Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site mmm.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!mmm!mrgofor
From: mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (Michael Ross)
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Subject: Re: Challenger SRBs
Message-ID: <436@mmm.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 30-Jan-86 17:04:42 EST
Article-I.D.: mmm.436
Posted: Thu Jan 30 17:04:42 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Feb-86 01:46:13 EST
References: <4270@mhuxd.UUCP>
Reply-To: mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (Michael Ross)
Organization: 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn.
Lines: 39

In article <4270@mhuxd.UUCP> wolit@mhuxd.UUCP (Jan Wolitzky) writes:
>The videotapes of the Challenger explosion showed the still-burning
>solid rocket boosters corkscrewing away from the fireball.  I've
>seen reports that at least one of them descended by parachute, which
>is the way they're normally recovered. 

	I understood that they fell into the ocean - I was not aware
that they even had parachutes.

>Yet today, NASA said that
>they were destroyed by the range safety officer because one of them
>was headed toward a populated area.  This should be fairly easy to
>confirm from eyewitness accounts.  Were both SRBs destroyed by command
>or just one? 

	Yes - I saw the footage on TV.
	
>What explanation is there for accounts of a parachute
>descending? 

	I saw footage of parachutes on TV - they were part of the rescue
and search efforts - not part of the SRBs. Perhaps this caused the
confusion.

>Was any telemetry received from the SRBs following the
>explosion?  (I believe they normally transmit at least a homing signal
>that aids in their recovery.)  Am I correct in my understanding that,
>under less catastrophic conditions, the SRBs are capable of
>independent guidance, at least to keep them clear of the orbiter
>after jettisoning following burnout or during an abort?

	I don't know, but I would doubt it. Why go to all the added expense
of a guidance system when it would never be used except in emergency - which
is already taken care of by the Air Force's self-destruct ordinance?
>-- 
>Jan Wolitzky, AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ; 201 582-2998; mhuxd!wolit
>(Affiliation given for identification purposes only)

  --MKR