Here’s the requisite Manley analysis of the GEM 63XL SRB anomaly on today’s Vulcan certification flight.

  • burble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    3 months ago

    I wonder how much “engine out” capacity they would have on a normal flight. This is a pretty big architectural difference vs Falcon and Starship.

    • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.worksM
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 months ago

      Given that Vulcan has only two BE-4s, I don’t expect they would have much capability for engine-out unless it occurred very shortly before scheduled MECO. As for SRB-out capability, that feels like it would depend on the required orbit, SRB configuration, and the exact nature of the failure. They’ve now demonstrated a certain level of SRB-out capability for the VC2S configuration, but I think a certain amount of luck was involved, in that the rest of the rocket seemingly sustained minimal damage. For the 4- and 6-SRB variants, I think the chances of cascading failures would be higher.