Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site gymble.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!bellcore!decvax!decwrl!amdcad!lll-crg!gymble!dday From: dday@gymble.UUCP (Dennis Doubleday) Newsgroups: net.columbia Subject: Re: Challenger Destruct Message-ID: <484@gymble.UUCP> Date: Sun, 2-Feb-86 14:23:09 EST Article-I.D.: gymble.484 Posted: Sun Feb 2 14:23:09 1986 Date-Received: Tue, 4-Feb-86 03:21:25 EST References: <540@ihlpl.UUCP> <8500015@uiucdcs> <1951@peora.UUCP> Reply-To: dday@gymble.UUCP (Dennis Doubleday) Organization: U of Maryland, Laboratory for Parallel Computation, C.P., MD Lines: 40 In article <1951@peora.UUCP> jer@peora.UUCP writes: >> If one had the theory that one of the solid rockets flawed and burned >> a hole in the liquid main tank, you would have seen a torch of flames >> coming from the of one or the other solid rockets. The views >> of them as they continued to burn and move on, only showed flames from >> the tail, where the flames should have been. > >But, this isn't true! In two separate frames, bright flames are visible >appearing briefly around the body of the main fuel tank, near the forward >point where the SRBs attach to the main tank. They appear to come from >the far side of the tank, the side where the SRB that wasn't visible was >attached. It would also seem possible that a lot of the vapor visible at >the bottom of the fuel tank was actually coming from the far side of the >tank, since it is difficult to find any point of origin for the vapors on >the visible surface of the tank. > >It was also the far SRB which followed the most anomalous trajectory; it >appeared to have been rotated out of its axis of flight, until it was >struck by the air moving by it, which righted it again. By comparison, >the near SRB remains visible in several frames, moving forward in a less >disturbed trajectory; eventually it simply begins to roll out of its >original path. This man appears to have hit the nail on the head. Film released by NASA last night which shows the craft from the opposite side clearly shows an anomalous plume of flame spewing from the side of the right SRB, beginning about 58 seconds into the flight and growing larger and larger until the moment of explosion. The plume of flame looks in the film like a blow torch pointed right at the liquid hydrogen tank. NASA is still being cautious, but this looks like it must be the primary cause of the explosion. Speculation about the cause of the anomalous plume centers around a possible uneven burn of the solid fuel at one of the joints. -- UUCP: seismo!umcp-cs!dday Dennis Doubleday CSNet: dday@umcp-cs University of Maryland ARPA: dday@gymble.umd.edu College Park, MD 20742 Fan of: Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bears, OU Sooners (301) 454-6154