Disclaimer: I'm no missile tech expert. As far as I understand, these things have self-test routines and "dry-runs" which go through all the states in test mod

Disclaimer: I'm no missile tech expert. As far as I understand, these things have self-test routines and "dry-runs" which go through all the states in test mode and simulates a firing. With my limited knowledge, this validates all the electronic systems on the missile or what it is, sometimes creating synthetic data during the test, so the missile can "navigate on the bench" by "wiggling it fins like a dreaming puppy". Maybe this particular one passed that test, and something chemical failed along the way, I don't know.