Booster rocket burn on Discovery

[HattoriHanzo]

I was watching the live video over the net of Discovery launch 4 july.
I noticed the unsmooth burn of the booster rockets compared to the smoother burning liquid fuel SSMEs. The camera picture is somewhat blured by the resonance from the solid fuel motors but instantly when the boosters are released the camera picture become more stable.

Of course there is nothing wrong with the SRMs.
This was the first time I noticed the slightly more "harsh" burning of solid rocket motors. I have never seen a "in flight" camera on a large rocket boosted by solid rocket motors before, so this was something new to me.

[Ray]

I would expect that a solid booster has more vibration than a liquid fueled one. Voids/micro voids, and just particle size differences would account for some instability in the burn.

Don't forget the aerodynamic effects of the boosters and when they drop away you are shedding 2/3 of your total thrust as well.

Only speculation on my part.

[Dang911]

The launch looked good from my view!! HEHE

[HattoriHanzo]

Thank you for the pics. It must have been a real pleasure to see the monster flying :o

[Dang911]

It was great, but this launch wasn't anything spectacular, because the beast was silent. The launch was only 5-6 miles away BUT all you could here was a faint swooshing noise. The reason? The wind! If the wind blows away from you, its silent, toward you its a rumble/crackle like no other. This isn't my first launch. I live about 3 hours away, so I make a day trip every once and a while.

[Jim Berquist]

Hi Dang!

84 thru 86 I seen every launch but one. I was stationed at Patrick AFB in the Technical Applications Center. Sad to say , my last day at that Base was the day the Challenger did it's thing. Back then you wouldn't had got that close without VIP passes.

Your right about the wind and sound! It sounded kind of like PoPCorn to me.

Jim

[Greg O'Bryant]

How is this for a burn time?

http://www.uroc.org/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-86

Oh ya I hope nobody was on that dirt road behind the motor :)