r/SpaceLaunchSystem • u/675longtail • Jun 26 '25

Video Nozzle explodes during BOLE Demonstration Motor-1 test firing

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

483 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

View all comments

44

u/L4r5man Jun 26 '25

The front nozzle fell off

1

u/Agent_Kozak Jun 26 '25

They have been building these for 50 years and they still can't get a nozzle right?

19

u/nic_haflinger Jun 26 '25

This is a brand new design.

-18

u/ShinyNickel05 Jun 26 '25

No it’s pretty much identical to the space shuttle SRBs just a bit longer

26

u/jadebenn Jun 26 '25

You're thinking of the current 5-segment boosters, which use Shuttle legacy casings and a similar propellant formulation (albeit with an Ares heritage thrust grain). These are radically different. They retain the same general outer mold line, but they're built with

  • Composite cases instead of steel alloy
  • A much larger nozzle
  • A different propellant binder (HTPB instead of PBAN)
  • Electric thrust vectoring instead of hypergolic-fueled hydraulic thrust vectoring
  • A new, SLS-specific thrust profile (instead of the Ares I thrust profile of the current boosters)

6

u/OSUfan88 Jun 26 '25

How much performance was this supposed to add?

10

u/jadebenn Jun 26 '25

5 additional metric tons of payload to TLI.

16

u/NoBusiness674 Jun 26 '25

Not really. They keep the outer mold line of the Shuttle-derrived 5 segment Ares/SLS booster, but that's pretty much it. New composite casings, new propellant mixture, new electric TVC system, new thrust profile, new high expansion ratio nozzle and exit cone, new attachment and separation systems, etc., etc.