Contour accident report?

I just read the pdf version which has the real interesting stuff taken out
(Why for goodness sake?) and one gets the impression that once again, the
main problem was assumptions that results from using parts, namely the
solid, was deemed OK for this use also, and that nobody thought that loss of
comms in a critical part of the mission was going to be a problem.

I am a little confused though. The most probably cause was, I assume
overheating during the burn, probably due to the fact that the motor was
embedded too far into the craft making the plume close to antennas etc. Is
that right.

If so, how did it break up, or was it simply that it became unbalanced by
the damage and thus went unstable and broke up? There was passing comment
about fuel sloshing as well, and I guess this must occur as the hydrazine is
used up.

Looks to me like a bit of a mess and it should never have been allowed to
launch as it was.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
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Brian Gaff wrote:
I just read the pdf version which has the real interesting stuff taken out
(Why for goodness sake?)

ITAR/Technology transfer regulations.

Brett

Brian Gaff wrote:

[snip]

I am a little confused though. The most probably cause was, I assume
overheating during the burn, probably due to the fact that the motor was
embedded too far into the craft making the plume close to antennas etc. Is
that right.

Sounds right.

If so, how did it break up, or was it simply that it became unbalanced by
the damage and thus went unstable and broke up? There was passing comment
about fuel sloshing as well, and I guess this must occur as the hydrazine is
used up.

Your second choice: the excesive heating melted away one of the
components, creating a dynamic imbalance that caused g forces to grow
high enough to break apart the spacecraft.

Steve A.
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