Abstract
The natural terrestrial environment plays a significant role in the design and operation of aerospace vehicles (space vehicles and rockets) and in the associated integrity of aerospace systems and elements. Addressed herein are some of the key vehicle and environment areas of concern plus lessons learned that have been identified over a number of years. Many of these aerospace meteorology related events occurred during the development and interpretation of natural environment inputs, especially those of terrestrial environment, used in the design and development of the Saturn Apollo and Space Shuttle vehicles plus associated mission operations. Background is given regarding the actions needed to avoid having to re-learn these lessons.
Highlights
This paper is primarily based on and reflects the content of the recent revision conducted by the authors and their colleagues of the report “Terrestrial Environment (Climatic) Criteria Guidelines for Use in Aerospace Vehicle Development” (Johnson, 2008)
The terrestrial environment guidelines provided in the report are intended to be used in the development of specific terrestrial environment design requirements based on an aerospace vehicle’s mission requirements and on the program’s engineering design philosophy
This will ensure the good understanding of design requirements and timely opportunity to incorporate terrestrial environment inputs and interpretations, which are tailored to the desired operational objectives into the design process
Summary
This paper is primarily based on and reflects the content of the recent revision conducted by the authors and their colleagues of the report “Terrestrial Environment (Climatic) Criteria Guidelines for Use in Aerospace Vehicle Development” (Johnson, 2008). It is very important that those responsible for the terrestrial environment definitions for use in the design of an aerospace vehicle have a close working relationship with program management and design engineers This will ensure that the desired operational capabilities are reflected in the terrestrial environment requirements specified for design and development of the vehicle and, their interpretation relative to engineering applications. These categories include: (1) purpose and concept of the vehicle, (2) preliminary engineering design, (3) structural design, (4) control system design, (5) flight mechanics, orbital mechanics, and performance (trajectory shaping), (6) optimization of design limits regarding the various natural environmental factors, and (7) final assessment of the terrestrial environmental capability for launch and flight operations Another important matter that must be recognized is the necessity to have a coordinated and consistent set of terrestrial environment requirements to be used in a new aerospace vehicle’s design and development or modification. Launch Vehicle Systems (Sub-) Winds & Gusts Atmospheric Thermo-dynamics Atmospheric Constituents Solar / Thermal Radiation Atmospheric Electricity Clouds & Fog Humidity Precipitation or Hail Sea State Severe Weather Geologic Hazards Mission Phase
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