Solid-propellant rocket

A rocket motor that burns a solid mixture of fuel and oxidizer to produce thrust. Its propellant grain also serves as the combustion chamber’s fuel supply.

Solid rocket propellant: A solid mixture of fuel and oxidizer formulated to burn and produce hot gas in a rocket motor. This material burns within the motor, and its composition sets performance and handling properties.
Rocket propulsion: Propulsion that produces thrust by expelling mass, allowing a vehicle to move without pushing against its surroundings. Solid motors are one implementation of this general propulsion principle.
Booster rocket: A rocket stage or attached motor that supplies extra thrust during a vehicle's initial flight. Large solid boosters provide substantial thrust during launch.
Liquid-propellant rocket: A rocket motor that stores fuel and oxidizer as liquids and feeds them into a combustion chamber. Liquid engines can often be throttled or shut down, unlike conventional solid motors.
Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster: A reusable solid rocket booster that supplied thrust during the first two minutes of each Space Shuttle launch. Its scale and recovery system made solid propulsion central to the Shuttle's launch architecture.
Propellant grain: The shaped mass of solid propellant loaded into a rocket motor. Its exposed burning surface changes as combustion advances, shaping the thrust curve.
Combustion: A chemical reaction between a fuel and an oxidizer that releases heat, often with a flame. Combustion in the grain generates the hot, pressurized exhaust.
Space launch vehicle: A rocket designed to carry payloads from Earth's surface into space. Solid motors serve as launch stages and strap-on boosters.
Hybrid rocket: A rocket motor that combines propellants in different physical states, commonly solid fuel and liquid oxidizer. Its separate fuel and oxidizer can offer control absent from a premixed solid grain.
Challenger disaster: The 1986 Space Shuttle accident in which Challenger broke apart shortly after launch, killing all seven crew members. A failure in a solid booster field joint caused the vehicle's destruction.

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