Goddard

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Goddards Launch and Test Range
Capabilities, Customers, Initiatives, and
Technologies Jay Pittman Chief, Range and Mission
Management Office
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Launch Range and Test Range Overview

• Background and History
• Range Mission and Capabilities
• Fixed
• Mobile
• Carriers and Customers
• Sub-Orbital
• Orbital
• Current Initiatives and Upgrades
• Range Technologies and the Range of the Future

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An Assertion The Range is a System
Goddards Launch and Test Range is a system like
many others. It is, like most systems, comprised
of personnel, basic infrastructure, and technical
components which work together to achieve a
common purpose.to provide Operational and RD
access to space for NASA and the nation.
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Location
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Local Range Components

• Wallops Main Base
• Administrative Technical Offices
• Tracking Data Acquisition (TM)
• Range Control Center
• Ordnance Storage/Processing
• RD, Processing Facilities
• Research Airport with Radar
• Navy Admin Tech offices
• Wallops Island
• Launch Sites
• Blockhouses
• Radar
• Vehicle/Payload Processing
• Dynamic Spin Balance
• Navy Operational Facilities
• Wallops Mainland

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Main Base
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Wallops Island
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• History
• Established in 1945
• Test Site under Langley Research Center until
  1958
• WFF was an independent NASA field center until
  1981
• Consolidated as part of NASA/Goddard in 1981
• Over 15,000 launches conducted on Goddards Range

Early aerodynamic model testing
Little Joe, Mercury ejection system testing
Drone research
Scout Expendable Launch Vehicles
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Goddard Space Flight Center Sub-orbital and
Special Orbital Projects Directorate
SUBORBITAL AND SPECIAL ORBITAL PROJECTS
DIRECTORATE Director John Campbell Deputy
Director - Craig Purdy 800
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT OFFICE Chief Judy
Vucovich 801
POLICY AND BUSINESS RELATIONS OFFICE Chief -
Bruce Underwood 802
SAFETY OFFICE Chief Lester McGonigal 803
INTL SPACE STATION RESEARCH PROGRAM
OFFICE Chief Betsy Park 804
SOUNDING ROCKETS PROGRAM OFFICE Chief Phil
Eberspeaker 810
SHUTTLE SMALL P/L PROJECTS OFFICE Chief - Gerry
Daelemans 870
BALLOON PROGRAM OFFICE Chief - Steve Smith 820
AIRCRAFT OFFICE Chief George Postelll 830
RANGE MISSION MGMT. OFFICE Chief Jay
Pittman 840
UNIVERSITY CLASS PROJECTS OFFICE Chief - David
Pierce 850
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Range Partner Organizations
Naval Air Warfare Center (Patuxent River)
Navy/Surface Combat Systems Center
Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority
U. S. Coast Guard
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Mission and Capabilities
The Mission of the Launch and Test Range is to
provide fast, flexible, safe, and successful
delivery of our customers vehicles and
instruments to their target flight regime.

• People
• Airspace
• Research Airports
• Fixed Assets
• Mobile Systems

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People

• Range Project Managers
• Operations Staff
• Safety, Discipline Engineers and Technologists
• Infrastructure and Facilities Management
• Financial Management
• Customers

Successful missions and projects on the GSFC
Range are the result of the combined efforts of
Codes 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 800,
operations/engineering contractors, and internal
(600 and 900) and external customer organizations.
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Range Controlled Airspace and Trajectories
Typical WFF Orbits
Coordination and communications with controlling
entities such as NORAD, VACAPES, FAA, and others.
WFF Controlled Airspace
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Launch and Test Range Research Airport

• 4 Runways
• 04/22 8750 x 150
• 10/28 8000 x 200
• 17/35 4820 x 150
• new 750 x 30 (island UAV)
• Provides operational support for NASA and
  reimbursable launch and aircraft programs
• Provides site and services for aircraft, UAV, and
  airport research
• Research Examples
• Runway friction
• Water ingestion
• Terminal area traffic control
• GPS landing tests
• Acoustical studies
• Wake vortex studies
• Aviation safety research
• Aircraft testing pilot training
• UAV operations/demonstration
• Immediate access to restricted airspace

UAVs
Water Ingestion Testing
NASA ER-2
Wake Vortex Studies
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Launch and Test Range (Fixed Assets)

• Facilities
• Sub-orbital orbital launchers
• Range Control Center
• Payload Processing facilities
• Blockhouses
• Hazardous storage
• Instrumentation
• Telemetry
• Radar
• UHF transmitters range safety systems
• Photo and Film/video tracking
• Communications
• Weather

WFF Range Control Center
FPQ-6 Radar
Hazardous Processing Facility
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Launch and Test Range (Fixed Assets)

• Range integrates launcher, tracking, control,
  airport, air- and sea-space, and all other
  systems for launch support
• Launch Range mission types
• Suborbital rockets balloons
• Orbital Vehicles ELVs ( RLVs)
• Launch vehicle development tests
• Drop models
• DoD targets and missiles
• NASA/DoD/Commercial UAVs
• Support to NASA, DoD, commercial customers
• Ability to support extended duration missions
  (e.g., thunderstorm research)
• Quick response capability

