Nature of the Response of the General Purpose Heat Source to the Impact of Large Solid Rocket Motor Casing Fragments

摘要

The General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) was developed by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) personnel and their contractors to provide a safe and mass efficient method of packaging the radioactive isotope Pu-238 for use in space power systems. The characteristics of this heat source and its development history are well documented in numerous reports and papers and will not be revisited here. Most of the GPHS Safety Verification Tests (SVT) focused on demonstrating the ability of the modules to survive launch abort explosions and fires, reentry heating, and post-reentry impact on rigid surfaces. The Challenger (STS-51L) accident demonstrated that Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) casing failure could produce large, high velocity, fragments. At the time of the accident, the ability of the GPHS modules to withstand impacts of fragments of this caliber and velocity had not been demonstrated either by analysis or test.