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MUSIC

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So we are getting ready to

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static fire the QM-1 static

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test motor. It's a full rocket

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booster, it's made of five

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segments pieced together…and

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that's important because we've

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added another length of a

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segment into this booster to

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make it bigger and better. A lot

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of planning and work is done

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ahead of time as we design

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these rocket boosters to get

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the propellant geometry just

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right. We know at any given

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time during the burn of that

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motor what the thrust is and

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what the profile of the

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pressure is inside that motor.

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So with the new thrust profile

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for the SLS boosters we've

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added an extra fin and changed

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some of the geometry of our

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propellant surfaces so we can

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burn more propellant at the

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beginning of the test, or at

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the beginning of the rocket

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firing. To get a solid rocket

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booster to burn we have an

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igniter at the front end that is

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like a small rocket itself, and

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it shoots a flame hundred and

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fifty feet down this entire

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rocket booster and it ignites

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all the surface of the

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propellant all at once. Once

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you ignite a solid rocket

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booster you can't stop it. You

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don't flip a switch to turn it

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on and off. At the same time

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you turn a knob to increase

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your thrust or decrease your

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thrust. That's why it's

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important to design this

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beforehand. So we can get the

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amount of thrust we need at each

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point during this two minute

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burn to reach the maximum thrust

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at given time points that we

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need. At the beginning of the

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burn is when we have the most

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thrust, about three and a half

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million pounds of thrust that

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we maintain for about twenty

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five seconds. It takes just

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over two minutes of rocket

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firing for the propellant to

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completely burn out. The

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propellant is burning really

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fast; it's got a certain rate

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that it's burning from inside

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out. So as every second goes by

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it's like one layer of that

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propellant is essentially being

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peeled away and shot out the

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end of that rocket motor.

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Rocket science is not easy.

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This is a complex booster;

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we spend a lot of time and

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effort to get this right. And

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this is the first qualification

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test of this kind of rocket…I'm

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very confident that this booster

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static test motor is going to