[ExI] big dumb booster question

BillK pharos at gmail.com
Mon Apr 26 22:08:56 UTC 2010


On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 10:36 PM, Jeff Davis  wrote:
> From my childhood enthusiasm for jet planes and space flight, a visual
> memory remains vivid:  an
> F-100 super sabre being "launched" from a stand using a JATO rocket.
> Later I learned that the JATO used asphalt as fuel, tar basically.
> Mixed with some oxidizer, of course.
>
> Question: Would it be functionally possible to use asphalt as fuel in
> a "big dumb booster", and if so, how would its use compare
> ECONOMICALLY to more advanced fuels?
>
> Or is this just a big dumb idea? ;-}
>
>


Well, not really a dumb idea, but.....

See this history of JATO rocket development:
<http://www.astronautix.com/articles/comlants.htm>

Asphalt was only used as a binder for about three years, 1942 to 1945.
Quote:
In 1944, Charles Bartley joined Mills' group, and in 1945 introduced
as a replacement for asphalt a castable elastomeric material,
polysulfide rubber, produced by Thiokol Chemical Corporation.
-------------

On the other hand, another quote says:
The debate on the superiority of solid vs. liquid propellant rocket
engines for boosters of space vehicles still rages today (but
environmental considerations now favour liquid propellants).
--------------------------


BillK




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