wmartin@ALMSA-1.ARPA (Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI) (03/12/86)
One point I have not seen answered in the net and TV publicity on the SRB seal failure: Was there any reason that the seal failed at the particular point it did, creating the jet of high-temperature gasses that had the subsequent effect of melting or weakening the attachment hardware? Or was this simple bad luck? If the seal was going to fail anyway, could it have just as readily failed at some other point in the joint's circumference, maybe jetting out into the air instead of back toward the external tank? If it had failed in the latter fashion, I get the impression that the flight could perhaps have continued successfully -- the only ill effect would have been a minor loss of thrust from the defective SRB, which probably could have been compensated for with normal procedures. Is this the case? Or is there something about the configuration of the SRB segment seal that made it likely or inevitable that, if a seal failure would occur, it would happen at the point it did, thus having the disastrous effects we saw? Will Martin ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin
dietz@SLB-DOLL.CSNET (Paul Dietz) (03/12/86)
>Was there any reason that the seal failed at the particular point it >did, creating the jet of high-temperature gasses that had the subsequent >effect of melting or weakening the attachment hardware? Or was this >simple bad luck? If the seal was going to fail anyway, could it have >just as readily failed at some other point in the joint's circumference, >maybe jetting out into the air instead of back toward the external tank? The flame quickly spread around the joint. At the time of the explosion flame was coming out along an arc of ~ 315 degrees. It's amazing the steel retaining pins in the SRB joint held.
wmartin@ALMSA-1.ARPA (Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI) (03/14/86)
Thanks to all who responded, including those I can't mail back to direct! I've gathered that the cause of the leak location was a combination of the hot gassess, once they reached the O-ring, following its channel around the cicumference of the SRB, thus creating a wide-spread leak, plus the chilling effect being greater at certain locations. Regards, Will