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…
Launch Vehicle Test Response Flight Rep.
No. Mission/lo Date Confiauration Ranae Mode Phase Cont.
n NATO-A 03/20/70 DSV-3L ER 0
78 INTELSAT 111-G 04/22/70 DSV-3L ER NA 1&5 0
79 INTELSAT 111-H 07/23/70 DSV-3L ER 0
80 IDCSP/A·B 08/19/70 DSV-3L ER 0
81 ITOS-A • 12/11/70 DSV-3L WR 0
82 NAT0-8 02/03/71 DSV-3L ER 0
83 IMP-I 03/13/71 DSV-3L ER 0
84 ISIS-B 04/01/71 OSV-3E WR 0
85 OS0-H 09/29/71 DSV-3L ER NA 2&5 0
86 I TOS-8 10/21/71 DSV-3L WR 4 2 0
87 HEOS-A2 01/31/72 DSV-3L WR 0
88 TO-1 03/11/72 DSV-3L WR 0
89 EATS-A 07/23/72 900 WR 0
90 IMP-H 09/22/72 1604 ER 0
91 ITOS-O 10/15/72 300 WR 0
92 TELESAT-A 11/10/72 1914 ER 0
93 NIMBUS-E 12/10/72 900 WR 0
94 TELESAT-8 04/20/73 1914 ER 0
95 RAE-B 06/10/73 1913 ER 0
96 ITOS-E 07/16/73 300 WR 4T 2 0
97 IMP-J 10/26/73 1604 ER 0
98 I TOS-F 11/06/73 300 WR 0
99 AE-C 12/16/73 1900 WR 0
100 SKYNETIIA 01/19/74 2313 ER NA 4&5 0
101 WESTAR-A 04/13/74 2914 ER NA 1 1
102 SMS-A 05/17/74 2914 ER NA 1&5 1
103 WESTAR-B 10/10/74 2914 ER 1
104 ITOs-G 11/15/74 2310 WR 0
105 SKYNET-11B 11/22/74 2313 ER 0
106 SYMPHONIE-A 12/18/74 2914 ER 1
107 ERTS-B 01/22/75 2910 WR 1
108 SMS-8 02/06/75 2914 ER 1
109 GEOS-C 04/09/75 1410 WR 0
110 TELESAT-C 05/07/75 2914 ER 1
111 NIMBUs-F 06/12/75 2910 WR 1
112 OS0-1 06/21/75 1910 ER 0
113 COS-B 08/08/75 2913 WR 1
114 SYMPHONIE~B 08/26/75 2914 ER 1
115 AE-D 10/06175 2910 WR 1
116 GOES-A 10/16/75 2914 ER 1
117 AE-E 11/19/75 2910 ER 1
118 RCA-SATCOM-A 12/12/75 3914 ER 1
119 CTS 01/17/76 2914 ER 1
120 MARISAT-A 02/19/76 2914 ER 1
121 RCA-SATCOM-8 03/26/76 3914 ER 1
122 NATO-IIIA 04/22/76 2914 ER 1
9/10/96 138 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.