CONTOUR accident report?

Allen Thomson wrote:

Anybody know when it's going to come out, or has it already?

No, the CONTOUR Mission Investigation Team results still have not been
released. Maybe this is another instance of NASA sitting on a failure
review report (i.e., X-43A redux) until a "propitious moment." At any
rate, one would think that some people, especially potential proposers
for the next Discovery AO cycle, would more than a little interested in
the results. Indeed, there was some speculation immediately after the
CONTOUR loss that a replacement mission be proposed in the future.

--


Alex R. Blackwell
University of Hawaii

"Alex R. Blackwell" wrote

No, the CONTOUR Mission Investigation Team results still have not been
released. Maybe this is another instance of NASA sitting on a failure
review report (i.e., X-43A redux) until a "propitious moment."

My speculation is that the results depend on data coming from one
or more Secret Government Satellites(*) and there's some trouble
figuring out how to release the results without compromising
the source(s).

At any rate, one would think that some people, especially potential
proposers for the next Discovery AO cycle, would more than a little
interested in the results.

Yes, this is the interesting part -- there may be projects that have
a need to know, but aren't cleared to know.

(*) Probably not DSP, as it's not all that secret. More likely the
"Heritage" staring IR arrays hosted on TRUMPET Sigint satellites in
Molniya orbit, COBRA BRASS, or possible pre-CB sensors on NOSS 2A
objects.