The configuration and relationship of the external propellant tank and solid rocket boosters of space transportation systems such as the space shuttle are described. The space shuttle system with the improved propellant tank is shown. The external tank has a forward pressure vessel for liquid hydrogen and an aft pressure vessel for liquid oxygen. The solid rocket boosters are joined together by a thrust frame which extends across and behind the external tank. The thrust of the orbiter's main rocket engines are transmitted to the aft portion of the external tank and the thrust of the solid rocket boosters are transmitted to the aft end of the external tank. A modification of the external tank is shown.
Space Shuttle with Improved External Propellant Tank
1982
17 pages
Report
No indication
English
Manned Spacecraft , Rocket Engines & Motors , Government Inventions for Licensing , Patent applications , Booster rocket engines , External tanks , Pressure vessels , Solid propellant rocket engines , Space shuttle orbiters , Spacecraft configurations , Liquid hydrogen , Liquid oxygen , Space shuttle payloads
NTRS | 1973
|COMPUTATIONAL MODEL OF THE CHILLDOWN AND PROPELLANT LOADING OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE EXTERNAL TANK
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2010
|Space Shuttle External Tank Instrumentation Evaluation
NTIS | 1979
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