BLACK ROCK DESERT, Gerlach, Nevada USA — A small weld at the base of an oxidizer tank failed to hold last week as a group from Jefferson Ga. attempted to launch a rocket with a hybrid motor in the Black Rock desert of Nevada.

Hybrid Dynamics project suffers setback. (Click for larger photo)

When Hybrid Dynamics Aerospace Corporation attempted to launch the 25’ rocket, the weld, which had been done on-site to fix a small fracture, failed under the pressure at ignition. That caused a section joint to come apart, tossing the top part of the rocket up off the launch rail and onto the ground. With no oxidizer, the hybrid rocket motor stopped firing, a fact that the rocket builders said points out the safety of hybrid motor systems. Had a similar situation happened with a solid fuel motor, there would have been no way to shut it down.

Although HDAC leaders said it would have been possible to reassemble the rocket on site, the firm decided to bring the rocket back to its Jefferson workshop to do that and to make some other modifications to the design. “We learned a lot from this,” said Aloise McNicholes, president and owner of HDAC.

Drew Prentice, vice president of research and development, said every aspect of the rocket’s design would be evaluated in light of the problem and that another launch would be scheduled early in 2000. HDAC plans to develop the hybrid motor system as the basis for a sounding rocket program.

Copyright ©1999 The Jackson Herald