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The unique environment of the Kennedy Space Center includes a wide variety of industrial processes culminating in launch and spaceflight. Many are potentially hazardous to the work force and the astronauts. Technology, planning, training, and quality control are utilized to prevent contingencies and expedite response should a contingency occur.
Maintenance practices have long focused on time based "preventive maintenance" techniques. Components were changed out and parts replaced based on how long they had been in place instead of what condition they were in. A reliability centered maintenance (RCM) program seeks to offer equal or greater reliability at decreased cost by insuring only applicable, effective maintenance is performed and by in large part replacing time based maintenance with condition based maintenance. A significant portion of this program involved introducing non-intrusive technologies, such as vibration analysis, oil analysis and I/R cameras, to an existing labor force and management team.
History has shown that failures occur in every engineering endeavor, and what we learn from those failures contributes to the knowledge base to safely complete future missions. The necessity of failure analysis is at its apex at the end of one aged program and at the beginning of a new and untested program. The information that we gain through failure analysis corrects the deficiencies in the current vehicle to make the next generation of vehicles more efficient and safe. The Failure Analysis and Materials Evaluation Branch in the Materials Science Division at the Kennedy Space Center performs metallurgical, mechanical, electrical, and non-metallic materials failure analyses and accident investigations on both flight hardware and ground support equipment for the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, Constellation, and Launch Services Programs. This paper will explore a variety of failure case studies at the Kennedy Space Center and the lessons learned that can be applied in future programs.
This is a report on the status of the polygeneration feasibility study conducted by the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Polygeneration is an innovative approach to reducing cost per flight for the Shuttle by reducing propellant and other costs. Cost of LH2 is expected to be adversely affected by sharp increases in natural gas pricing as well as other costs such as electricity and transportation. The polygeneration concept is to produce liquid hydrogen (LH2) for the Shuttle and gaseous nitrogen (GN2), electricity and thermal energy to meet KSC requirements by means of an integrated coal gasification plant. Conclusions of the initial feasibility study will be presented as well as the status of on-going activities.
This paper examines the meteorological environment in which cloud-to-ground lightning occurs at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) region during summer. Using the lightning patterns of central Florida, flashes from individual thunderstorms were analyzed for five low-level wind regimes during three summers. The results showed large differences between the number, timing, and location of flashes for varying flow regimes, with southwest flow being the most prolific producer of flashes in the KSC area. In the second part of the study, short-term forecasts of lightning were investigated using the divergence measured by the KSC surface wind network. An interval of about 1 hour was found from the beginning of a convergence event to first lightning. Monitoring 5-min surface convergence, in combination with understanding the climatology of lightning related to the daily flow regime, made it possible to isolate the lightning. Results were used successfully in operations at KSC.
This paper develops and validates an easily implemented model for simulating random horizontal wind profiles over the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The model is intended for use in Monte Carlo launch vehicle simulations of the type employed in mission planning, where the large number of profiles needed for statistical fidelity of such simulation experiments makes the use of actual wind measurements impractical. The model is based on measurements made at KSC and represents vertical correlations by a decaying exponential model which is parameterized via least-squares parameter optimization against the sample data. The validity of the model is evaluated by comparing two Monte Carlo simulations of an asymmetric, heavy-lift launch vehicle. In the first simulation, the measured wind profiles are used, while in the second, the wind profiles are generated using the stochastic model. The simulations indicate that the use of either the measured or simulated wind field results in similar launch vehicle performance.
This document reviews some current applications of Electronic Verification and the benefits such applications are providing the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). It also previews some new technologies, including statistics regarding performance and possible utilization of the technology.
A new comprehensive lightning instrumentation system has been designed for Launch Complex 39B (LC39B) at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This new instrumentation system includes six synchronized high-speed video cameras, current sensors installed on the nine downcouductors of the new lightning protection system (LPS) for LC39B; four dH/dt, 3-axis measurement stations; and five dE/dt stations composed of two antennas each. The LPS received 8 direct lightning strikes (a total of 19 strokes) from March 31 through December 31, 2011. The measured peak currents and locations are compared to those reported by the CGLSS 11 and the NLDN. Results of comparison are presented and analyzed in this paper.
