Missile Systems Center Research Articles

Advancements in Mission Assurance Standards for Expendable and Reusable Launch Vehicles

The U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center’s Launch Enterprise and The Aerospace Corporation (Launch Enterprise/Aerospace) continue to advance the systems engineering, mission assurance, and acquisition processes for National Security Space Launch (NSSL) services. The Launch Enterprise/Aerospace team has proactively evolved the mission assurance process to embrace new capabilities such as reusable launch vehicles and additive manufacturing. The mission assurance process also evolved to incorporate new technologies, increase flexibility, reduce cost, and incorporate lessons learned for application to expendable launch vehicles and reusable launch systems. This paper provides a top-level summary on 1) the advancements made to the mission assurance process, 2) the development of new technical standards, 3) the tailoring of standards, and 4) the adoption of standards to address lessons learned. Furthermore, the application of these advances to the NSSL acquisition of launch services is also discussed because it is a key U.S. Space Force objective to launch every National Security Space satellite with high reliability and low risk to achieve full operational capability.

Addressing Space Cell and Battery Safety Design through Standardized Qualification Tests: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics S-144-2018

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautic's (AIAA) S-144-2018 "Qualification and Acceptance Tests for Commoditized Space Battery Cells" is a new, voluntary consensus standard that provides a minimum set of performance and prescriptive requirements, available as an international standard, to all launch vehicle, spacecraft, or space satellite customers of commoditized battery cells. The qualification protocol, created over a two-year period through review by subject matter experts, is intended for “Class “A’” space missions, but may be tailored to adjust for class “B”, “C”, or “D” missions.” Historically, space cells have been specially-engineered components. No cell from one manufacturer could be used as a drop-in replacement for another manufacturer’s cell in any battery unit. To make batteries modular and scalable, being prescriptive in standardizing the outside dimensions of a cell is essential to commoditize the product, much like what has been successfully accomplished in the US terrestrial cell industry through the U.S. Department of Commerce with “AAA”, “AA”, “C”, or “D”-sized cells. To this end, AIAA S-144-2018 standardizes 18650, 21700, 26650, and 5781173 cell sizes for space missions. To aid in standardizing both safety and technology transition from research to commoditization, the standard sets a minimum set of space cell-level qualification and acceptance tests that are mapped to freely-available requirements set by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command Range Safety, the Aerospace Corporation, NASA, NASA Range Safety, the International Standards Organization (ISO), and the United Nations. The space cell formats described by the specification are chosen because they are commodities in the industry – each size is offered by two or more cell manufacturers. The exterior dimensions set by this specification have heritage, history, and on-orbit experience. This standard allows flexibility for manufacturers to use any proprietary materials within the cell case to increase long-life specific energy, while maintaining a drop-in cell replacement approach to battery assembly. Nine benefits are realized by moving the space cell from a specially-engineered device to the status of a commodity through this approach. Patterned after other successful commoditization programs, the standard: Provides drop-in alternatives from multiple manufacturers, reducing program office costs and schedule delaysMakes batteries modular and scalable, minimizing customer costs by reducing the need for changes in mission-specific battery design, assembly, documentation, and requalificationStandardizes a minimum set of qualification and acceptance tests that will satisfy all international safety requirementsCreates standardized reports and reporting formats, improving customer awareness of alternatives for new missionsRequires manufacturer transparency to resolve any issues that affect parts, materials, and processes, or form, fit, and functionEncourages dual-source parts to reduce sole-source, single-source, and foreign-source risksEstablishes standardized cells in the market, stimulating an economy of scale for these productsPreserves trade secretsEnables quick, new technology transitions into the space market This document originated in 2016 as a voluntary consensus standard written by Brad Reed, AIAA Associate Fellow, responding to issues in the space battery cell industry raised by commercial and government programs as a result of a Defense Logistics Agency study. This standard does not supersede or cancel any existing specifications, is not solely intended for government adoption in a standards program, and was developed to be compliant with contractual and technical requirements found in international standards. The AIAA Li-ion Space Cell Commoditization Committee on Standards was assembled in September 2016 and is comprised of over 70 space battery subject matter experts from over 40 international organizations. This committee is chaired by Brad Reed, was pre-approved by the AIAA, and includes government participation compliant to White House OMB Circular A-119, Section 6, “Policy for Federal Participation.” The initial implementation of the standard has been funded by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center through a $2.9M grant to prove out the testing methods and procedures. Even before document publication, research and development projects were applied for and funded using the new testing protocol. This paper will detail the standardized test methodologies, the systems and personnel safety reasons behind each test, progress of the new implementation project, the current usage of the new standard, and projected new work.

