RE: Alternative22 Nov 2019 14:23
Space shuttle SRB seal rings failed due to temperatures lower than any other shuttle launch by 20degrees. The powdered aluminium and ammonium perchlorate exhaust gases escaped bathing the liquid O2 and H2 tank until it failed mixing the gases and causing an explosion. The energy required to launch the Space Shuttle weighed 165,000 pounds empty, Its external tank weighed 78,100 pounds empty and its two solid rocket boosters weighed 185,000 pounds empty each. Each solid rocket booster held 1.1 million pounds of fuel. The external tank held 143,000 gallons of liquid oxygen (1,359,000 pounds) and 383,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen (226,000 pounds). The fuel weighed almost 20 times more than the Shuttle. At launch, the Shuttle, external tank, solid rocket boosters and all the fuel combined had a total weight of 4.4 million pounds bares absolutely no relevance to the AFC fuel cell unit in any way whatsoever that a normal thinking human being could.