The operational improvements include new lightning warning circles to decrease over-warning for new space launch customers. In addition, the Lightning Launch Commit Criteria have received some upgrades.
New infrastructure has been installed such as new console deigns and locations. The former allows support to two simultaneous launch operations, which will be important to be able to support the increasing space launch schedule over the next few years. Likewise, increased staff is in-progress to support the increased operational tempo. In addition, a new large video wall has been installed to increase situational awareness and facilitate briefings.
Operational research has been conducted to improve 45 WS capabilities, such as showing that the lightning warning stand-off distances may be reducible from 5 nmi to 4 nmi for an up to 36% increase in operational opportunity while maintaining safety. Another project showed that the rocket triggered lightning threat varies by over a factor of ten between large solid fueled rockets and small liquid fueled rockets. This could eventually lead to adaptive Lightning Launch Commit Criteria (LLCC) that could eventually increase launch opportunity significantly while maintaining launch safety. The 45 WS developed probabilistic contingency tables, which were shown to be a better method to verify probabilistic forecasts than the traditional contingency tables.
Finally, the organizational structure of 45 WS was recently refined to better match how its operational support has evolved over recent years. This allows faster smoother operational support.
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