Orbital Debris Assessment Testing in the AEDC Range G

The space environment presents many hazards for satellites and spacecraft. One of the major hazards is hypervelocity impacts from uncontrolled man-made space debris. Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the United States Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), the University of Florida, and the Aerospace Corporation configured a large ballistic range to perform a series of hypervelocity destructive impact tests in order to better understand the effects of space collisions. The test utilized AEDC's Range G light gas launcher, which is capable of firing projectiles up to 7km/sec. A nonfunctional full-scale representation of a modern satellite called the DebriSat was destroyed in the enclosed range environment. Several modifications to the range facility were made to ensure quality data was obtained from the impact events. The facility modifcations were intended to provide a high-impact energy-to-target-mass ratio (>200J/g), a nondamaging method of debris collection, and an instrumentation suite capable of providing information on the physics of the entire impact event.

Time-resolved Spectroscopy of Plasma Flash from Hypervelocity Impact on Debrisat

Time-resolved spectroscopic measurements were made on the intense plasma flash that accompanied a hypervelocity impact on “DebriSat” conducted in April 2014 at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) in Tennessee. The DebriSat project was a unique hypervelocity event aimed at simulating an on-orbit destructive collision of a modern satellite with a hypervelocity projectile in a single strike. Collaborators on the project included NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), US Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), The Aerospace Corporation, The University of Florida, and AEDC. The primary hypervelocity test object, DebriSat, was a 56kg structure representative of a modern LEO spacecraft, assembled at University of Florida following design guidance provided by Aerospace's Concept Design Center. It comprised a hexagonal body with an arrangement of seven compartmentalized bays. The main panels and the structural ribs between the bays were constructed from Al 5052 honeycomb and carbon fiber composite face sheets. Each bay had a set of structures with components intended to represent those used in a modern satellite design. The AEDC projectile was a 570g nylon-aluminum cylinder travelling at 6.8km/s. An analysis of the first several frames of the DebriSat flash shows that the rate of radial expansion of the plume decreased from 4750 m/s at t = 0 to 2250 m/s at t = 156μs. Time-resolved spectral measurements were conducted on the plasma flash with multiple frames acquired with a 10μs gating interval. Numerous emission lines were observed and were consistent with the materials of structural components located in the specific bay of DebriSat that was impacted. A background was observed in all the spectral frames and could be fitted to a blackbody temperature of ∼ 2900K. A detailed description of the plasma flash and its spectroscopic investigation is presented.

Operational Space Environment Network Display (OpSEND)

The Air Force Research Laboratory and Space and Missile Systems Center, Detachment 11, have implemented a new system of graphical products that provide easy‐to‐visualize displays of space weather effects on various radio systems operating through the ionosphere. By means of a three‐level Web page, the user can select the radio system (UHF, HF, GPS, or radar), the map area (global or regional theater where the radio system is located), the time (nowcast or forecast), and additional options. This system, the Operational Space Environment Network Display (OpSEND), was first installed at the 55th Space Weather Squadron, Schriever Air Force Base (AFB), Colorado, and is now producing its first four products with a new Web format at the Air Force Weather Agency, Offutt AFB, Nebraska. Radar auroral clutter maps specify (nowcast) the estimated position and strength of the auroral oval relative to radar coverage regions. UHF Satcom scintillation maps nowcast and 2‐hour forecast ionospheric scintillation and its potential degradation to UHF Satcom communication links. HF illumination maps nowcast and 1‐hour forecast HF communication performance. Estimated GPS single‐frequency error maps nowcast and 1‐hour forecast positioning errors resulting from GPS constellation geometry and inaccurate ionospheric correction. Details and examples are presented.

