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From: moe@nuchat.UUCP (Norman C. Kluksdahl)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: SRBs
Message-ID: <18298@nuchat.UUCP>
Date: 11 Jan 90 03:17:12 GMT
References: <1990Jan10.142852.23804@phri.nyu.edu>
Reply-To: moe@nuchat.UUCP (Norman C. Kluksdahl)
Organization: Houston Public Access
Lines: 16

In article <1990Jan10.142852.23804@phri.nyu.edu> roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes:
>
>I noticed that the SRBs were still burning when they separated, and
>kept doing so for at least a few seconds (i.e. as long as they showed
>them).  To me, this means they waste some significant fraction of the SRB
>thrust after separation.  Is that really true?

The SRBs may still be burning when they are jettisoned, but they may
not be producing USEFUL thrust.  If the thrust from an SRB is less than
its combined mass and contribution to atmospheric drag, it is dead weight,
and actually detracts from the useful payload, since the SSMEs must
carry the difference.

=====================================================================
Norman Kluksdahl  
  ...!nuchat!moe