NASA SLS Block 1 Rocket and Sewer Pipe Fitting
This is NASA's SLS Block 1 Rocket, tentatively scheduled for first launch in late 2018.
It will be the most powerful rocket since the Saturn V rocket that took the Apollo missions to the moon in the 1960s. The first launch may or may not be crewed.
This is a commonly used ABS plastic sewer pipe fitting.
Which is the most accurate statement?
1) The RS-25 rocket engine high-pressure fuel turbopump design was inspired by this pipe fitting design
2) Both the SLS Block 1 Rocket and this pipe fitting have the same genus number, a topological invariant
3) The cost per pound of the SLS Block 1 Rocket loaded with fuel is cheaper than the cost per pound of this pipe fitting
4) The RS-25 liquid rocket engine uses this pipe fitting
5) Most of the SLS Block 1 Rocket lift-off launch thrust comes from propellant that is basically the same as what this particular pipe fitting is made of
6) A miniature version of this pipe fitting is used for sanitation in the SLS Block 1 crew module
7) The material this pipe fitting is made of, being semi-porous, is not used anywhere in the SLS Block 1 Rocket because it will expand in the vacuum of deep space
8) The material this pipe fitting is made of is used as the high-energy particle radiation shield protecting SLS Block 1 Rocket instruments and crew
Note: The SLS Block 1 Rocket uses 2 solid rocket boosters and 4 RS-25 liquid rocket engines in the first stage.
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1 solution
The answer is
5) Most of the SLS Block 1 Rocket lift-off launch thrust comes from propellant that is basically the same as what this particular pipe fitting is made of
Check out the literature on SLS launch vehicle and SLS solid rockets:
NASA Space Launch System Solid Rocket Boosters
SLS Launch Vehicle Specifications
The two solid rocket boosters provide approximately 6,000,000 Lbs thrust out of a total of approximately 8,000,000 Lbs thrust at liftoff, the four RS-25D or RS-25E liquid rocket engines providing the difference. PBAN is polybutadiene acrylonitrile, which is the same polymer used in making common ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) sewer pipe and fittings, the difference being that with PBAN, acrylic acid is used in its manufacture, while with ABS, styrene is used in its manufacture.
Originally, the solid rocket boosters used aluminum powder as the primary propellant with ammonium perchlorate as the oxidizer, while PBAN was primarily used as a binder, and the combination was called “Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant”, or APCP. Or they used “Hydroxyl-Terminated Polybutadiene”, HTPB, an alternative solid rocket propellant. Times have changed, and now PBAN is the primary solid rocket propellant being used in the initial SLS projects. See the rocket specs in
Space Launch Report
where it says that the solid rocket booster propellant for the SLS Block 1 Rocket is PBAN.
As for the rest of the choices
1) The RS-25 rocket engine high-pressure fuel turbopump design was inspired by this pipe fitting design
Ah, no. A rocket turbopump has much more in common with a jet engine than this plumbing part
2) Both the SLS Block 1 Rocket and this pipe fitting have the same genus number, a topological invariant
This pipe fitting has a genus of 2, while the SLS Block 1 Rocket probably has a genus of about a million
3) The cost per pound of the SLS Block 1 Rocket loaded with fuel is cheaper than the cost per pound of this pipe fitting
The SLS Block 1 Rocket, even loaded with fuel, still costs in the order of about 500 dollars per pound
4) The RS-25 liquid rocket engine uses this pipe fitting
No, it does not. See photograph below of a RS-25 engine
6) A miniature version of this pipe fitting is used for sanitation in the SLS Block 1 crew module
Things are weightless in deep space, so gravity sanitation drains are not used at all
7) The material this pipe fitting is made of, being semi-porous, is not used anywhere in the SLS Block 1 Rocket because it will expand in the vacuum of deep space
ABS plastic is one of the toughest, most stable plastics there is, and can easily withstand the rigors of deep space
8) The material this pipe fitting is made of is used as the high-energy particle radiation shield protecting SLS Block 1 Rocket instruments and crew
Almost! But other composites of plastics, inorganics and metal are being used for this
RS-25 liquid rocket engine