NASA Static Fires Upgraded Solid Rocket Booster!

Written By Josh G for Onkla

NASA tested its new upgraded Solid Rocket Booster in Utah on July 21, 2022. The FSB-2 solid rocket booster is a five segment SRB which is testing improvements and new materials in the boosters for missions past Artemis III. The new FSB-2 booster is set to make the booster more reliable and efficient. New materials and some new testing objectives will be tested during this static fire test. The FSB-2 booster produces 3.6 million pounds of thrust during its two and a half minute burn.

This booster was layed horizontally on its test stand. All the systems were attatched and then there was an ignition. The booster burned successfully for around two minutes prior to shutting down. The suppression system was then placed into the Booster, and then the safing sequence began. Everything looked good and we are still ontrack for the Artemis I, Artemis II, and Artemis III missions.

SRB Test In Utah in 2016

This booster is a part of the SLS launch vehicle called the twin solid rocket boosters. These boosters produce more than 75% of the vehicles thrust at launch. Each of these boosters produce 3.6 million pounds of thrust which in total results in 7.2 million pounds of thrust for the first two minutes of flight from just these boosters.

This booster will be reused and flown on the Artemis III mission which is set to fly in a few years. NASA reuses the booster by putting a CO2 extinguished inside the end of the booster just after completing its test. This helps the fire stop and so the booster can be safed for inspection, and reloading the propellant.

Solid rocket boosters, or SRB's are good for producing lots of thrust, really quickly. That is one of their pros. However, solid rocket boosters also have a lot of downsides. Firstly, they are very unreliable. This is because once they are ignited, they cannot be shut down. This is due to the propellants not being fed into a chamber, but being pre-mixed. This means that all you have to do is light it and a chain reaction will occur until all of the propellant burns, and that is when you have shutdown. Secondly, they are unreliable. They are unreliable because you are unable to throttle them. This is the same reason as the first. You cannot change the speed at which the propellant gets pumped into the chamber, because there is no chamber.

NASA uses lots of solid rocket boosters. They used boosters on their famous Space Shuttle. The shuttle had two twin solid rocket boosters. SLS also has solid rocket boosters. It has the same booster, just with one more segment. SLS also has the boosters in the twin configuration. The Minotaur rocket series also uses solid fuel, and the Minotaur 4 vehicle is made fully of solid fuel. All four stages of the Minotaur IV vehicle consist of solid fuel. The reason it can target different orbits, is because it can pitch in a direction that isn't the most efficient, so it can just fly a different path, burning off more propellant to get the rocket into its targetted orbit.

Do You Like Solid Rocket Boosters?

• Yes (The Sound and Purpose)
• Yes (Just The Sound)
• Yes (Just The Purpose)
• Yes (other)

See All Options