Space launch vehicles use day-of-launch steering commands based upon the upper-level (UL) atmospheric environments in order to alleviate wind induced structural loading and optimize ascent trajectory. Historically, UL wind measurements to support launch operations at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Kennedy Space Center (KSC), co-located on the United States Air Force's Eastern Range (ER) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station use high-resolution (HR) rawinsondes. One inherent limitation with rawinsondes is the approximately one-hour sampling time necessary to measure tropospheric winds. Additionally, rawinsonde drift during ascent due to the ambient wind environment can result in the balloon being hundreds of kilometers down range, which results in questioning whether the measured winds represent the wind environment the vehicle will experience during ascent. This paper will describe the use of balloon profile databases to statistically assess the drift distance away from the ER launch complexes during HR rawinsonde ascent as a function of season. Will also discuss an alternative method to measure UL wind environments in closer proximity to the vehicle trajectory when launching from the ER.


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    Title :

    Analysis of Rawinsonde Spatial Separation for Space Launch Vehicle Applications at the Eastern Range


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    American Meteorological Society - Aviation, Range and Aerospace Meteorology Conference ; 2017 ; Seattle, WA, United States


    Publication date :

    2017-01-22


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English