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.
“Titan II”13 pages
7. Potentlal Future Investigations Because of contract limitations on funds and the deadline for publishing the report, certain interesting facets of the Mode-5 modeling process could not be fully investigated. Several such issues are listed below in considered order of importance: (1) Effects. on shaping constants A and B of using more precise breakup (qa.) conditions during malfunction-tum simulations. (2) Effects on shaping constants A and B (and thus overall risks) if different values of TB are used in computing theoretical and simulated impacts (e.g., TB corresponding to burnout of zero, first, and second stages). (3) Effects on shaping constants A and B if drag is accounted for in computing free- fall impact points after •a malfunction tum. (Shaping constants could be determined for maximum, minimum, and intermediate ballistic coefficients, then interpolated for other values. This more accurate approach would ultimately require extensive modifications to DAMP.) (4) Effects on shaping constants A and B if sectors smaller than 5° are used to compare theoretical and simulated impact data (e.g., 1° or 2°). (5) Effects on relative failure probabilities for solid-propellant vehicles if unclassified solid-propellant vehicles or declassified test results are used in the historical data samples (e.g., Pershing, Polaris, Poseidon, Trident). Other tasks that should be performed at some point in the future include: (a) Update absolute failure probabilities for Atlas, Delta, Titan, and perhaps other vehicles. (b) Develop suitable shaping constants A and B for new vehicles. (In this regard, see Section 6.6) 9/10/96 73 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.