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Re:United States Discloses Nuclear Warhead Numbers; Restores... by lmm on Monday July 22, 2024 @07:49PM (#41041025)
> Since the alert window is under 10 minutes, you can't keep a liquid-fuelled rocket permanently fueled so the Minuteman was developed as a solid rocket fuel booster.

Huh? The Titan II was developed to do precisely that and worked that way for decades, they were liquid-fuelled and kept fuelled in their silos.

Re:United States Discloses Nuclear Warhead Numbers; Restores... by openasocket on Monday July 22, 2024 @08:13PM (#41041195)
Liquid propellants are generally less stable than solid fuel. I had read in multiple places (from reputable sources) that you generally couldn’t keep liquid missiles permanently fueled like that. The propellants are extremely corrosive and dangerous.

But you are right that the Titan II is liquid fueled and was kept permanently fueled in the silo. I’m not entirely sure how to resolve those two facts. The Wikipedia page about the Titan II does mention multiple accidents and fatalities related to propellant leaks, so I’m guessing that they were just more risky to operate?

Re:United States Discloses Nuclear Warhead Numbers; Restores... by silverquiet on Monday July 22, 2024 @08:18PM (#41041226)
There was an incident where a technician dropped a large socket down a silo that impacted the side of a Titan missile and set off a chain of events that ended in an explosion that nearly detonated a nuclear bomb on US soil.
Re:United States Discloses Nuclear Warhead Numbers; Restores... by sillywalk on Tuesday July 23, 2024 @12:16AM (#41042433)
The Damascus Incident[0]. There's a book called Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety by Eric Schlosser that details the incident, and a PBS based on the book about it.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Damascus_Titan_missile_ex...

Re:United States Discloses Nuclear Warhead Numbers; Restores... by knappe on Tuesday July 23, 2024 @01:42AM (#41042872)
I was hoping this book would be a recommended. It really, really focused, reinforced is really not the right word to use here, my views on nuclear weapons.

This should be required reading.

Re:United States Discloses Nuclear Warhead Numbers; Restores... by mr_toad on Monday July 22, 2024 @08:37PM (#41041357)
The main problem with traditional liquid fuelled rockets is keeping the propellant cold. It’s not feasible to keep a rocket with liquid oxygen fuelled for long periods. The Titan missiles use hypergolic fuel which is more storable, but also extremely toxic and volatile. More than 50 people have been killed in accidents involving this rocket.
Re:United States Discloses Nuclear Warhead Numbers; Restores... by justin66 on Monday July 22, 2024 @11:02PM (#41042118)
It helps if you think of liquid-fueled rockets relying on cryogenics as something entirely different than those using hypergolics. Cryogenics can't sit there for a long time but hypergolics can.