Vandal
Conestoga
Pegasus
Firebird
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Launch and Test Range (Mobile Assets)

• Complete ability to provide independent mission
  support at remote sites
• Supports requirements not possible from existing
  launch sites
• Typical missions
• Sounding rocket science campaigns
• Downrange support for WFF ELV missions
• Mobile ELV and X-vehicle missions
• Recent Campaigns
• Kodiak Alaska, Australia, Brazil, Puerto Rico,
  Greenland, Kwajalein, Canary Islands
• Upcoming Campaigns
• Peru (Code S), Kodiak Alaska (MDA)

Kodiak Star Mission
Mobile Range Control Center
Mobile Range
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Carriers and Customers

• Goddard Science Carriers
• Sounding Rocket Program
• Balloon Program
• Airborne Science Program
• Observational Sciences
• Other NASA Science / Research
• Sub-Orbital
• Orbital
• Aircraft / UAV research
• Department of Defense
• Other Agencies
• FAA
• Missile Defense Agency
• NOAA
• Commercial Organizations
• Outreach

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Sounding Rocket Program

• Typical mission types
• Space Earth Sciences
• Micro-gravity
• Technology and instrument demonstrations
• Reimbursable missions
• 20-30 missions/year
• Features
• Quick response missions
• Numerous launch vehicle configurations
• Surplus military rockets used to save
• Apogee altitudes gt1500 km
• Flight times gt20 minutes
• Spacecraft weights gt1300 lbs.
• Recovery/reuse of flight hardware
• End-to end capabilities (design, fabrication.
  integration, testing, launch operations)

Black Brant XII
Typical Spacecraft
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Balloon Program

• Typical mission types
• Space Earth Science
• Reimbursable/cooperative
• 20-30 missions/year
• Features
• Balloon volumes up to 40 million cubic ft.
• Suspended loads up to 8000 lbs.
• Float altitudes of 100-140K feet
• Mission durations gt 2 weeks
• Operations conducted from Texas, New Mexico, WFF,
  Canada, Sweden, Australia, Antarctica
• Developing Mission Control Capability at WFF
  (Integrated Control Center)
• Ultra-Long Duration Balloon systems under
  development (100 day)
• Future plans include trajectory control and
  planetary balloon mission

Balloon Inflation
Balloon Payload
Ultra-Long Duration Balloon
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Airborne Science Program

• Low medium altitude earth science research
  support
• WFF provides mission management, integration, and
  flight crews
• In-house airframe modifications support unique
  instrument requirements
• Aviation safety and Airworthiness certification
• World-wide mission support
• Typical earth science research supported
• Climate variability prediction
• Atmospheric chemistry
• Solid earth natural hazards
• Satellite sensor calibration/validation
• Management of contracts for non-NASA owned
  aircraft services

WFF P-3B Science Aircraft
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Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles

• NASA lead for low-to-mid altitude Earth science
  missions
• Platform brokering
• Mission management
• Experiment integration and test
• Science-enabling technology development
• Science risk reduction
• Reducing operational complexity
• Mission support
• Airport services
• Range safety
• Tracking data
• Support to NASA, DoD, commercial customers

XAP
Tern
Ex-drone
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Observational Science

• Theoretical, experimental and applied earth
  science research
• Remote in-situ instruments flown on aircraft,
  balloons, rockets
• Cal/Val instrument support
• Research activities include
• Atmospheric chemistry
• Beach erosion
• Arctic ice mapping
• Hurricanes
• Satellite Altimetry
• Biological modeling
• Coastal Zone Modeling
• Laboratories include
• Air-Sea Interaction Facility
• Rain-Sea Interaction Facility

Greenland Ice Mapping
Low-Altitude Earth Science UAV missions
Laser Radar Altimetry
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Other NASA Science and Research

• Vehicle Development and Demonstration
• Hybrid (MSFC)
• Re-entry body research (ARC)
• Kodiak Star Orbital Launch
• (KSC)
• Airframe Demonstrations and Testing
• (LaRC)
• Research flights and UAVs
• Space Launch Initiative (MSFC)
• Vehicle, recovery, and range technology
• Demonstrations and TRL maturation

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Department of Defense

• Missile and Anti-Missile Tests / Exercises
• Vandal, BQM, Drone (Navy)
• Aircraft testing
• F-18, Strike (Navy)
• Autonomous UAV Weapons
• Netfires (Air Force)
• Gun and Ballistics Test firings
• Guided artillery
• (Army)

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Other Federal Agencies

• FAA
• Spaceport and Range Certification
• Flight Safety Training
• Missile Defense Agency
• Vehicle / Sensor testing
• Orbital System deployment
• NOAA
• Balloon measurements
• Weather / Lightning Data Sharing

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SO WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lots of those activities are NOT Goddard science
missionsso why should I care?

