Solid fuel booster rockets

Some perhalates are especially strong oxidizing agents. Ammonium perchlorate, prepared from sodium perchlorate, is the oxidizing agent for the aluminum powder in the solid-fuel booster rocket of the space shuttle each launch uses more than 700 tons of NH4CIO4 ... 

A commission was appointed to investigate the cause of the explosion. It was Feynman who reasoned that due to the cold temperature, rubber O-rings used to seal joints in the solid-fuel booster rockets had not expanded properly. This failure allowed hot flames from the booster rocket to burn through the hydrogen fuel tank. The result was... 

The solid fuel booster rockets of the space shuttle are based on the following reaction between ammonium perchlorate and aluminum ... 

Ammonium dinitramide (ADN), NH4N(N02)2, is being considered as a possible replacement for aluminum chloride as the oxidizer in the solid fuel booster rockets used to launch the space shuttle. When detonated by a spark, ADN rapidly decomposes to produce a gaseous mixture of N2, O2, and H2O. (This is not a combustion reaction. The ADN is the only reactant.) The reaction releases a lot of heat, so the gases are initially formed at high temperature and pressure. The thrust of the rocket results mainly from the expansion of this gas mixture. 

One spectacular example of the oxidizing ability of perchlorates is their use in the booster rockets of space shuttles. The solid propellant consists of aluminum powder (the fuel), ammonium perchlorate (the oxidizing agent as well as a fuel), and iron(III) oxide (the catalyst). These reactants are mixed into a liquid polymer, which sets to a solid inside the rocket shell. A variety of products can form when the mixture is ignited. One of the reactions is... 

Not only must space MS be compact, low power, and autonomously operated, but they must survive launch by rocket. The trend over the past few decades has been toward solid-fueled rockets or boosters that have a much rougher ride than liquid-fueled rockets. Over-zealous specifications often require that space MS survive 15 g of random shake acceleration, which is about like lifting the instrument 10 cm and dropping it on the floor repeatedly. All those shims in a magnetic sector MS must be capable of being realigned in space, perhaps with stepper motors, which is what ESA had to fly in its 2011 comet mission [19]. Likewise, carbon foil technology took an additional 10 years to fly after it had been developed in the laboratory, primarily to ensure that it survived launch. 

Beam-rider guidance with semi-active homing is employed to direct the missile against a target designated by the ship s tactical data system. Terrier is launched by a solid fuel rocket booster and propelled by a solid fuel sustainer. The normal warhead is of the HE type with direct action or proximity fuse, but one version of.the Terrier (RIM-2D) has been produced with a... 

Perchlorates are the most oxidized of the salts of the chlorooxyacids. Although perchlorates are not particularly toxic, ammonium perchlorate (NH4C104) should be mentioned because it is a powerful oxidizer and reactive chemical produced in large quantities as a fuel oxidizer in solid rocket fuels. Each of the U.S. space shuttle booster rockets contains about 350,000 kg of ammonium perchlorate in its propellant mixture. By 1988, U.S. consumption of ammonium perchlorate for rocket fuel uses was of the order of 24 million kg/year. In May 1988, a series of massive explosions in Henderson, Nevada, demolished one of only two plants producing ammonium perchlorate for the U.S. space shuttle, MX missile, and other applications, so that supplies were severely curtailed. The plant has since been rebuilt. 

Solid fuel is used in many commerical areas from rocket boosters to rock concert light shows. Components of solid fuel fall into four main catagories fuel, oxidizer, other special additives, and a binder. For example, various metal compounds and metal powders are used in fireworks to produce the brilliant colors that you see. An analysis shows that the powder from a gold cone fountain firework contained the following ... 

Euels used in the solid-fuel rockets are a mixture of aluminum metal and ammonium perchlorate. This fuel is used to power the space shuttle boosters. It also powers amateur rockets flown at Tripoli Rocketry Association and National Association of Rocketry launches. 

Starting in 1981, Morton Thiokol Inc., now called ATK Launch Systems Group, provided the solid-fuel rocket boosters to NASA for space shuttle launches. 

And this is not yet the endl The US space shuttle has two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters (SRBs) made in a factory in Utah. It has been alleged that the engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tuimel. The tunnel is only slightly wider than the railroad track, and we now know the story behind the width of the track ... 

The solid fuel for the booster rockets is a mixture of aluminum metal powder and other materials with ammonium perchlorate as the oxidizer. A cloud of aluminum oxide forms as the rockets burn. 

Solid propellants are also used as rocket fuels. The mixture used in the booster rockets of the space shuttles (Figure 6.17) is a fuel containing aluminum metal powder. An oxidizer of ammonium perchlorate, NH4CIO4, is mixed with the fuel. 

Perchlorate ion is one of the components in the solid fuel that propels the booster rockets of the Space Shuttle. 

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