An advanced weapon and space systems company

1

Historical Perspective on Large Scale SRBs From ATK

Presented by:David McGrathChief Engineer, Ares 1-1, Stage 1

Presented at Aerospace Control & Guidance Systems Committee Meeting October 11, 2006

An advanced weapon and space systems company

2

Types of TVC Nozzles

Reference: Rocket Propulsion Elements, Sutton and Biblarz, 7th Edition

An advanced weapon and space systems company

3

Typical Flexseal Nozzle Configuration

Reference: Rocket Propulsion Elements, Sutton and Biblarz, 7th Edition

An advanced weapon and space systems company

4

The Hermes 31-in. Rocket Motor in 1951

• The Hermes A-2/RV-A-10 program produced an impressive series of firsts:

– The first successful static and flight tests of large (31-in. dia x 108-in. length), long-duration (41.2 sec), internal-burning, case-bonded solid propellant rocket motors

– A method of using multiple mixes to cast motors of any size, with a capability of 5,000 lb demonstrated in one day of mixing and casting

An advanced weapon and space systems company

5

1960 — Pershing IIs in Production(40-in.-diameter motors)

An advanced weapon and space systems company

6

Early 1960’s Sergeant Is Operational

An advanced weapon and space systems company

7

1960’s — High-Speed Interceptors Are in Production

• Many programs: Nike, Sprint, and Spartan families

• Huntsville, ABL, Longhorn primarily involved

• Very high thrust and accelerations

An advanced weapon and space systems company

8

14-ft-Diameter (168-in) Motor Study for NASAin 1961 (3M lbf thrust)

Note cluster of 7 boosters for Nova: 21M lbf thrust on first stage

An advanced weapon and space systems company

9

Minuteman Stage 1 — A Model Program

• 1957 — AF contract — feasibility study

• 1958 — Successful demo motor tested 63-in. dia, 22,000 lb

• 1959 — AF contract — first-stage development

– First motor loaded in January

– Successful test in April

– First silo test in September

• 1960 — First movable nozzle test in October

– First PFRT test

• 1961 — Completed PFRT test in January — 12 for 12

– First Minuteman flight — February 1, 1961 (one year ahead of schedule)

• 1962 — First MM I production motor accepted in April

• 1964 — First MM II production motor accepted in May

• 1966 — 1,626 motors loaded; more than 1,000 delivered for installation or testing

An advanced weapon and space systems company

10

Minuteman Stage 1 Motor

An advanced weapon and space systems company

11

1964 — Successful 156-in. Motor Demonstration

An advanced weapon and space systems company

12

Additional 156-in. Motor Photos

An advanced weapon and space systems company

13

Thiokol’s 260-in. Booster Program

Customer: USAF 1963 to July 1, 1964NASA (Lewis Research Center) thereafter

Parallel contracts to Thiokol and Aerojet

Target: Feasibility demonstration

• 260-in.-dia solid propellant motors, monolithic propellant grains• 6,000,000-lb thrust, 2-minute burn time• Half-length, half-thrust prototypes• 260-in. case test article at right

failed during proof. Aerojet went onto successfully fire a 260-in. motor

An advanced weapon and space systems company

14

A Concept Using the 260-in. Booster

An advanced weapon and space systems company

15

3M lb of Thrust: Achieved February 27, 1965, in “Subscale 156-in.” Motor

Aft-end Igniter

• Motor fired in casting/curing pit• Highly successful test

An advanced weapon and space systems company

16

Other Large Motors of Note in the 1960’s

• 120-in. motor demos with vectorable nozzles

• 100-in. motor with highly submerged and vectorable nozzle (38,000 lb propellant)

• 156-in. upper stage motor with highly submerged nozzle and secondary injection TVC (128,000 lb of propellant)

An advanced weapon and space systems company

17

Strategic Missiles (Bacchus content)

Promontory supplied AF ICBM Stage 1s and JV on Navy FBMs

An advanced weapon and space systems company

18

Space Shuttle Motor Development

• 1971: First NASA studies funded for solid thrust augmentation

• 1973: Motor development contract awarded

• 1977: First booster test

• 1981: First flight of original booster design

An advanced weapon and space systems company

19

SRB Aft Skirt TVA System Layout

An advanced weapon and space systems company

20

Titan IV SRB

• Titan IV developed after Challenger, Delta, and Titan accidents in 1986 and provided 25% heavier lift capability than previous Titan versions

• 3-segment motor with graphite-epoxy, filament-wound case 10.5 ft in diameter and ~770,000 lbm total mass. The total height is ~112 feet when fully assembled. Thrust was 1.7M lb

An advanced weapon and space systems company

21

CASTOR®, Orion, and GEM Motors

An advanced weapon and space systems company

22

Ares I Development ― Now

Five Segment Booster First Stage With J-2X Powered Second Stage

An advanced weapon and space systems company

23

Ares V Development ― Soon

• Two 5-segment boosters• Core with 5 RS-68s• Earth departure stage with J-2X

An advanced weapon and space systems company

24

Summary

• ATK (formerly Hercules and Thiokol) led the development of the majority of large solid boosters in the 1950’s through the 1970’s and is still the leading supplier today

• Numerous tests at subscale and full scale were conducted with a variety of case, propellant, and nozzle technologies on most programs creating empirical data bases from which design decisions were made

• Virtually all types of TVC have been tested and flown on large SRMs (movable fin, hinged trapped ball, trapped ball, flexseal, secondary injection, jet tabs, jet vanes, gimbaled auxiliary motors)