The Impact of Triboelectrification on the Ares I-X Launch and Considerations for Other Launch Vehicles

The scrub of the Ares I-X launch attempt on October 27, 2009 was very unusual. It was the first weather scrub due to the Triboelectrification rule in the Lightning Launch Commit Criteria at the Florida Spaceport in over a decade. The Triboelectrification rule is itself unusual in the lightning launch commit criteria since it is one of the few rules where the dangerous electric fields are not generated by the mixed phase of water at key temperatures. Triboelectrification is caused by the collision of the in-flight space launch vehicle with hydrometeors below a critical speed. The Ares I-X was one of the very few launches at the Florida Spaceport in many years that did not satisfy the conductivity or engineering analysis caveats within the Launch Commit Criteria Triboelectrification rule. This paper will cover the Ares I-X case, lessons learned during the weather support planning and execution of Ares I-X, and recommendations to new commercial vehicle agencies.