A Lightning Protection System (LPS) was designed and built at Launch Complex 39B (LC39B), at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida in 2009. This LPS was instrumented with comprehensive meteorological and lightning data acquisition systems that were deployed from late 2010 until mid 2011. The first direct strikes to the LPS were recorded in March of 2011, when a limited number of sensors had been activated. The lightning instrumentation system detected a total of 70 nearby strokes and 19 direct strokes to the LPS, 2 of the 19 direct strokes to the LPS had two simultaneous ground attachment points (in both instances one channel terminated on the LPS and the other on the nearby ground). Additionally, there are more unaccounted nearby strokes seen on video records for which limited data was acquired either due to the distance of the stroke or the settings of the data acquisition system. Instrumentation deployment chronological milestones, a summary of lightning strikes (direct and nearby), high speed video frames, downconductor currents, and dH/dt and dE/dt typical waveforms for direct and nearby strokes are presented.
A new Lightning Protection System (LPS) was designed and built at Launch Complex 39B (LC39B), at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, which consists of a catenary wire system (at a height of about 181 meters above ground level) supported by three insulators installed atop three towers in a triangular configuration. Nine downconductors (each about 250 meters long) are connected to the catenary wire system. Each downconductor is connected to a 7.62-meter-radius circular counterpoise conductor with six equally spaced, 6-meter-long vertical grounding rods. Grounding requirements at LC39B call for all underground and aboveground metallic piping, enclosures, raceways, and cable trays, within 7.62 meters of the counterpoise, to be bonded to the counterpoise, which results in a complex interconnected grounding system, given the many metallic piping, raceways, and cable trays that run in multiple directions around LC39B. The complexity of this grounding system makes the fall-of-potential method, which uses multiple metallic rods or stakes, unsuitable for measuring the grounding impedances of the downconductors. To calculate the grounding impedance of the downconductors, an Earth Ground Clamp (EGC) (a stakeless device for measuring grounding impedance) and an Alternative Transient Program (ATP) model of the LPS are used. The EGC is used to measure the loop impedance plus the grounding impedance of each downconductor, and the ATP model is used to calculate the loop impedance of each downconductor circuit. The grounding resistance of the downconductors is then calculated by subtracting the ATP calculated loop impedances from the EGC measurements.
A new comprehensive lightning instrumentation system has been designed for Launch Complex 39B (LC39B) at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This new instrumentation system includes seven synchronized high-speed video cameras, current sensors installed on the nine downconductors of the new lightning protection system (LPS) for LC39B; four dH/dt, 3-axis measurement stations; and five dE/dt stations composed of two antennas each. The LPS received 8 direct lightning strikes (a total of 19 strokes) from March 31 through December 31 2011. The measured peak currents and locations are compared to those reported by the Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Surveillance System (CGLSS II) and the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN). Results of comparison are presented and analyzed in this paper.
From May 2011 through July 2013, the lightning instrumentation at Launch Complex 39B (LC39B) at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, has obtained high-speed video records and field change waveforms (dE/dt and three-axis dH/dt) for 54 negative polarity return strokes whose strike termination locations and times are known with accuracy of the order of 10 m or less and 1 μs, respectively. A total of 18 strokes terminated directly to the LC39B lighting protection system (LPS), which contains three 181 m towers in a triangular configuration, an overhead catenary wire system on insulating masts, and nine down conductors. An additional 9 strokes terminated on the 106 m lightning protection mast of Launch Complex 39A (LC39A), which is located about 2.7 km southeast of LC39B. The remaining 27 return strokes struck either on the ground or attached to low-elevation grounded objects within about 500 m of the LC39B LPS. Leader/return stroke sequences were imaged at 3200 frames/sec by a network of six Phantom V310 high-speed video cameras. Each of the three towers on LC39B had two high-speed cameras installed at the 147 m level with overlapping fields of view of the center of the pad. The locations of the strike points of 54 return strokes have been compared to time-correlated reports of the Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Surveillance System (CGLSS) and the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN), and the results of this comparison will be presented and discussed.
