Editing Solid-propellant rocket (section)

==History==
[[File:RIAN archive 303890 A battery of Katyusha during the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War.jpg|thumb|A battery of [[Katyusha rocket launcher]]s fires at German forces during the [[Battle of Stalingrad]], 6 October 1942]]
[[File:Aerojet260.png|thumb|Aerojet 260 motor test, 25 September 1965]]
The medieval [[Song dynasty]] Chinese invented a very primitive form of solid-propellant rocket.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Space Science in China |last= Hu |first=Wen-Rui |year=1997 |isbn= 978-9056990237 |publication-date=August 20, 1997 |page=15|publisher= CRC Press }}</ref> Illustrations and descriptions in the 14th century Chinese military treatise ''[[Huolongjing]]'' by the Ming dynasty military writer and philosopher [[Jiao Yu]] confirm that the Chinese in 1232 used proto solid propellant rockets then known as "[[fire arrows]]" to drive back the Mongols during the [[Siege of Kaifeng (1232)]].<ref name="Greatrix 2012 1">{{Cite book |title=Powered Flight: The Engineering of Aerospace Propulsion |last=Greatrix |first= David R.  |publisher=Springer |year=2012 |isbn=978-1447124849 |pages=1}}</ref><ref name="Nielsen 1997 2–4">{{Cite book |title=Blast Off!: Rocketry for Elementary and Middle School Students P |last= Nielsen  |first= Leona |publisher= Libraries Unlimited  |year=1997 |isbn= 978-1563084386 |pages=2–4}}</ref> Each arrow took a primitive form of a simple, solid-propellant rocket tube that was filled with gunpowder. One open end allowed the gas to escape and was attached to a long stick that acted as a guidance system for flight direction control.<ref name="Nielsen 1997 2–4"/><ref name="Greatrix 2012 1"/>

The first rockets with tubes of cast iron were used by the [[Kingdom of Mysore]] under [[Hyder Ali]] and [[Tipu Sultan]] in the 1750s. These rockets had a reach of targets up to a mile and a half away. These were extremely effective in the [[Second Anglo-Mysore War]] that ended in a humiliating defeat for the [[British East India Company]]. Word of the success of the Mysore rockets against the British triggered research in England, France, Ireland and elsewhere. When the British finally conquered the fort of [[Siege of Seringapatam (1799)|Srirangapatana]] in 1799, hundreds of rockets were shipped off to the [[Royal Arsenal]] near London to be reverse-engineered. This led to the first industrial manufacture of military rockets with the [[Congreve rocket]] in 1804.<ref name="Bowdoin 2004">{{Cite book |title=Rockets and Missiles: The Life Story of a Technology|last= Van Riper  |first= Bowdoin |publisher= The Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2004 |isbn= 978-0801887925 |pages=14–15}}</ref>

In 1921 the [[Soviet]] research and development laboratory [[Gas Dynamics Laboratory]] began developing solid-propellant rockets, which resulted in the first launch in 1928, that flew for approximately 1,300 metres.<ref name="RSB_GDL">{{cite web |last1=Zak |first1=Anatoly |title=Gas Dynamics Laboratory |url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/gdl.html |website=Russian Space Web |access-date=29 May 2022}}</ref> These rockets were used in 1931 for the world's first successful use of rockets to [[JATO|assist take-off of aircraft]].<ref name="Glushko">{{cite book |last1=Glushko |first1=Valentin |title=Developments of Rocketry and Space Technology in the USSR |date=1 January 1973 |publisher=Novosti Press Pub. House |page=7 |url=https://www.amazon.com/Development-rocketry-space-technology-USSR/dp/B0006CHI4I}}</ref>  The research continued from 1933 by the [[Reactive Scientific Research Institute]] (RNII) with the development of the [[RS-82 (rocket family)|RS-82 and RS-132 rockets]], including designing several variations for ground-to-air, ground-to-ground, air-to-ground and air-to-air combat.<ref name="W&WRRP">{{cite web |title=Russian Rocket Projectiles – WWII |url=https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2018/11/19/russian-rocket-projectiles-wwii/ |website=Weapons and Warfare |date=18 November 2018 |access-date=29 May 2022}}</ref> The earliest known use by the [[Soviet Air Force]] of aircraft-launched unguided [[Air-to-air rocket|anti-aircraft rockets]] in combat against heavier-than-air aircraft took place in [[1939 in aviation|August 1939]], during the [[Battle of Khalkhin Gol]].<ref name="W&WRRP" />  In June 1938, the RNII began developing a multiple rocket launcher based on the RS-132 rocket.<ref>{{cite book| author1 = Akimov V.N.|author2=Koroteev A.S. |author3=Gafarov A.A. | chapter = The weapon of victory - "Katyusha"| url = https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=19633690& | title = Research Center named after M.V. Keldysh. 1933-2003 : 70 years at the forefront of rocket and space technology (in Russian). |location= Мoscow |year= 2003 |publisher= Scientific and technical publishing house "Mashinostroenie" | pages = 92–101| isbn = 5-217-03205-7}}</ref> In August 1939, the completed product was the [[Katyusha rocket launcher|BM-13 / Katyusha rocket launcher]]. Towards the end of 1938 the first significant large scale testing of the rocket launchers took place, 233 rockets of various types were used. A salvo of rockets could completely straddle a target at a range of {{convert|5,500|m|mi}}. By the end of [[World War II]] total production of rocket launchers reached about 10,000.<ref name=Zaloga>{{cite book | last = Zaloga | first = Steven J | author-link = Steven Zaloga | author2 = James Grandsen | title = Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two | url = https://archive.org/details/soviettankscomba00zalo | url-access = limited | publisher = Arms and Armour Press | year = 1984 | location = London | pages = 150–153 | isbn = 0-85368-606-8}}</ref> with 12 million rockets of the RS type produced for the Soviet armed forces.<ref name="RSW_RNII">{{cite web |last1=Zak |first1=Anatoly |title=History of the Rocket Research Institute, RNII |url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/rnii.html |website=Russian Spaceweb |access-date=18 June 2022}}</ref>

