In this case, the question was not one of where the debris would fall, because the rocket lost control and was pointing itself in seemingly random directions. At that point the range safety officer is highly likely to end the flight right then, as the rocket could send itself toward inhabited areas and cause real damage.

For this reason, range safety is a serious issue. Disasters can and have occurred, from the Nedelin catastrophe in 1960 to the Long March 3 that crashed into a village seconds after lift off in 1996.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_EnrVf9u8s (3 minutes)

There are reasons to terminate sooner rather than later and reasons to terminate later rather than sooner. Choosing correctly is why the range safety officer earns his space bucks.

The question arises as to what is the optimal altitude to end the flight of the missile and detonate it, taking into account the minimization of the dangers on the ground from impacting debris. This time some debris has hit near inhabited areas.

Thank you for the concise explanation of ‘dropping a hole’. I like drag racing, and Top Fuel V-8’s put out locomotive power. And yes, it’s a common occurrence at the bleeding edge of internal combustion, and a big reason drag racing is fun to watch. Will the car survive?

A failed engine is not a range safety issue. Going off course is. If the flight is terminated too soon then valuable data will not be collected, and some of that data may be able to help determine the problem or its cause. Until it becomes a safety issue, then there is no need to terminate there flight.

There have been cases in which a failed engine still resulted in a successful launch to orbit, although not necessarily the desired orbit. These cases usually are when the failure is late in the stage’s burn.

Joe wrote: “It is unfortunate but they will try again. I had a satellite onboard. Her name was Serenity and she was built for Teachers in Space.”

This is disappointing news. I have been waiting for two or three years to hear your report on the results of your satellite. I hope the next one makes it to orbit soon. That was a well chosen name.

“SpaceX Launch with a Monster Truck Announcer”
https://youtu.be/c5HJcAy7wDE
1:00

“The rocket, which launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base north of Los Angeles on Thursday, appeared to have a smooth liftoff as it soared out over the Pacific Ocean and approached supersonic speeds. But then, the rocket began to cartwheel, turning over itself, before US Space Force officials on the ground directed the company to destroy the rocket mid-air — called an emergency abort — so that it would not tumble uncontrolled back toward people or property. ”

I have to watch the video again to see if I can detect the tumbling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NisZvIs4SKk&t=304s

To get the thousands of horsepower (for a few seconds) you need to be competitive, massive amounts of fuel are injected … sometimes to the point of flooding the cylinder and suppressing ignition, if the crew chief has set up the car less than perfectly. Or, the dual-plug-per-cylinder/dual-magneto ignition system malfunctions and creates the same result. It is characterized by the replacement of the usual flame blasting from the cylinder’s exhaust header with white vapor.

One of the effects of this malfunction, ironically, is asymmetrical thrust from the headers of the V-8 engines used … dropping a hole has the effect of pushing the car towards the direction of the malfunctioning cylinder, which combined with the loss of power usually leads to the loss of the race as the driver frantically tries to keep the car from crossing into the other lane, or hitting the outer wall.

That is, when it doesn’t lead to a backfire that can literally blow the supercharger off the top of the engine.

Drag racing can be compared to two hunters being chased by a bear … to win, you don’t have to be able to outrun the bear – only the other hunter. A lot of upset wins in the nitro-fueled classes are the result of the favored car/driver undergoing malfunctions like this.

It’s not even 0800 (local) and I can already call it a day, having learnt my new thing.

You also have the issue of gravity loss. A lower thrust setting means more of the fuel is wasted countering gravity. I believe this is why Elon is cramming so many engines into Super Heavy, as well as increasing the thrust per engine at the expense of a little ISP

You run into the problem of moving that mass at a slower flight profile. A rocket needs to get to through the atmosphere as quickly as possible as aerodynamic drag is killer. Subsonic and transonic profiles generally suck for big rockets. Hence the ‘get off the pad fast’ method.

Get up, get out, and get going.

Interesting observation … the booster “dropped a hole”, as they say in drag racing when the ignition process fails in one cylinder and unburned fuel is blown out its exhaust header.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1433618654889865216

So, Serenity II is already under construction. It will be much improved over the last design.