Re: Griffin Wants Inline SDLV and 5 Segment SRB/CEV

Scott Lowther <scottlowther@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:m3Xxe.410$j21.404@xxxxxxxxxxxxx:

> Reed Snellenberger wrote:
>>
>>How hard could it be to insert an additional segment in an SRB?
>>
>
> Oh, that'd be easy. You could splice ina *dozen* more segments if you
> wanted. It'd jsut blow itself to hell, of course.
>

With enough segments, I suppose you could just clamp a ladder to the side
and climb to orbit :-)

>> Is there
>>any reason to change the propellant configuration from the one used
>>for the shuttle?
>>
>>
> Yup. The ETM-3 5 segment motor was pretty much just a spliced regular
> RSRM, but witha modified nozzle; it worked, but the thrust/tiem trace
> was not quite what you'd want for a launch vehicle. That needs to be
> tailored for the vehicle in question.
>

You'd need development cost & time to design and build new tooling to
cast the new segments, plus time to qualify them. Does "not quite" mean
"it wouldn't work" or "it wouldn't be optimal"? If the flight profile of
the existing SRM is "close enough", it makes more send to spend the time
and money on the new second stage (that you're going to have to build
anyway), and not fool around with what works...


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