Documents / Report
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.
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D.3 Delta Launch and Performance History The Delta launch-vehicle family originated in 1959 with a NASA contract to Douglas Aircraft Company, now McDonnell Douglas Corporation. The Delta, using components form USAF's Thor IRBM program and USN's Vanguard launch-vehicle program, was operational 18 months later. On May 13, 1960, the first Delta was launched from Cape Canaveral with a 179-pound Echo-I passive communications satellite. In the intervening years, the Delta has evolved to meet the ever-increasing demands of its payloads - including weather, scientific, and communications satellites. Each Delta modification corresponded to an increase in payload capacity. Table 42 shows a summary of Delta configurations since the beginning of the program.1101 The Delta 7925, the latest vehicle in the series, is a three-stage liquid-propellant vehicle with nine solid-propellant strap-on booster motors. For propellants, the Delta uses RP- 1 and liquid oxygen in Stage 1, and nitrogen tetroxide and aerozine 50 in Stage 2. Stage 3 consists of a Payload Assist Module (PAM) with a solid-propellant motor. The strap-on boosters are Hercules graphite epoxy motors (GEMs) using HTPB-type solid propellant. At liftoff, the liquid-propellant Stage-1 engine and six of the nine GEMs are ignited. The remaining three GEMs are ignited some 65 seconds later. Table 42. Summary of Delta Vehicle Configurations Configuration Description Delta Stg. 1: Modified Thor. MB-3 Blk I engine Stg. 2: Vanguard AJl0-118 propulsion system Stg. 3: Vanguard X-248 motor A Stg. 1: Erurine replaced with MB-3 Blk II B Stg. 2: Tanks lengthened; higher energy oxidizer used C Stg. 3: Replaced with Scout X-258 motor PLF: Bulbous replaced low drag D Stg. 0: Added 3 Thor-developed SRMs (Castor I) E Stg. 0: Castor II replaced Castor I Stg. 1: MB-3 Blk III replaced Blk II Stg. 2: Propellant tank diameters increased Stg. 3: Replaced with USAF-developed FW-4 motor PLF: Fairing enlarged to 65-inch diameter J Stg. 3: TE-364-3 used L,M,N Stg. 1: Tanks lengthened, RP-1 tank diameter increased Stg. 3: Varied: FW-4 (L), TE-364-3 (M), none (N) M-6, N-6 Stg. 0: Six Castor IIs employed 900 Stg. 0: No Castor Ils employed Stg. 2: Replaced with Transtage AJ10-118F engine 1604 Stg. 0: Six Castor IIs employed Stg. 3: Replaced with TE-364-4 9/10/96 133 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.