Space obsession, queen confessions.
Solid rocket motors are the simplest, strongest and least forgiving engines in spaceflight. Here’s how ammonium perchlorate composite propellant works, why grain shape draws the thrust curve, why a solid can’t throttle or shut down, what the Shuttle, SLS and GEM 63XL boosters teach us, how hybrids fix some of the problems, and what Challenger taught us.
Vulcan’s six strap-on GEM 63XL solid boosters are the biggest monolithic single-cast solids ever made, according to Northrop Grumman. Here is how they compare with the Atlas V’s GEM 63, what the numbers say, and what we know about the two nozzle anomalies.
After nine months on the ground, United Launch Alliance says Vulcan will fly again on Friday, November 13, carrying 40 Amazon Leo satellites on the first Vulcan ever to wear six solid rocket boosters. Here’s what changed, what we still don’t know, and why the Space Force will be watching closely.