composite casings will be needed once the flight-heritage segments are used. The BOLE boosters will use the filament-wound casings to save mass.
The new boosters will also have an electric TVC system that will replace the current one that uses toxic hydrazine. This system was originally developed and tested for the now-canceled OmegA launch vehicle project.
The BOLE booster will also have a denser solid propellant mix, for additional fuel and increased chamber pressure within the same volume. This is enabled by the lighter composite cases. In addition, the BOLE booster’s “thrust trace” (how the propellant grain is shaped) will be optimized for the SLS as opposed to the current booster which was originally designed for the canceled Ares I launch vehicle.
For Thursday’s test, the FSB-2 booster was cast and produced on the same production line as the Artemis boosters, using the same methods and personnel. The booster’s propellant, a mixture of fuel and oxidizer particles combined into a substance with a rubber-like consistency, was cast.... at the Promontory site.
The propellant is called polybutadiene acrylonitrile, or PBAN for short.
(Excerpt) Read more at nasaspaceflight.com ...
Too many acronyms. My feeble brain is getting a headache.
Seemed normal at NG.
By the time NASA puts this thing to work, Musk will be launching Falcons from Mars.
😂🤔😲. We actually had a paperback sized book of acronyms when I worked at KSC . Wish I had saved my copy.
— NASA
“Stop showing that! Just stop it!
— NASA”
ROFL!
I’m still in awe over it and can sit here and watch it loop quite a few times. I can only imagine old NASA/Boeing/Northrop people watching that for the first time. Musk has another launch coming up to put 40+ Starlink sats up at which time it will be global coverage(where allowed).
By the time NASA puts this thing to work, Musk’s grandchildren will be launching Falcons from Mars.
Fixed.
Look at the video. That huge burn goes on for a long time.
Can’t figure out why the tube, at least the part toward the rear, doesn’t get red hot.
Maybe the solid fuel is pushed to the rear as it burns so the burning part is always near the nozzle.
LOL! How true!!
Nobody but nobody can acronym like two lifer military guys talking. If they didn’t acronym the conversation would go on for two weeks.
Ummm... you do know those are *liquid fueled*, right?
“Ummm... you do know those are *liquid fueled*, right?”
Reconcile that with the article’s title:
“The BOLE booster will also have a denser solid propellant mix”
And in the article:
“Northrop Grumman to conduct FSB-2 SLS solid rocket booster test”
Yes, but the Falcon rockets you referred to in that post and in the pic above are liquid fueled. Also not a NASA project.
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