Posted: Thu, Feb 13, 2003, 7:38 AM ET (1238 GMT)
A design flaw in the placement of a rocket motor caused NASA's Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft to break up in space last August, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. NASA chief engineer Theron Bradley, who led the investigation into the loss of the robotic spacecraft, told the AP that a solid rocket motor used to boost the spacecraft out of Earth orbit has been placed too far into the body of the spacecraft. As a result, hot gases heated the probe and caused it to break apart near the end of the August 15 engine burn. Contact with CONTOUR was lost at the end of the burn, but telescopic observations later showed that the spacecraft had broken into several pieces. Investigators had previously speculated that a flaw in the casing of the solid motor could have caused an explosion. CONTOUR was launched in July on a Delta 2 and initially placed in a low Earth parking orbit; the engine burn would have put the spacecraft on a trajectory that would have allowed it to visit up to three comets. The AP article did not indicate when the investigation board would release its official report on the CONTOUR accident.

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•  AP article