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. 88 …Vehicle loses control at or shortly after liftoff, with all flight directions equally likely. Destruct is…
  • p. 106 …121 (8) Missiles/Space Vehicle Files, 45th Space Wing, Wing Safety, Mission Flight Control and Analysis…
  • p. 111 …Such behavior did not necessarily prevent the attainment of some, or even all, mission objectives. 50…
  • p. 131 …Due to excess speed, spacecraft passed 22,000 miles in front of moon, and primary mission…
  • p. 132 …Although Atlas performance was satisfactory, the mission was apparently a failure. No other data available. 134…
  • p. 133 …A flight-control malfunction occurred at about 15 seconds at the start of the pitch program…
  • p. 137 …Vehicle became unstable when B2 pitch control was lost at 121 seconds. Loss of pitch control…
  • p. 138 …The missile then lost attitude control, executing a hard yaw rate tum throughout and beyond the…
  • p. 139 …of the rate gyro or an electrical failure in the pitch channel of the flight control…
  • p. 140 caused yaw and roll rates that the flight control system could not correct. As a result…
  • p. 151 …Attitude control lost during second stage coast period. Third stage spun up, but did not fire…
  • p. 153 …One solid-rocket motor carried to MECO, but mission was still a complete success. 102. SMS…
  • p. 169 …Missile tumbled out of control at 130 seconds, then broke up. 104. IHA (65-210), 1…
  • p. 170 …Nominal mission through transtage second burn shutdown. Attitude control system engine failed to shutdown following vernier…
  • p. 171 …However, satellite propulsion system malfunctioned putting satellite in uncontrollable position with no possibility of restoring mission…
  • p. 172 …control until propellant depletion. Trajectory inaccuracies were compensated for during Stage-2 burn, and the mission…
  • p. 180 …Missiles/Space Vehicle Files, 45th Space Wing, Wing Safety, Mission Flight Control and Analysis (SEO), 1957…
0.2.1 Atlas Launch History
The data in Table 41 summarize the flight performance of all Atlas and Atlas-boosted
space-vehicle launches since the program began in June 1957. A launch sequence
number is provided in the first column, a mission ID and launch date in columns 2
and 3. The vehicle configuration or Atlas booster number is given in the fourth
column, while the fifth column shows whether the launch took place from the Eastern
or Western Range. The last three columns in the table show, respectively, the response
mode assigned by RTI to any failure or anomalous behavior that occurred, the flight
phase in which it occurred, and whether the vehicle configuration is considered
representative for the purposes of predicting future Atlas reliability. Launches through
sequence number 532 were used in the filtering process to estimate failure rate.
Table 41. Atlas Launch History
No. Mission/ID
Launch
Date
Vehicle Test
ConfKJuration Ranae
4A ER
6A ER
Response
Mode
4T
4
Flight
Phase
1
1
Rep.
Cont.
0
0
1
2
Weaoons Svstem (WS)
ws 06/11/57
09/25/57
3 ws 12/17/57 12A ER 0
4 ws 01/10/58 10A ER 0
5 ws 02/07/58 13A ER 4 1 0
6 ws 02120/58 11A ER 4T 1 0
7 ws 04/05/58 15A ER 4 1 0
8
9
10
ws
ws
ws
06/03/58
07/19/58
08/02168
16A ER
38 ER
48 ER
4T 1
0
0
0
11
12
13
14
15
ws
ws
ws
ws
ws
08/28/58
09/14/58
09/18/58
11/17/58
11128/58
58 ER
88 ER
68 ER
98 ER
128 ER
4
4
4
4
2.5
2.5
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
16 SCORE 12/18/58 108 LV-3A/AGENA ER 0
17
18
19
20
21
22
ws
ws
ws
ws
ws
ws
12123/58
01/15/59
01/27/59
02/04/59
02/20/59
03/18/59
3C ER
138 ER
4C ER
118 ER
5C ER
7C ER
5
5
4
4
1
2
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
23 ws 04/14/59 3D ER 4 1 0
24
25
26
ws
ws
ws
05/18/59
06/06/59
07/21/59
70 ER
5D ER
SC ER
4
4
1
2
0
0
0
27 ws 07/28/59 11D ER 0
28 ws 08/11/59 14D ER 0
29
30
31
ws
MERCURY (test)
DESERT HEAT
08/24/59
09/09/59
09/09/59
11C ER
10D LV-38 ER
12D WR
4 2
0
0
0
9/10/96 103 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.