Quote:
Originally posted by ktsnake
Anyone know what they're saying about the potential toxicity of the debris is true? Or is it just a lie to keep people from taking home souvenirs?
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It is true. The reaction control system and the Orbiting Maneuvering System pods which control the attitude of the orbiter use highly toxic, corrosive and hypergolic (burn on contact) fuels and oxidizers. The fuel is monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) and the oxidizer is nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4).
N204 is highly corrosive and toxic. When mixed with water, it turns into red-fuming nitric acid. MMH turns into a gas above 60 degrees Fahrenheit and is combustible. Whenever MMH and N2O4 are combined, they become hypergolic, or literally explode on contact with each other.
An accident at a Titan II ICBM complex (374-7, near Damascus, Arkansas) in 1980 was caused by a dropped socket wrench that struck the first stage fuel tank of a Titan II missile. While it did not immediately explode, as the fuel tank's contents emptied it's highly probable that the tank collapsed, causing the explosion. (Titan used Aerozine-50, which is similar to MMH, for its fuel).
The resulting explosion in the silo threw the 700-ton silo closure door several hundred yards away. The W-53 9-megaton thermonuclear warhead was recovered intact not far from the silo. Because of the many safety and security measures taken in the storage and arming of nuclear weapons, the warhead did not explode, nor were there any indications of radiation on the site.
Shortly after this accident, which killed one and injured many others, the 52 missile Titan II ICBM force was deactivated. The launchers have been converted into satellite boosters and the nuclear warheads placed in storage and apparently dismantled. The empty silos were blown up in place to comply with the START nuclear arms reduction treaty. Only one silo remains intact, this is 571-7 in Green Valley, Arizona, which is now the Titan Missile Museum Natonal Historic Landmark. In order for the site and missile not to be counted under START, the silor closure door has been permanently fixed to the half-open position and the missile in the silo (a ground training missile) has had holes opened in the fuel and oxidizer tanks and the reentry vehicle assembly. They were left out in the open for 90 days to allow for Russian spy satellites to verify that the missile was deactivated.