Powerful High Performance Rocket Explosion and Impact (Aerobing)

July 16, 2023
With high performance solid rocket motors, the likelihood of catastrophic failure increases as the pressures and stresses edge closer to their ultimate limits. The high heat of the desert summer makes these margins ever lower as both propellant and resins soften, and focus wanes. With appropriate safety installations like FAR bunkers, a motor cato may be best placed just after it leaves the launch structure behind, so that it does minimal damage and before it flies too far away to be a fire hazard.
Luckily, with this particular test of one of Aerobing's extremely powerful GFRP encased APCP motors, we got to see a spectacular view of the rocket it all of it's glory. This was one of many tests in which the Aerobing team have been developing high performance rocket motors for a spaceshot attempt, and this "Q" impulse motor packs a great deal of energy inside. In the field of experimental rocketry, the best things to see are a good launch, or a good explosion, and capturing this event in 4K may have been the highlight of my rocket videography so far.
With good footage, we are also able to identify important moments for failure analysis. Using the "," and "." buttons, the eagle eyed viewer may be able to follow along with the rocket in the milliseconds between launch and explosion. Some interesting features include the shifting coloration between the partially translucent fiberglass case and the motor grain, and the tiny object or puff midway in the case in the frame before the initial explosion further up the case. Without an opaque metal motor case, we can actually see the motor grain inside the motor case.

[@KegRocket]

Amazing sights and sounds!

[@benjaminklein8697]

Damm, I hope this rocket wasnt too expensive and you can locate the point of failure soon. To me it looked like an engien anomalie, maybe something came into the engiens throught. Thanks for posting it

[@wertytop1070]

I think the casing could have been poorly designed or there was a leak past the forward closure

[@omarflores3150]

@@wertytop1070 Yeah, pretty they glued 2 tubes to make a casing using epoxy and not like with O-rings and bolts, just expoxied, which is what failed and what has failed for them

[@nathanteig7108]

@@omarflores3150the tube is not what failed.

[@omarflores3150]

@@nathanteig7108 Ah, I must be mistaken with another flight, then what failed this time around if you don't mind I ask?