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Anatomy of a CATO

  • deangelo54
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4 years 6 months ago - 4 years 6 months ago #9631 by deangelo54
Anatomy of a CATO was created by deangelo54
If you saw my Starburst CATO is looked like a lot of smoke and spinning rocket parts. At work I was able to play the attached mp4 file frame by frame several times which allowed me to see what happened. The engines were two Estes E12-4's.

It was not a conspiracy or a gunman on the grassy knoll.
Both engines fired.
The rocket lifted off.
The right engine blew through the top ejecting the chute.
The left engine continued to burn moving the rocket forward.
When the chute opened it caught air and interrupted the upward trajectory of the rocket.
The rocket was fighting the chute but the chute kept pulling it down.
When the left engine stopped burning, the rocket came down under chute.
In one of the later frames you can see me cringing.
Believe it or not there is no damage to the rocket.

Does anyone have software that can play the mp4 in slow motion?
If I remember correctly, several people had CATOs with E12 engines.
Last edit: 4 years 6 months ago by deangelo54.

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4 years 6 months ago #9632 by KennB
Replied by KennB on topic Anatomy of a CATO
Not all the CATO's were E12's. I know there was an A10 and maybe a D12. I try to remember to mark the launch card when there's an anomaly but haven't done it enough to make it rote. Also, I don't have the cards so I can't check.

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4 years 6 months ago - 4 years 6 months ago #9633 by DeltaVee
Replied by DeltaVee on topic Anatomy of a CATO
Windows media player can do frame-by-frame.... pause the video just before launch... then right click and select "video enhancements->play speed settings"

The A10 was mine...
Last edit: 4 years 6 months ago by DeltaVee.

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4 years 6 months ago #9634 by ClaudeMaina
Replied by ClaudeMaina on topic Anatomy of a CATO
There were two other CATO's on Sunday (according to the cards): a D12-3 (mine) and an A10-3T.

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4 years 6 months ago #9637 by deangelo54
Replied by deangelo54 on topic Anatomy of a CATO
I followed John's advice and it worked. I cleaned up the rocket and replaced the charred shock cord. Thanks to John for showing me the best way to setup a cluster.

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