Fondu Fyre, sometimes called Fondue Fyre, is a
refractory concrete developed for specialist application. Fondu Fyre is a heat and erosion resistant concrete developed during the
Apollo space program. It was developed to withstand the
supersonic
Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
plume of a rocket engine during launch and hot-fire tests .
Allied Mineral Products based in
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
holds th
registered trademarkon the name Fondu Fyre.
Uses
The concrete is used in 2 different mixtures called WA-1 and XB-1. The XB-1 is used as a more fire and erosion resistant layer for covering WA-1 in areas which are directly exposed to the exhaust flame of a rocket engine.
The concrete is used on the launch pads of the Kennedy Space Center on the flame deflectors.
Damage
Fondue Fyre was used to repair the damage done on May 31, 2008 to launchpad 39A during the launch of the
Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' on mission
STS-124
STS-124 was a Space Shuttle mission, flown by Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' to the International Space Station. ''Discovery'' launched on 31 May 2008 at 17:02 EDT, moved from an earlier scheduled launch date of 25 May 2008, and landed safely at t ...
.
After subsequent launch of
Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' for mission
STS-125
STS-125, or HST-SM4 (Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4), was the fifth and final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the last solo flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''.
The launch of ...
on May 11, 2009 a 25 square metre section of the Fondue Fyre on pad 39A was found to have been damaged by exhaust from the Solid Rocket Booster.
References
{{Reflist
Design handbook for protection of launch complexes from solid propellant exhaust - march 1966 - NASA -Dead LinkRefractory Materials for Flame Deflector Protection System Corrosion Control: Similar Industries and/or Launch Facilities Survey - January 2009 - NASA
External links
* http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts124/080626paddamage/
* http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=31220
Concrete
Thermal protection