"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...
Scott Lowther wrote:

Easy to see. A pressure vessel like this can withstand several thousan
psi internal pressure, because the pressure is even, and the case walls
are in tension... but like an empty beer can, it's easily squashed by
uneven external pressure. Think of the Atals. Supported by internal
pressure.


Yeah, but this thing is very small compared to the Atlas; it's a little
over 3 feet in diameter by about 30 feet long; and it seems to me that
any material capable of taking the internal pressure of the burning fuel
would be able to take the stress of freefall, given that the
casing/nozzle weighs over 3,000 pounds minus fuel...is the damage
caused by aerodynamic stress when the thing gets jettisoned during the
rocket's ascent? It burns for 53 seconds; what altitude and speed is the
Atlas at after 53 seconds?

Pat


Don't forget that, for the Atlas 2AS, 2 solids are ground-lit, while the
other 2 are air-lit, thus being jettisoned late in flight.

Paul