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That “dent” is so big, that I sort of expect that when that SRB is finally brought back to KSC, the whole SRB will be “bent” a few degrees (like a very very shallow “V”. Maybe say around 5 degrees.
This is because that seems to have happened as a result of hitting the ocean way too fast due to landing with only one chute at 100% (one chute totally failed, and that bad chute then screwed up a second chute to some degree).
I hope NASA does not drag their feet in releasing the onboard recording of the SRB video camera that was looking up. The live video transmissions were choppy and apparently were not received live at the time of chute deploy. But, the SRB has onboard recorders for the data, including the video. Also, that same video should show what happened at separation, as that live video also cut out.
There won't be any such back-up save of whatever the dummy upper stage camera (looking down) saw at sep, because there was nothing on board of it to save video data, so the only footage from that camera is what was successfully received live. Now, I have read someplace that possibly the video drop-out was not from air to ground but a drop-out somewhere between the receiving station and NASA’s video feed, which if true may mean all of the video was recorded on the ground, just did not make it down the chain live. Hope so, but I do not put a lot of faith into that.
Finally, I would expect there are photos, and probably video, taken by the SRB recovery ship, and maybe aircraft, showing the chute deployment problems. I know from reports that people on the ship saw the chute problems and it would be nuts if there were not cameras on that ship (and/or aircraft) to document what happened.
But I expect that stuff to dribble out later, and not with any fanfare. While there will not be any way to “dribble” what the SRB looks like when it is brought in by the retrieval ship. That SRB MIGHT be so bad off that they may have trouble using the rigs that pick up and transport the intact SRB from the water, along land, to where the SRB is disassembled and cleaned up. The buckle may be so bad that the SRB would buckle further if it was lifted intact, at least when supported in the normal manner.
- George Gassaway
This is because that seems to have happened as a result of hitting the ocean way too fast due to landing with only one chute at 100% (one chute totally failed, and that bad chute then screwed up a second chute to some degree).
I hope NASA does not drag their feet in releasing the onboard recording of the SRB video camera that was looking up. The live video transmissions were choppy and apparently were not received live at the time of chute deploy. But, the SRB has onboard recorders for the data, including the video. Also, that same video should show what happened at separation, as that live video also cut out.
There won't be any such back-up save of whatever the dummy upper stage camera (looking down) saw at sep, because there was nothing on board of it to save video data, so the only footage from that camera is what was successfully received live. Now, I have read someplace that possibly the video drop-out was not from air to ground but a drop-out somewhere between the receiving station and NASA’s video feed, which if true may mean all of the video was recorded on the ground, just did not make it down the chain live. Hope so, but I do not put a lot of faith into that.
Finally, I would expect there are photos, and probably video, taken by the SRB recovery ship, and maybe aircraft, showing the chute deployment problems. I know from reports that people on the ship saw the chute problems and it would be nuts if there were not cameras on that ship (and/or aircraft) to document what happened.
But I expect that stuff to dribble out later, and not with any fanfare. While there will not be any way to “dribble” what the SRB looks like when it is brought in by the retrieval ship. That SRB MIGHT be so bad off that they may have trouble using the rigs that pick up and transport the intact SRB from the water, along land, to where the SRB is disassembled and cleaned up. The buckle may be so bad that the SRB would buckle further if it was lifted intact, at least when supported in the normal manner.
- George Gassaway
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