Documents / Report

Department of the Air Force Report, 1996

U.S. Department of War · 1996-09-10 · 181 pages · text from the file's own layer

This final report, dated September 10, 1996, was prepared by the Research Triangle Institute for the Department of the Air Force's 45th and 30th Space Wing safety offices. Titled Modeling Unlikely Space-Booster Failures in Risk Calculations, it shows how rare Mode-5 failures, in which a rocket veers well off its intended flight line, are modeled in the DAMP risk-analysis program. An appendix lists Atlas, Delta, Titan and Thor launch and failure histories through August 1996.

From the source:Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: 9/10/96, N/A. This report describes the Modeling of Unlikely Space-Booster Failures in Risk Calculations, documenting historical launch failure modes and recommending corrective actions to address them using novel modelling techniques.

  • p. 5 …64 6.4 Shaping Constants for Titan IV................................................................................ 65 6.5 Shaping Constants for LLVl .................................................................................... 69…
  • p. 74 …6.4 Shaping Constants for Titan IV Mode-5 shaping constants for Titan IV were developed…
  • p. 77 …Shaping Constants for Titan IV TB (sec) Breakupqa (deg-lb/ft2) B A II 300 none…
  • p. 109 …Titan IIIC and later configurations to include IIIB, IIID, IIIE, 34B, 34D, III/CT, IV, II…
  • p. 155 …Titan II SLV was developed from refurbished Titan II ICBMs incorporating technology and hardware from the…
  • p. 156 …Summa of Titan Vehicle Confi rations Descri Titan II ICBM converted to a man-rated vehicle…
  • p. 159 …2 0 54 WS (first Titan II) 03/16/62 II (N-2) ER 0 55…
  • p. 160 …08/13/64 II (8-7) WR 0 104 SV (first Titan Ill) 09/01/64…
  • p. 166 D.4.2 Titan Failure Narratives The following narratives provide available details about each Titan failure…
  • p. 168 …Stage II engine shut down prematurely due to oxidizer bootstrap-line failure. 76. Titan I (Mares…
  • p. 169 …Titan II (Thread Needle), 20 June 63, Response Mode 5, Flight Phase 2: Flight appeared normal…
  • p. 170 …Titan II (Bold Guy), 21 Sep 65, Response Mode 4, Flight Phase 2: After a normal…
  • p. 172 …Following a successful Titan-II second-stage burn and after payload separation, the apogee- kick motor…
Atlas vehicles are fueled by a mixture of liquid oxygen and kerosene (RP-1). The latest
HAS configuration also incorporates Castor IVA solid-rocket motors. The early Atlas
core vehicle included a sustainer, verniers, and two booster engines, all ignited prior to
liftoff. In the Atlas II, IIA, and HAS vehicles, the vernier engines have been replaced by
a hydrazine roll-control system. Of the four Castor SRBs on the HAS, two are ground
lit and two are air lit some 60 seconds later. Atlas vehicles are now typically integrated
with the Centaur upper stage vehicle that is fueled with liquid oxygen and liquid
hydrogen. Earlier flights used an Agena upper stage.
The entire Atlas history through 1995 is depicted rather compactly in bar-graph form in
Figure 37. The solid-block portion of each bar indicates the number of launches during
the calendar year for which vehicle performance was entirely normal, in-so far as could
be determined. The clear white parts forming the tops of most bars show the number
of launches that were either failures or flights where the launch vehicle experienced
some sort of anomalous behavior. Every launch with an entry in the response mode
column in Table 41 falls in this category. Such behavior did not necessarily prevent the
attainment of some, or even all, mission objectives.
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Figure 37. Atlas Launch Summary
9/10/96 102 RTI

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Report, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 181 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.