🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <37330001@hpindwa.cup.hp.com>, bobj@hpindwa.cup.hp.com (Bob Joslin) writes:
|> I've heard that one shuttle launch causes 1/4 of 1% of the ozone to be
|> destroyed.  This sounds like propaganda to me.  That's a lot of ozone,
|> even if it is destroyed over a long period of time.

I saw the same comments concerning the SRBs effect on the ozone.  I have very
few hard facts, but I'm happy to share what I have.  The following data is
from the "Shuttle Flight Operations Manual, Volume 8B - Solid Rocket Booster
Systems".  This is an official NASA document and is considered authoritative.

The SRBs contain a total of approximately 2.3 million lbs of propellant.  This 
total is for two SRBs.  The chemical composition of the SRB fuel is broken down
below.
	14%	terpolymer of butadiene, acrylic acid, and an epoxy curing
		agent (bis-phenol A - epichlorohydrin type)

	16%	Atomized aluminum powder

	70%	Ammonium Perchlorate

	0.2%	Iron Oxide

If there are any chemists out there that want to do an analysis of this data,
maybe we can get a meaningful opinion on this subject.  BTW, SRB burnout occurs
at approximately 140,000 feet.  Does this count as "high" or "low" in an
atmospheric sense?

-- 
Brad Mears
bmears@deltahp.jsc.nasa.gov                      No disclaimer, no quote