I've been wondering what ever happened to the existing inventory of SRB segments after Challenger, especially those loaded with propellant. Were they taken back to Utah and burned off? Or was the propellent extracted in some way? Was it possible to re-machine the existing casings for the new field joint design? Maybe there's a thread about this somewhere.
Thanks as always.
The casings could be reused because multiple casings make up a segment. The casings joints within a segment could be protected allowing the only the ones on the ends only to require to be new casings having the new capture feature.
the propellant was removed and burned.
I found this from the AP in 1987:
https://apnews.com/article/27ffadba339e45ff1ec674e0daa30a9e″Further, Morton Thiokol will perform, at no profit, approximately $409 million worth of work required to fix the faulty joints, rework existing hardware to include the design fix and to replace the reusable motor hardware lost in the Challenger accident.″Kind of consistent with what Jim said. I would think casing that were in progress of being made could be reworked with the new joint, but any SRB that is already made & loaded with prop would not be re-workable.