In the [[United States]] modern castable composite solid rocket motors were invented by the American aerospace engineer [[Jack Parsons (rocket engineer)|Jack Parsons]] at [[Caltech]] in 1942 when he replaced double base propellant with roofing [[Bitumen|asphalt]] and [[potassium perchlorate]]. This made possible slow-burning rocket motors of adequate size and with sufficient shelf-life for jet-assisted take off applications. [[Charles Bartley]], employed at JPL (Caltech), substituted curable [[synthetic rubber]] for the gooey asphalt, creating a flexible but geometrically stable load-bearing propellant grain that bonded securely to the motor casing. This made possible much larger solid rocket motors. Atlantic Research Corporation significantly boosted composite propellant I<sub>sp</sub> in 1954 by increasing the amount of powdered aluminium in the propellant to as much as 20%.<ref>{{cite book |author= M. D. Black |title= The Evolution of Rocket Technology |page= 39 |publisher= Native Planter, SLC |date= 2012 }} payloadz.com under ''ebook/History'' {{dead link|date= July 2014}}</ref>

Solid-propellant rocket technology got its largest boost in technical innovation, size and capability with the various mid-20th century government initiatives to develop increasingly capable military missiles. After initial designs of [[ballistic missile]] military technology designed with [[liquid-propellant rocket]]s in the 1940s and 1950s, both the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[Federal government of the United States|United States]] embarked on major initiatives to develop solid-propellant [[Tactical ballistic missile|local]], [[Medium-range ballistic missile|regional]], and [[Intercontinental ballistic missile|intercontinental]] ballistic missiles, including solid-propellant missiles that could be launched from [[Air-launched ballistic missile|air]] or [[Submarine-launched ballistic missile|sea]]. Many [[List of missiles by country|other governments]] also developed these military technologies over the next 50 years.

By the later 1980s and continuing to 2020, these government-developed highly-capable solid rocket technologies have been applied to [[orbital spaceflight]] by many<!-- possibly all of the governments of countries that have developed orbital spaceflight technology, which is 6 or 8 now; but would need to confirm --> [[nation state|government-directed programs]], most often as [[solid rocket booster|booster rockets]] to add extra thrust during the early ascent of their primarily liquid rocket [[launch vehicle]]s.  Some designs have had solid rocket upper stages as well.  Examples flying in the 2010s include the European [[Ariane 5]], US [[Atlas V]] and [[Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster|Space Shuttle]], and Japan's [[H-II]].

The largest solid rocket motors ever built were Aerojet's three {{convert|260|in|m|adj=on|sigfig=3|order=flip|sp=us}} monolithic solid motors cast in Florida.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20000033816.pdf|title = The 260 - The Largest Solid Rocket Motor Ever Tested|date = June 1999|access-date = July 24, 2014|website = nasa.gov}}</ref> Motors 260 SL-1 and SL-2 were {{convert|261|in|m|sigfig=3|order=flip|sp=us}} in diameter, {{convert|80|ft|8|in|m|order=flip|sp=us}} long, weighed {{convert|1,858,300|lb|kg|order=flip}}, and had a maximum thrust of {{convert|3.5|e6lbf|MN lbf|order=out|abbr=on}}. Burn duration was two minutes. The nozzle throat was large enough to walk through standing up. The motor was capable of serving as a 1-to-1 replacement for the 8-engine [[Saturn I]] liquid-propellant first stage but was never used as such. Motor 260 SL-3 was of similar length and weight but had a maximum thrust of {{convert|5.4|e6lbf|MN lbf|order=out|abbr=on}} and a shorter duration.