Disarming and removing millions of active land mines scattered around the world is a public safety priority. Common disarming methods use detonation, which can unleash damaging shrapnel and increase environmental contamination. However, one company has created a flare device — using NASA’s surplus solid rocket fuel — to safely destroy mines by burning away their explosive contents without hazardous detonation.
The space shuttle's solid rocket boosters together contained approximately 2 million pounds of fuel at launch time, and they provided most of the shuttle's thrust for the two minutes they fired after launch and before separation. To provide a margin of error, NASA always has more rocket fuel on hand than it needs. One company entered into an agreement with the agency to use the leftover powerful fuel to disarm land mines.
Learn more about how NASA helped develop technology that impacts land mine removal within your city's public safety environment!