Session
Launch & Propulsion
Location
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Abstract
The Aerospace Corporation in collaboration with the United States Space Force National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Program continues to make investments towards improving access to space by increasing launch responsiveness, resiliency, and agility. This includes a significant increase in the focus on launching multiple spacecraft on a single launch vehicle. These multi-manifest launches provide several benefits including cost efficiency, increased launch opportunities, diversification of risk, and improved access to space. Though there are many benefits associated with multi-manifest launches, the aggregation of multiple mission partners can increase complexity and schedule risk. One of the most significant complications with multi-manifest launches is that the launch schedule can be delayed if one of the mission-partner spacecraft is not ready at the desired launch time, even if all other spacecraft are ready. This results in delays getting capability to orbit, negating many of the advantages of multi-manifest launches. Delays are largely due to the lack of flexibility in the mission analysis used to plan and verify the launch, and it can take several months to update these analyses to accommodate a change to the mission plan. Typically, the analysis that has the largest impact on launch schedules is coupled loads analysis, a simulation of the vibrations that the spacecraft and launch vehicle will experience for a specific launch configuration. Because the vibrations are configuration-specific, changes to the launch manifest can invalidate previous results, requiring a re-analysis. Aerospace is seeking to address this issue with a multifaceted approach including spacecraft structural design and testing guidance, the Mass Model of the Future (MMOTF), and multiconfiguration loads analysis. Guidance on the structural design and testing of spacecraft can help spacecraft avoid issues that are commonly encountered during multi-manifest mission integration. MMOTF is intended to fly in the place of a spacecraft that is not ready for launch, avoiding schedule delays. MMOTF is based on a design that can be quickly adapted to meet the specific needs of any mission, and it can be manufactured using traditional or additive manufacturing techniques. Multiconfiguration loads analysis relaxes the restrictions created by typical mission analysis by analyzing for multiple potential launch configurations. This paper will discuss the basic concepts behind these solutions and demonstrate how they can be used to support responsive access to space.
Document Type
Event
Enabling Multi-Manifest Launch Agility for Responsive Space Access
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
The Aerospace Corporation in collaboration with the United States Space Force National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Program continues to make investments towards improving access to space by increasing launch responsiveness, resiliency, and agility. This includes a significant increase in the focus on launching multiple spacecraft on a single launch vehicle. These multi-manifest launches provide several benefits including cost efficiency, increased launch opportunities, diversification of risk, and improved access to space. Though there are many benefits associated with multi-manifest launches, the aggregation of multiple mission partners can increase complexity and schedule risk. One of the most significant complications with multi-manifest launches is that the launch schedule can be delayed if one of the mission-partner spacecraft is not ready at the desired launch time, even if all other spacecraft are ready. This results in delays getting capability to orbit, negating many of the advantages of multi-manifest launches. Delays are largely due to the lack of flexibility in the mission analysis used to plan and verify the launch, and it can take several months to update these analyses to accommodate a change to the mission plan. Typically, the analysis that has the largest impact on launch schedules is coupled loads analysis, a simulation of the vibrations that the spacecraft and launch vehicle will experience for a specific launch configuration. Because the vibrations are configuration-specific, changes to the launch manifest can invalidate previous results, requiring a re-analysis. Aerospace is seeking to address this issue with a multifaceted approach including spacecraft structural design and testing guidance, the Mass Model of the Future (MMOTF), and multiconfiguration loads analysis. Guidance on the structural design and testing of spacecraft can help spacecraft avoid issues that are commonly encountered during multi-manifest mission integration. MMOTF is intended to fly in the place of a spacecraft that is not ready for launch, avoiding schedule delays. MMOTF is based on a design that can be quickly adapted to meet the specific needs of any mission, and it can be manufactured using traditional or additive manufacturing techniques. Multiconfiguration loads analysis relaxes the restrictions created by typical mission analysis by analyzing for multiple potential launch configurations. This paper will discuss the basic concepts behind these solutions and demonstrate how they can be used to support responsive access to space.
