Back to the Future

[barrykirk]

But it was too sophisticated for parachutes.... It had wings!!!<br /><br />Sorry VT, couldn't resist that one.

 

[josh_simonson]

The CLV will have a fairly large upperstage between the SRB and the CEV, it should stop any debris from the SRB exploding and provide some buffer to any shock as well. <br /><br />SRBs explode like a firecracker, not dynamite, so their explosive force is limited by the SRBs ability to contain pressure. Any such SRB failure meant LOC for the shuttle, but with the escape tower the SRB could be engineered to explode safely by building it to rupture in a certain manner, or by monitoring the internal pressure and using that information to arm destruct charges that can pierce the SRB before the pressure is too high. Perhaps upgrades like this are why the SRBs are going to cost 3b to re-jigger for the CLV.