Is the exhaust of the SRBs toxic?

What are the main components of the exhaust gasses?

What are the signs and symptoms of exposure to this exhaust?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


For those unfortunate enough to follow thw progress of Wiggy762's headaches, this is the next area of concern as I used to live a few miles away from the hardstand test facility used by Morton Thiokol. This site is in the Utah desert between I-80 and Dugway Proving grounds.

I was witness to several (more than 10) static tests of the SRB in the mid 1980's and rode through episodes of fogging following these tests. My father, who was there with me, has also had severe headaches and has had brain surgery in an attempt to alleviate the pain....to no avail.

Thanks in advance.

Also, this report may have relevant information for you. It's a PDF, 150+ pages. Shuttle emission info on page 27. That's the page in the text, not the 27th page of the document. You'll see what I mean.

[url]http://ax.losangeles.af.mil/axf/studies/docs/soilvedsmdso.pdf[/url]

Flipping through the rest of the stuff that Google turned up, it looks as if the guy you really need to talk to is Henry Spencer in the Zoology department at the University of Toronto. He keeps popping up all over the place with a lot of detailed chemistry on this subject. Good luck.

Thanks a bunch, fellow Jayhawker! Is the Mass. St. Deli still as good as ever?

You know it, brother. Although, I tend to haunt Free State Brewery more than anyplace in Larry. Good luck with your ailment. I hope you can get some relief soon, whatever the cause.

Dzl-Benz,

I got a great email reply from the professor you found. He seems to think that exposure to the exhaust is a really bad thing. Guess I;ll need to start finding if any others are affected and see what happens.

Thanks for your help.