Launch Sequence Research Articles

Accidental Nuclear War: A Risk Assessment

Recent developments in strategic weaponry have led to increasing fears that the danger of war by acci dent or inadvertence is growing. In particular, the deployments of 'fast-attack' systems with short flight times, combined with the growing complexity and automation of strategic warning and command and control systems, has given rise to the belief that during a major international crisis there would be insuf ficient time to distinguish false alarms from an actual warning of an enemy attack. An examination of a mathematical model of the warning and launch sequence that would follow from a strategic alarm sug gests strongly that there would be almost no time to make such a decision unless a 'launch-on-warning' strategic posture were adopted. There is evidence to suggest that in fact both superpowers believe they would be forced to adopt such a policy in the event of a serious crisis. Given a 'launch-on-warning' pos ture, an examination of available data on false alarms provided by NORAD leads to the conclusion that a false alarm sufficiently severe to trigger a strategic attack would occur about 50% of the time during a lengthy crisis. This finding highlights the urgent need for the superpowers to undertake co-operative measures to reduce the risk of war by accident, including the dismantling of short flight time systems and undertaking major improvements in their ability to communicate and to co-ordinate their actions in time of crisis.

Family Therapy with Adolescent Drug Abusers and Their Families: Defying Gravity and Achieving Escape Velocity

Adolescent drug abuse is a symptom of family system dysfunction. It reflects a defect in the normal family “launch sequence,” by which the adolescent is prepared for gradual disengagement and separation from the family of origin. Malfunctioning patterns of interaction characteristic of families of drug abusers are described, as is the central role played by impaired mourning and impacted grief. Family therapy is recommended as the treatment of choice in preparing the youthful drug abuser to resume the launch sequence and achieve successful separation and individuation from his or her family.

Development of On-Line, Real-Time, Scheduling Method for a Computer Aided Manufacturing System

This paper describes the development of an on-line, real-time, scheduling method for a computer aided manufacturing system and relates one application example in LSI wafer fabrication factory. Features of the scheduling method are: (1) it is a dynamic, work-in-process scheduler based on job shop simulation techniques and a priority function having weighted decision factors, (2) it can automatically generate the optimum launching sequence of jobs on a machine, as soon as the system situation changes, (3) it is a multi-purpose scheduler in that it uses an objective function which is a linear combination of several decision factors which suits the system environment by modifying the coefficients that define the relative importance, (4) the complexity of the job shop configuration does not affect the size of scheduling problem.

Attitude Dynamics of a "Nearly Spherical" Dual-Spin Satellite and Orbital Results for OSO-7

T take advantage of the increased capability of the Delta launch vehicle, major design changes were made in the latest dual-spin stabilized Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO7). Changes in observatory size and shape, and in the launch sequence, accentuated the effects (on spin axis coning) of certain mass properties and of motions of the nutation damper and solar-pointed instruments. These effects are described using digital computer simulations and force-balance and energy-sink calculations. The familiar energy-sink stability condition for dual-spin satellites is generalized to account for platform asymmetries. The excellent orbital performance of OSO-7 lends over-all support to the analyses.

The Early Bird Project

The Early Bird communications satellite is a commercial venture owned by a consortium of 52 countries. The system uses one spin stabilized synchronous satellite and five earth stations to provide a full-time microwave link between North America and Europe for 240 telephone circuits or for television. The 85-pound spacecraft was launched from Cape Kennedy on April 6, 1965, by NASA, using Thrust Augmented Delta Number 30. The launch sequence and subsequent maneuvers resulted in a circular synchronous orbit requiring no correction for seven months. The operational experience gained with this experimental/operational system has demonstrated satisfactory spacecraft performance characteristics and proven that synchronous communication satellites provide high quality links for telephone service.