Using the Prognostic Health Management Program on the Air Force Next Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle

Abstract

The Air Force is planning to replace the EELV with a reusable booster, promising a 50% cost savings per launch. However, such claims were made by the Air Force for the EELV program that did not occur, and the EELV is being considered for cancellation as a result. To convince skeptics of the promises for the NGRLV, the NGRLV will need to have sources of proven practices and technologies that resulted in real reduced life cycle cost. This data is available from the Air Force’s F-35 JSF program that was achieved from adding intelligence into their avionics equipment. The technologies used on the Air Force’s F-35 offers the NGRLV further reduction in launch cost by leveraging the integrated vehicle health management (IVHM) program that results in lower life cycle cost in addition to the savings from using a reusable booster. The cost of the ground support needed for a NGRLV may be similar to the ground support for a fighter aircraft and so the NGRLV can leverage the latest proven practices and technology from the Air Force F-35 JSF to market the cost savings to the NGRLV skeptics. The lower NGRLV vehicle operating and maintenance cost result from adding intelligence and decision making into the NGRLV equipment using a prognostic and health management program, while simultaneously increasing NGRLV reliability and availability and decreasing risk of a catastrophic failure. This is achieved by stopping the premature failure of on-board equipment. An IVHM program requires the onboard equipment to have embedded predictive algorithms that continuously measure equipment remaining usable life automatically. Equipment usable life can also be measured manually using spacecraft equipment analog telemetry and predictive algorithms to demodulate the equipment telemetry behavior. A factory ATP identifies the spacecraft equipment that fails performance testing for repair or replacement before launch. A prognostic analysis measures equipment usable life and the results will identify the equipment that has passed performance testing but will fail prematurely with certainty. An IVHM allows the NGRLV to be lighter and offer reliability and availability that surpasses all previous space vehicles. Using an IVHM on the NGRLV will allow the NGRLV to automatically notify ground support personnel prior to landing which equipment needs to be repaired or replaced allowing a faster turn-around and this paradigm provides the reliability and availability of on-board equipment that eludes today’s expendable launch vehicles. This paper will define the IVHM program for the NGRLV and will include the changes necessary to the design of the NGRLV that will further refine the operational and rapid turnaround procedures and the autonomous operations proven on the F-35 JSF further decreasing the NGRLV life-cycle cost. This paper will identify the practices and technology that offers the necessary reduction in operational and maintenance costs for the NGRLV making Air Force space missions cheaper, safe and reliable.