This paper presents the process used by the Marshall Space Flight Center Natural Environments Branch (EV44) to quality control (QC) data from the Kennedy Space Center's 50-MHz Doppler Radar Wind Profiler for use in vehicle wind loads and steering commands. The database has been built to mitigate limitations of using the currently archived databases from weather balloons. The DRWP database contains wind measurements from approximately 2.7-18.6 km altitude at roughly five minute intervals for the August 1997 to December 2009 period of record, and the extensive QC process was designed to remove spurious data from various forms of atmospheric and non-atmospheric artifacts. The QC process is largely based on DRWP literature, but two new algorithms have been developed to remove data contaminated by convection and excessive first guess propagations from the Median Filter First Guess Algorithm. In addition to describing the automated and manual QC process in detail, this paper describes the extent of the data retained. Roughly 58% of all possible wind observations exist in the database, with approximately 100 times as many complete profile sets existing relative to the EV44 balloon databases. This increased sample of near-continuous wind profile measurements may help increase launch availability by reducing the uncertainty of wind changes during launch countdown
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Kennedy Space Center (KSC), has adopted high-resolution site characterization (HRSC) sampling techniques during baseline sampling prior to implementation of remedies to confirm and refine the conceptual site model (CSM). HRSC sampling was performed at Contractors Road Heavy Equipment Area (CRHE) prior to bioremediation implementation to verify the extent of the trichloroethene (TCE) dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) source area (defined as the area with TCE concentrations above 1% solubility) and its daughter product dissolved plume that had been identified during previous HRSC events. The results of HRSC pre-bioremediation implementation sampling suggested that the TCE source area was larger than originally identified during initial site characterization activities, leading to a design refinement to improve electron donor distribution and increase the likelihood of achieving remedial objectives. Approach/Activities: HRSC was conducted from 2009 through 2014 to delineate the vertical and horizontal extent of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) in the groundwater. Approximately 2,340 samples were collected from 363 locations using direct push technology (DPT) groundwater sampling techniques. Samples were collected from up to 14 depth intervals at each location using a 4-foot sampling screen. This HRSC approach identified a narrow (approx. 5 to 30 feet wide), approximately 3,000 square foot TCE DNAPL source area (maximum detected TCE concentration of 160,000 micrograms per liter [micro-g/L] at DPT sampling location DPT0225). Prior to implementation of a bioremediation interim measure, HRSC baseline sampling was conducted using DPT groundwater sampling techniques. Concentrations of TCE were an order of magnitude lower than previous reported (12,000 micro-g/L maximum at DPT sampling location DPT0225) at locations sampled adjacent to previous sampling locations. To further evaluate the variability in concentrations observed additional sampling was conducted in 2016. The results identified higher concentrations than originally detected within the previously defined source area and the presence of source zone concentrations upgradient of the previously defined source area (maximum concentration observed 570,000 micro-g/L). The HRSC baseline sampling data allowed for a revision of the bioremediation design prior to implementation. Bioremediation was implemented within the eastern portion of the source area in November and December 2016 and quarterly performance monitoring was completed in March and June 2017. Reductions in CVOC concentrations from baseline were observed at all performance monitoring wells in the treatment area, and by June 2017, an approximate 95% CVOC mass reduction was observed based on monitoring well sampling results. Results/Lessons Learned: The results of this project suggest that, due to the complexity of DNAPL source zones, HRSC during pre-implementation baseline sampling in the TCE source zone was an essential strategy for verifying the treatment area and depth prior to remedy implementation. If the upgradient source zone mass was not identified prior to bioremediation implementation, the mass would have served as a long-term source for the dissolved plume.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Remediation Program implemented a groundwater interim measure between September 2014 and February 2015, to remediate a trichloroethene (TCE) groundwater source area at the Wilson Corners site. The groundwater plume is associated with the release of chlorinated solvents (specifically TCE) from historic precision cleaning and laboratory operations. A summary of the groundwater interim measure using soil mixing with steam and zero valent iron (also referred to as large diameter auger [LDA]) was presented at the 2015 Florida Remediation Conference. The objective of this presentation is to provide performance monitoring results.
This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-KS4 Kennedy Space Center (Spartina marsh). Site Description - Salt marsh dominated by Spartina bakeri
Welding plays a major role in the design, manufacture, and construction of the ground support equipment at the Kennedy Space Center. Three applications of welding are described, i.e., an example of the structural welding of a girder in a mobile launcher (presently designated mobile launcher platform), an example of the repair welding of crawler/transporter shoes, and an example of the welding of the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen storage spheres and vacuum jacketed piping in the propellants system. This welding technology was developed during the Apollo and earlier programs. It is now being applied to the Space Shuttle.
A compilation was put together of research work performed on the aquatic systems around Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The report includes a brief description of the study area, field data and analytical results of all the samples collected during the five visits to KSC up to December 17, 1977. The aquatic area selected for the study is the Southern part of Mosquito Lagoon which extends from the Haulover Canal to the dead end boundary of this lagoon southwards.