tl;dr - it's a lithium, hydrogen, fluoride rocket.
Skip 31:00 (https://youtu.be/KX-0Xw6kkrc?t=1860) for a treatment on the bonkers environmental impact and safety things going on at SSFL. The equivalent wiki article section says uh... "Workers would dispose of barrels filled with radioactive sodium by dumping them in a pond and then shooting the barrels with rifles so that they would explode and release their contents into the air".
I worked at Rocketdyne in the late 2000's (not a rocket scientist, just a junior Unix tech). Even then the company was just a shell of its former glory. But there was a certain pride in the air and a ton of rich history all over the place. I loved when I had to go fix workstations at the Canoga Park facility and would get lost on purpose just to check it out. It was a pretty dreadful place to work overall, though.
Grew up in Simi Valley in the 90s. It was completely normalized that we would have frequent “earthquakes” that were actually rocket tests shaking stuff off the walls.
Once I was a teenager and that place was largely closed down, it was a good spot to drive up to and drink beer and look over the Valley.
Crazy history of what actually was happening there over the years.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 26.7 ms ] threadtl;dr - it's a lithium, hydrogen, fluoride rocket.
Skip 31:00 (https://youtu.be/KX-0Xw6kkrc?t=1860) for a treatment on the bonkers environmental impact and safety things going on at SSFL. The equivalent wiki article section says uh... "Workers would dispose of barrels filled with radioactive sodium by dumping them in a pond and then shooting the barrels with rifles so that they would explode and release their contents into the air".
Quick edit: yes they do https://www.wired.com/2014/06/the-cold-war-relics-three-phot...
Once I was a teenager and that place was largely closed down, it was a good spot to drive up to and drink beer and look over the Valley.
Crazy history of what actually was happening there over the years.