 NASA Image of the final solid rocket booster (right) being mated to a Delta II rocket (blue). Two boosters (white) can be seen already attached. Solid rocket boosters (SRB) (or motors, SRM) are used to provide the main thrust in spacecraft launches from the launchpad up to an altitude of about 45 kilometres. The NASA Space Shuttle uses two SRBs, which are the largest of their type. This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
A Delta II rocket launches from Cape Canaveral carrying a GPS satellite The Boeing IDS Delta II family of launch vehicles has been in service since 1989. ...
Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newtons Second and Third Law. ...
A launch pad is designed and built to meet a launch vehicles special needs and requirements. ...
Altitude is the elevation of an object from a known level or datum. ...
A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words χίλια (khilia) = thousand and μÎÏ„Ïο (metro) = count/measure). ...
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The Space Shuttle Columbia seconds after engine ignition, 1981 (NASA). ...
The solid-fuel SRBs are advantageous for the purpose of boosting launches compared to liquid-fueled rockets because they provide greater thrust and do not have the refrigeration and insulation requirements of liquid-fueled rockets. Once the fuel is expended the casings are discarded and — if launched from Cape Canaveral — parachute into the shallow waters of the Caribbean Sea to later be picked up by the U.S. Navy. Relieving the rocket or shuttle of this weight eases the amount of liquid-fuel needed and lowers the launch vehicle mass. This is known as staging. The Space Shuttle is initially launched with the help of solid-fuel boosters A Solid rocket or a solid fuel rocket is a rocket with a motor that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). ...
Cape Canaveral from space, August 1991 Cape Canaveral (Cabo Cañaveral in Spanish) is a strip of land in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of that states Atlantic coast. ...
Map of Central America and the Caribbean The Caribbean (pronounced or ) Sea is a tropical sea in the Western Hemisphere, part of the Atlantic Ocean, southeast of the Gulf of Mexico. ...
A Redstone rocket, part of the Mercury program The traditional definition of a rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving exhaust gas from within a rocket engine. ...
The second stage of a Minuteman III rocket Description A multistage (or multi-stage) rocket is, like any rocket, propelled by the recoil pressure of the burning gases it emits as it burns fuel. ...
One example of the increased performance from SRBs is the Ariane 4 rocket. The basic 40 model with no boosters could lift 2,175 kilograms payload to Geostationary transfer orbit [1]. The 44P model with 4 solid boosters has a payload of 3,465 kg to the same orbit [2]. Ariane 42P rocket with the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite (Kourou, August 10, 1992) (NASA) Ariane 4 was an expendable launch system, designed by the European Space Agency and manufactured and marketed by its subsidiary Arianespace. ...
A geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a Hohmann transfer orbit around the Earth between a low Earth orbit (LEO) and a geostationary orbit (GEO). ...
Solid boosters are usually cheaper to design, test, and produce compared to equivalent thrust liquid boosters. However, the costs on a per-flight basis tend to be equivalent.
Solid rocket motors cannot easily be turned off or have their thrust terminated during flight, which is a risk factor for manned spacecraft.
Solid rocket motors also present a significant handling risk on the ground. Once their propellant is poured into place and cured, they are always loaded and could catch fire or explode in an accident. Such an accident on August 22, 2003 killed 21 technicians at the Brazilian VLS rocket launch pad. [3] August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (235th in leap years), with 131 days remaining. ...
2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
On August 22, 2003, a massive explosion destroyed a Brazilian Space Agency VLS-1 (VLS-1 V03) rocket as it stood on its launch pad at the Alcântara Launching Center in northern Brazil. ...
The Alcântara rocket launch site, Centro de Lançamento de Alcântara (CLA), is located at the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the north of Brazil, in the state of Maranhão. ...
The manned and unmanned Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicles currently planned as part of NASA's Vision for Space Exploration both rely heavily on modified versions of the current Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters; the manned vehicle would use a single, expanded solid rocket booster as its sole first stage. Comparison of the Saturn V, Space Shuttle and the two Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicles proposed to replace the Shuttle. ...
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Image from NASA site Two planned configurations for a return to the moon, heavy lift (left) and crew (right) The Vision for Space Exploration is the United States space policy announced on January 14, 2004 by President George W. Bush. ...
See also
The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB also called an SRM where the M stands for motor) is the rocket that provides 83% of liftoff thrust for the Space Shuttle. ...
A Liquid Rocket Booster (LRB) is similar to a solid rocket booster (SRB) attached to the side of a rocket to give it extra lift at takeoff. ...
The Space Shuttle is initially launched with the help of solid-fuel boosters A Solid rocket or a solid fuel rocket is a rocket with a motor that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). ...
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