NASA’s Solid Rocket Booster Refurbishment Facility Dragonfly Wastewater Treatment System - Case Study

A key feature of the Space Shuttle Program was its ability to be, for the most part, reusable. The Shuttle itself returned to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) after every mission and it was then processed in its unique special hangar in the Orbiter Processing Facility. Two very important and large components of the system were the Solid Rocket Boosters. These boosters, at almost 120 ft in length, provided the power necessary to give the Shuttle the initial push to get off the launch pad and escape earth’s gravity and, together with the Shuttle’s main engines, comprised the propulsion system for the Shuttle system. Once the Boosters had done their job, in a little more than 2 minutes, they were jettisoned and with the help of giant parachutes were returned to the ocean. Then the boosters were picked up and returned to their specialized facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. Here the boosters were cleaned, disassembled, and shipped back to Utah for reprocessing and use again in future missions.