Some random questions about space travel

[p1t1o]

2 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

R-36 aka Satan is liquid hypergolic, not solid, but I got your idea.

Thats interesting - ah, no wonder, its quite an old design, the fuels have low boiling points but are by no means cryogenic. Also being kept in a silo protects it from sunlight, so Im guessing it can be whatever colour they like.

Im stunned that there are still liquid fuelled ICBMs around.

And: Goddang thats a big missile!

[kerbiloid]

5 minutes ago, p1t1o said:

Im stunned that there are still liquid fuelled ICBMs around.

Most of Soviet ones, including SLBM, except mobile ones. And according to newspapers, new ones too. Hypergolics rule.

Edited November 15, 2016 by kerbiloid

[p1t1o]

10 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Most of Soviet ones, including SLBM, except mobile ones. And according to newspapers, new ones too. Hypergolics rule.

Heh, everyday is a school day. Interesting I wonder why. Off the top of my head its gotta be increased throw-weight.

[kerbiloid]

Historically - because when solid Minutemans appeared - and Korolev's and Yangel's cryogenic got useless, Chelomei, Yangel and Makeev tried their best with hypergolics, while Korolev'bureau tried solid with not much success.
The most common ever built ICBM was Chelomei's UR-100 family , the most powerful and most common in sense of warhead count - Yangel/Utkin's R-36 family, the most common and the best SLBM- Makeev's R-29 family.
All of them were hypergolic because this has many practical advantages, while solid ones were not so efficient (you can google masses).
So, according to newspapers, the ones being designed, continue the success story. While solids are mostly Korolev's family ancestry.

[Kryten]

2 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Most of Soviet ones, including SLBM, except mobile ones. And according to newspapers, new ones too. Hypergolics rule.

China's main deterrent is the heavy hypergolic DF-5, and they've recently been upgraded for MIRV capability so seen to be here to stay.