In Brief

Eugene L. Tattini will become the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s deputy director in August, succeeding Larry N. Dumas, who will be retiring after nine years in that position. Tattini, who joined JPL this month to spend several weeks in orientation before taking his new post, was commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base. He retired from the Air Force after nearly 36 years of service. Orlando Figueroa became the acting director of NASA’s Mars exploration program, Office of Space Science, at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC, this past May. Formerly the deputy chief engineer for systems engineering at NASA headquarters, Figueroa replaced G. Scott Hubbard, who is now the deputy center director for research at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California.At a ceremony in May in Canberra, the Australian Academy of Sciences awarded Bruce Hobbs the Jaeger Medal for “investigations of a high order into the solid earth or oceans of Australia,” according to the citation. Hobbs is deputy chief executive of the minerals and energy research sector of CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, in Perth, Australia. Last month, the Ho-Am Foundation, located in South Korea, presented awards to winners in five categories at a ceremony in Seoul. Of those winners, two are doing physics-related work. Edward C. Lim, Goodyear Professor of Chemistry at the University of Akron, received the 2001 Ho-Am Prize for Science in recognition of “his distinguished contribution to and pioneering research in laser spectroscopy and photophysics of organic molecules, which resulted in his discovery of the proximity effect governing the rate of electronic relaxation in photoexcited organics,” according to the foundation. Dong Nyung Lee, a professor of materials science and engineering at Seoul National University, won the 2001 Ho-Am Prize for Engineering, which acknowledged “his distinguished contribution to the field of metallic materials and his discovery of the strain energy release maximization theory explaining the transformation of fabrication textures into recrystallization textures.” Each honoree received a diploma, gold medal, and 100 million won (about $77‥000). Fusion researcher and plasma diagnostics specialist Kenneth Young received the US Department of Energy’s Distinguished Associate Award in April at a dinner in Princeton, New Jersey. The occasion was his retirement that same month as head of international collaborations at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The DOE citation acknowledged, in part, that his “dedicated efforts have had a major impact on the diagnostics systems that bind theory and experiment together in advancing fusion.” Young had joined the lab in 1974.© 2001 American Institute of Physics.

MIL-PRF-1540, A Performance Specification for Design and Product Verification of Space Hardware

Acquisition reform has caused the cancellation or conversion of many military specifications and standards. One of the standards targeted for conversion by Air Force Material Command (AFMC) was MIL-STD-1540. The standard provides details for the testing of launch, upper stage, and space vehicles. AFMC requested that MIL-STD-1540C be converted from a standard to an alternative form of documentation. To answer this request, The Aerospace Corporation and Space and Missile Systems Center used an innovative approach to develop a document that retained the value of the original standard. The new document is MIL-PRF-1540 (a Military Performance Specification). MIL-PRF-1540 is intended for use in the Request For Proposal (RFP) instructions for new procurements of space hardware. The value of MIL-STD-1540C was retained by incorporating it into the already existing MIL-HDBK-340. The revised handbook, MIL-HDBK-340A, is referenced by MIL-PRF-1540 as guidelines only.

CRITICAL PROCESS ASSESSMENT TOOL (CPAT) FOR ACQUISITION REFORM IN DOD

AbstractAcquisition reform within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has induced a wide variety of innovative engineering methodologies on the part of Air Force agencies such as the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) in El Segundo, CA to minimize government risk. One of these methodologies is a set of Critical Process Assessment Tools (CPATs) being developed to support project officers and project engineers: (1) in preparing Requests for Proposals (RFPs), (2) for subsequent source selection or factfinding, and (3) to participate in or review contract execution after contract award. CPATs are applicable to processes that, because of risk, are considered to be critical to execution of the involved contract. The Systems Engineering CPAT (SE‐CPAT) is the overriding element in the set since it is most likely to be critical to the success of a contract when new military or other system functional requirements are to be levied or requirements allocations and/or design must be changed for some reason. Furthermore, the SE‐CPAT serves as the integrator of other multidisciplinary engineering CPATs acting under the Integrated Product Development environment. The SE‐CPAT described in this paper, and available on the Internet, identifies a menu of objectives and other inputs to a RFP, factors and standards for source selection, and key questions for conducting technical evaluations and factfinding, and post‐contract award reviews. Throughout the paper selected SE‐CPAT excerpts are provided.

3.1.3 NEW CONCEPTS OF SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AT THE AEROSPACE CORPORATION AND THE SPACE AND MISSILE SYSTEMS CENTER (SMC)

AbstractThe Aerospace Corporation sponsors in‐house research to enhance and extend the corporation's core competencies. The objective of one Aerospace Sponsored Research (ASR) was to develop new concepts for systems engineering, consistent with Integrated Weapon System Management (IWSM)/ Integrated Product Development (IPD) environments, by addressing methodology, guidance and training, and computer‐aided tools. The ASR had five primary objectives including defining an Systems engineering/ Configuration Management (SE/CM) methodology, developing guidance and training, investigating computer‐aided SE/CM tools, maintaining Aerospace role introducing SE/CM concepts to the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), and ensuring cross‐information flow of lessons learned between SMC System Program Offices (SPOs) and external customers. Significant accomplishments were made toward satisfying each of the stated objectives, especially achieving the opening of an operational SMC IPD Center.