88th Annual Meeting (20-24 January 2008)

Tuesday, 22 January 2008: 4:00 PM
Triggered lightning risk assessment for RLVs at three commercial sites in California, New Mexico and Oklahoma
226-227 (Ernest N. Morial Convention Center)
R. L. Walterscheid, The Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles, CA; and E. P. Krider, J. C. Willett, G. W. Law, G. S. Peng, J. L. Roeder, R. W. Seibold, F. S. Simmons, and K. Shelton-Mur
Poster PDF (243.2 kB)
We will review the findings of a completed study, sponsored by the Office of Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration, that assessed the risks from triggered lightning during suborbital launches and landings of five concept reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) from the proposed Southwest Regional Spaceport (now known as Spaceport America) in New Mexico and the Oklahoma Spaceport in Burns Flat, Oklahoma. The risk of triggered lightning was studied for five conceptual RLVs originating and/or landing at these proposed spaceports. Three areas were addressed: (1) observed frequencies of cloud-to-ground lightning at the proposed spaceports, including estimates of violation frequencies of the existing lightning flight commit criteria (LFCC), (2) estimates of the ambient fields required for triggering by each of the concept vehicles, including consideration of methods for estimating the probability of encountering these field magnitudes from the measured radar returns of thunderstorm anvil clouds, and (3) review of the current LFCC to determine if these criteria are relevant to each suborbital RLV concept. We also examined the local geographical effects pertaining to each spaceport to determine whether additional LLCC are necessary to conduct safe launch operations in that location. We are now in the process of refining and expanding our knowledge about the characteristics of electrified clouds and lightning in the above areas, and also include the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. We will also investigate the hazards to a vehicle's safety critical systems, and will discuss the impact of new findings on the current Lightning Flight Commit Criteria.

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