• Practice makes better for those that ARE
  Goddard missions.
• Test vehicles sometimes fly ballast (or
  nothing).that could be room for you.
• Advanced Mission Scenarios DO translate into
  ability to support new, complex missions
• Proof of concept sub-orbital constellation/collabo
  rative missions
• All of these missions COULD mean that there is a
  place for YOUR instrument on the range.

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Current Initiatives and Upgrades
Goal Enhance the ability of Goddards Range to
support current mission set and expand its
service to Earth and Space Science customers.

• Payload Processing Facility
• High-bay spacecraft capable processing
• Control Center Upgrade
• Displays, Processors, Surveillance, Collaborative
  Capability
• Develop synergies with UAV, Balloon, satellite
  mission CCs.
• UAV Island Runway
• 750 long, adjacent to ocean and controlled
  airspace

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Current Initiatives and Upgrades
Goal Enhance the ability of Goddards Range to
support current mission set and expand its
service to Earth and Space Science customers.

• Mobile Range Control Center Vans
• Configurable, modular, deployable command and
  control van
• Large Launcher Assessment
• Determine Range capability to support large
  orbital vehicles
• Titan II, Minuteman, Taurus, Peacekeeper

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Range Technology Activities and The Range of
the Future

• Why Technology?
• Range Challenges and Technology Needs
• What Technology?
• Technology Initiatives
• Whose Technology?
• Technology Developers and Partners

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Range Challenges Technology Needs

• Launch and Test Ranges are.. (Pick One)
• Usually not busy and pretty expensive because of
  that
• Not generally automated
• Capable of doing really dastardly things if
  things go bad
• In a certain place
• Largely comprised of inflexible, legacy systems
• Slow to turnaround from one mission to the next
• Difficult to understand/model at a systems level,
  but
• critical to the formulation and
  implementation of missions
• Congratulations!!! Your selection was
  correct!!!!!

Thats the problem!
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The Range of the Future

• Various studies describe characteristics of the
  ideal range
• Configurable, Mobile, Temporal, Flexible, Safe,
  Cheap, Automated, Quick-Turnaround
• Recent study completed by Booz-Allen-Hamilton
• Fixed Launch Head with new CC support systems
• Highly mobile systems for remote/downrange
  deployment
• Increasingly space-based
• Vehicle-based options considered

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The Range of the Future
Source BAH ARTWG Report 9/28
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Current Range Technology Initiatives

• Goddard Initiatives
• Advanced Range Technology Initiative
• NASA Initiatives
• Space Launch Initiative
• Federal Initiatives (NASA/USAF/FAA/States.)
• Advanced Range Technology Working Group

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GSFC Advanced Range Technology Initiative (ARTI)

• Develop/demonstrate technologies that
• Lower range operations costs
• Increase capabilities, capacity, reliability
• Increase range flexibility
• Increase or provide less-intrusive safety
• Small project teams develop and demo prototypes
• WFF Test Range and research carriers serve as
  low-cost test beds
• Highly Collaborative efforts

• Current Concepts
• Automated Flight Termination System
• Next-generation mobile range systems
• Low cost ELVT (TDRSS systems)
• Commercial space-based communications
• Range Simulation/Mission Formulation Model
• Rapid-response range architecture
• Extensible or Virtual Control Center
• Advanced Surveillance and Recovery Systems

Flight modem
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Specific Technology Efforts Underway

• Rapid Response
• Knowledge, Process, and Tool Development to
  support 7 day or less launch turnaround.
• Launch and Test Range Test and Evaluation
  Environment
• Range Simulation and Mission Design Suite
• Expendable Launch Vehicle Transceiver
• Reliable space based communications for 30K or
  less
• Autonomous Flight Termination System
• Autonomous, intelligent, vehicle termination
  algorithms and systems
• UAV subsystems
• Demonstrations of subsystems and operations
  concepts

..and more
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Range Technology Developers and Partners VERY
Important

• Many efforts are collaborative within GSFC
• 800, 500, 200, 900
• Many efforts are collaborative within NASA
• GSFC, KSC, MSFC, DRFC, LaRC
• Many efforts are collaborative across federal
  agencies and others
• NASA, DoD, FAA, spaceports, commercial interests
• GSFC efforts are in the vanguard with lead roles
  in many areas
• Space-based communications, mobile system,
  autonomous systems, and others

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The Wrap UpThings to Take Away

• Goddard has a Launch and Test Range and lots of
  entities use it.
• Capable of accessing virtually all flight regimes
  with complex, multi-vehicle, collaborative
  mission scenarios AND perfectly positioned to
  deploy instruments to study Coastal Zone Areas.
• The Range support a wide variety of Carrier
  systems
• Many carriers have or are adding capability
  allowing longer flights, better trajectory
  control, recovery..
• There are truly fascinating and complex
  challenges facing the range that are being met
  with equally fascinating technology approaches by
  some of the best minds from all of NASA and from
  other agencies.
• Your interest in and your use of Goddards Launch
  and Test Range is welcomed
• Contact at www.wff.nasa.gov

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Goddards Launch and Test Range
Well Get You There
Jay Pittman Chief, Range and Mission Management
Office