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There is a bit of a misunderstanding here. The minuteman missiles are solid fueled. There are no liquids and no hypergolics involved in the stages which loft i
by krisoft 2y ago
There is a bit of a misunderstanding here.
The minuteman missiles are solid fueled. There are no liquids and no hypergolics involved in the stages which loft it towards the enemy. Structurally it is more similar to a candle than a fuel tank. There are no spills or defueling with this system. This is a fact. In this system you won’t find a separate oxidiser/fuel. The two components are mixed together and they form a kind of rubber like cylinder with a hole in the middle. The hole is shaped appropriately so the rocket engine burns at the right rates.
There are hypergolic fuels at the very end of the rocket in the payload. They are used for deorbiting and to control the return vehicles. But it is a much smaller part of the whole missile. (Both by mass, and by encapsulated energy.)
- beerandt 2y agoYes I was speaking to the historically overblown concern of fuel and oxidizer tank corrosion, which yes, does not even apply to minuteman or solid fuels. Should have prefaced that response with a big IFF/WHEN old liquid rockets.