A brief history of their misbegotten use in spaceflight, by frequent-commenter Mike Puckett.
[Update late afternoon Mountain time]
I want to share my own condolences to Mike on the loss of his beloved cat. But it sounds like she had a good run.
A brief history of their misbegotten use in spaceflight, by frequent-commenter Mike Puckett.
[Update late afternoon Mountain time]
I want to share my own condolences to Mike on the loss of his beloved cat. But it sounds like she had a good run.
To paraphrase the caption from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back: “Solid Rockets had it coming!”
Informative read. Thanks.
🙂
Michael, see my comment to your article as “MfK”. Fine job, really first rate. As a veteran of solid propellant and full RLV commercial launch development, I applaud this work. I can add some anecdotes to the story, if you like.
RIP Pooky.
Thank you, she was a wonderful cat.
I do want to qualify something. I realize the comparison between the IIIE and the IB as an apple vs an orange to a degree. I used those because there was no good cost information on the Saturn IB-Centaur since it was never actually developed. My research indicated the IB-C used the same upper stage as the IIIE but had one third more throw weight.
Thank you Rand!
Great article Mike. Was it Henry Spencer who said solid rockets were a branch of fireworks, not spaceflight?
Very sorry to hear about your cat. We do get so attached to them.
Thanks! Im not sure the origin, but it was spot on.
There is a difference between a mode of transportation and a round of ammunition.
Unless you are Wyle E. Coyote. Say, isn’t his movie coming out soon?
When my big tomcat Buddy died last year, I decided no more because I’m 75. So, this spring a brindled tortoiseshell showed up on my back deck and moved right in. She was snooty and resistant to naming until I said, “You’re just a little princess, ain’t you?” Perked up, jumped in my lap and purred. WhenI yell Princess out the door she comes running. We had some neighbors (rural area) who moved away abruptly. I know they had cats and dogs and also a little girl. Maybe Princess hid from the movers and got left. My cat now.
The cat distribution strikes again. Pooky was catnapped, Hoppy (the tripod and current senior feline), insisted on being adopted. Spacky just sort of happened.
I still have four (Was aiming for three cats, Spacky ended up being pregnant with twin boys when I adopted her and here we are.).
I never like solid rockets. Instead of Titan, should have upgraded Saturn IB at least to 1B-CE. With that Centaur third stage, 12,000lb to TLI. Add the monocoque first stage tankage and a ninth engine (switch to RS-27A, I guess) and you’ve made a Falcon 9. Probably need a remote-pilot landing, but still, RTLS.
In the what-if category, I think a Saturn II could’ve been a worthwhile development. Instead of 8 Rocketdyne H-1 engines, it could’ve used 2 F-1 or F-1A engines. This would’ve provided roughly twice the thrust and allowed for a much more weight-efficient propellant tank design. Even a single F-1A engine would’ve had more thrust than 8 H-1s.
I sometimes wonder if we had built something half of a Saturn V and had done a 2 launch LOR, if we would not have ended up keeping it. It would have been close, throw weight wise, to a Falcon Heavy but with an LH2 upper stage.
The only real issue I see is either the upper stage or something else would have had to do LOI for the lander.
At one point I had high hopes for hybrid solids with solid fuel and LOX. But that was mostly because I saw a way they could be manufactured from mostly lunar materials.
My own invention – never tested, but theoretically explored – was for a solid rocket using hydrazine injection to control the thrust-time trace and specific impulse-time profile of a primarily solid motor. The performance improvement with respect to Isp was pretty impressive, but the ability to make the thrust-time trace fully regressive with maximum performance was a real advance. It appeared possible to get a dP/dt shutdown as desired, at least later in the burn. But hydrazine is more demonized than fossil fuels, despite being the only non-carbon containing alternative.