Since 1 October 1988 266 space launch missions were accomplished by the United States Eastern Range in 406 launch attempts making it one of the busiest space centers in the world. Collectively these launches represent approximately US$49B of launch services not including payload and on-orbit mission costs.
During this time the principal cause of launch delays has been adverse weather. Adverse weather resulted in launch delays in 116 cases (29% of all launch attempts). Weather delayed launches by at least one day in 72 cases (18% of all launch attempts). The combined cost of these weather delays is in excess of US$40M. There were no launch vehicle failures attributed to weather during this period validating the effectiveness of the launch weather services.
Virtually all weather delays were due to the limited capability of the launch vehicle. The leading cause of weather delays during this period were upper winds exceeding the design or performance capability of the launch vehicle. Significant variations in the sensitivity to winds aloft exists between the different types of launch vehicles with some large vehicles delayed by upper winds in almost 50% of all launch attempts.
The threat of lightning or triggered lightning delayed nearly as many launches as upper winds and constitute the second largest cause of launch delays during this period.
Pronounced seasonal and diurnal variations are found in the rate of launch delays due to adverse weather. Launch availability can be increased substantially by judicious scheduling of launch dates and times.
Reductions in weather launch delays are becoming increasingly important as launch rates increase and approach the technical capacity of the Eastern Range. Approximately half of the Eastern Range launch workload is due to subsequent launch attempts. Reducing weather launch delays may be a cost effective way to increase Eastern Range capacity.
The 8th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology