ORIGINAL NASA DEVICE USED ON SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION FOR FIRING SOLID BOOSTER ROCKETS
Regular price
$675.00
This device went into space on an actual NASA Space Shuttle mission. It was used to initiate firing of the Shuttle’s Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). The technical name for this is the Confined Detonating Fuse (CDF) Manifold with Exploding Bridgewire (EBW).
The unit is 8 inches long and 1 ½ inches in diameter, with two 8-foot lengths of braided tubing. It is labeled with the following info:
CDF MANIFOLD
55340/10312-002-801
MFR: 17610/51077-151 MFR DATE MO 7 YR 97
LOT-SER-NO. ABA-2003165
17610 indicates the unit was made by Universal Propulsion Company. There are several other labels.
According to NASA documents, the Confined Detonating Fuse (CDF) Manifold is a critical component during both launch and recovery. For example:
“As the SRB freefalls to an altitude of approximately 16,000 feet, barometric switches send fire commands to the separation Pyrotechnic Initiator Controller (PIC) which initiates a NASA Standard Detonator (NSD). The output of the detonator is propagated through a Confined Detonating Fuse (CDF) manifold and three CDF assemblies to three pressure cartridges…(which) produce pressure against the thruster piston shearing the thruster shear flange and producing a 30,000-pound thrust over a six-inch stroke.”
The final image in this listing shows a block diagram of how the CDF Manifold is used. This image is for reference only and is not included with this item.
This unit is inert, obsolete, and non-functional, and is sold as a collectible item only. It came from the Estate of Charles Bell, a former NASA engineer and collector of space program hardware.
