Re:K-219
by bell-cot on Saturday September 10, 2022 @10:25AM
(#32790946)
Small-picture summary: SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles) powered by UDMH and NTO (nitrogen tetroxide, N2O4) were a bad engineering decision. Submarines have a long history of "minor" leaks. Ditto liquid-fueled rockets. And NTO and water will instantly react, at room temperature, producing very toxic gasses, very corrosive acids, and a whole lotta heat...
Big-picture summary: Naval disasters involving gunpowder almost certainly predate the Grand Duchy of Moscow gaining access to the sea, 500+ years ago, under Ivan the Great. Alfred Nobel figured out how to make nitroglycerine "safe-ish enough to actually be worth the risk" 150+ years ago. Since Nobel, clever chemists have cooked up all sorts of really cool & deadly dangerous things for modern militaries to use in weapons. Which of those things are just too dangerous & unstable to actually be worth the risk is a body of knowledge which is always growing - generally one disaster at a time.
Big-picture summary: Naval disasters involving gunpowder almost certainly predate the Grand Duchy of Moscow gaining access to the sea, 500+ years ago, under Ivan the Great. Alfred Nobel figured out how to make nitroglycerine "safe-ish enough to actually be worth the risk" 150+ years ago. Since Nobel, clever chemists have cooked up all sorts of really cool & deadly dangerous things for modern militaries to use in weapons. Which of those things are just too dangerous & unstable to actually be worth the risk is a body of knowledge which is always growing - generally one disaster at a time.