Roger Coppock wrote:
On May 2, 12:03 pm, kT wrote:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5090

Free perchlorate for everybody, whether you want it or like it or not.

NASA's original plan was to make the SRBs at
the Cape. However, Utah's Senator Jake Garn
had other ideas. If NASA had stuck with it's
original plan, this accident would not have happened.
Also NASA's made on-site boosters would not
have had any seams. Seams in SRB's were the
cause of the Challenger disaster.

Supposedly the ESA has a monocast booster for their Vega all SRB launch
vehicle. They still have to heavily stage, but it will be interesting to
see how that pans out. These small solid fuel booster end up with the
highest per mass cost to orbit, but they do have the advantage of
storability, especially if one needs rapid response, the booster can sit
out on the pad for ages. But so can liquids I suppose, unfueled. The
Delta IV is a well known pad queen, but only because they are using it
at a fraction of the launch rate it was designed for.

I'm not totally opposed to big solids, but only for very heavy lift
launch vehicles (like the Ares V) with very low launch rates. But
clearly over the long term they have to be phased out, and the only
credible alternative is hydrogen. The other major problem is the foam
insulation, which virtually prohibits the taking of the cryogenic first
stage all the way to orbit, something which is basically trivial for a
hydrogen core stage with large solid rocket booster assistance.

The *BIG* problem I have is with NASA upper management, the fraud they
have perpetrated upon the American people, by sidelining propulsion work
that is nearly finished, the RL-60 and the IPD - integrated full flow
closed cycle engine prototype, the hydrostatic bearings, and the channel
wall nozzle program, and even the SSME upgrades, the all electric nozzle
gimbles and fuel cell auxiliary power. Without those vital programs in
liquid propulsion, we have nothing. Nothing I tell you. All is lost.

ALL IS LOST! I am revolted.

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