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Re:The soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion by jedberg on Monday July 02, 2018 @05:40PM (#17445554)
I'm not a rocket scientist so I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the O ring would be required no matter how it was constructed.
Re:The soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion by 0xffff2 on Monday July 02, 2018 @06:09PM (#17445788)
Why do you think that? As the person you replied to said, the only reason the O-ring is there at all is to seal the joint between the sections. If the join't didn't exist, there would be no reason at all for there to be a rubber ring embedded in the structure.
Re:The soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion by jedberg on Monday July 02, 2018 @06:54PM (#17446061)
Because that spot on the SRB is a flex joint to allow some movement of the nozzle as the engine fires. The joint isn't there because of transportation or other reasons.
Re:The soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion by askvictor on Monday July 02, 2018 @07:26PM (#17446216)
I'm no rocket scientist either, but happened to be reading in depth about SRBs in general and Challenger in particular, and my understanding is: the joint in question was a field joint, to be assembled in the field, as opposed to factory joints which were assembled in the factory. The construction of these joints were different (asbestos insulation vs O-rings). The differing design is due to transportation and logistics.
Re:The soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion by robryk on Monday July 02, 2018 @07:15PM (#17446162)
That spot was the "aft field joint" according to wikipedia. According to the diagram linked[1] that is distinct from the case-to-nozzle joint.

[1] https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/...

Re:The soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion by oh_sigh on Monday July 02, 2018 @06:22PM (#17445874)
And if the politicians didn't vote to build the SRBs in Utah, then maybe there would be no SRB at all, which is a good method to prevent deaths from SRBs.
Re:The soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion by 0xffff2 on Monday July 02, 2018 @06:40PM (#17445980)
Okay... how is that relevant to my comment at all?
Re:The soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion by nerdponx on Monday July 02, 2018 @09:06PM (#17446680)
I think this was meant to be a comment on the OP.