boatgeek
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- Dec 27, 2014
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At the weekend launch I was just at, there were 4 CATOs on 38mm Cesaroni motors. Three of them (all within about 3 hours) were 2G H225s, and one (the next day) was a 3G I, I believe either the I175 or I345. Two of the H's took out L1 cert rockets, and the I finished the job on one that had been rebuilt overnight. One of the H's and the I will get MESS reports. All three H's had date codes within a month of 9/1/15. I don't know about the I.
On all four motors, the rocket got about 10 feet off the pad when the nose cone blew off and a wide flame came out the top of the rocket. The motors were not ejected. The recovered motors had a ~1" diameter hole where the delay grain used to be. No touch hole for the ejection charge or anything. It looked like the entire assembly was burned out at the diameter of the glue ring that holds the delay grain in. Initial looks said that there was a little more burning on one side, so maybe the burn-through started there. The forward o-ring was intact and undamaged.
That said, people in our group flew 38mm 2G red and blue with no issues, and I flew a 5G pink with no motor issues. I'll get pictures of the damage as soon as I can.
On all four motors, the rocket got about 10 feet off the pad when the nose cone blew off and a wide flame came out the top of the rocket. The motors were not ejected. The recovered motors had a ~1" diameter hole where the delay grain used to be. No touch hole for the ejection charge or anything. It looked like the entire assembly was burned out at the diameter of the glue ring that holds the delay grain in. Initial looks said that there was a little more burning on one side, so maybe the burn-through started there. The forward o-ring was intact and undamaged.
That said, people in our group flew 38mm 2G red and blue with no issues, and I flew a 5G pink with no motor issues. I'll get pictures of the damage as soon as I can.