Weather Support To Range Safety For Forecasting Atmospheric Sonic Propagation

The Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron (45 WS) provides comprehensive operational meteorological services to the Eastern Range (ER) and the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). These services include weather support for pre-launch ground processing and day-of-launch operations by the Department of Defense (DOD), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and commercial customers. To ensure safety of KSC and ER personnel, as well as the off-base civilian population, the Safety Office of the Eastern Range must ingest weather data into various models, which, in turn, assess the risk to safety of each operation. One of these models is the Blast Overpressure Assessment Model (currently BLASTX), developed and put into operational use at the ER in 1981 to evaluate inadvertent detonation hazards as a function of meteorological conditions.

This paper describes the model, including a brief review of the theory incorporated within the model, and how it is used operationally on the Eastern Range. Weather data requirements of the model and the meteorological instrumentation network required to obtain that data are shown. Atmospheric effects on the model are discussed and sample model inputs/outputs are presented to illustrate these. Weather impacts to space launch operations, as a result of the BLASTX model application, are summarized.