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Only on Falcon 9: Automated system can terminate SpaceX rocket launches
March 11, 2017
It could be the most critical position during a launch: the military officer ready to push a button to blow up a rocket if it veers off course and endangers the public.
But when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Feb. 19, the seat at the Mission Flight Control Officer’s console at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was empty — on purpose.
[NOTE: a NASA launch]
For the first time in decades of launches from the Cape, responsibility for commanding the rocket to self-destruct, if necessary, lay with computers on board the Falcon, not a “human in the loop.â€
Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, commander of the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing, said the successful launch with an Automated Flight Safety System, or AFSS, was a historic “game-changer,†demonstrating technology that will improve safety, lower costs and enable more launches from the Eastern Range.
“It was tested extensively, and is actually safer than having an individual in the loop,†Monteith said in a recent interview. “It fundamentally changes the way we are doing business.â€
SpaceX is the first and only U.S. launch company approved to fly such a system, after it was tested on 13 previous flights in “shadow mode.â€
The company’s next launch, targeted for 1:34 a.m. Tuesday, is expected to be the last time a Falcon rocket relies on an officer ready at the console as part of a traditional flight termination system.
[NOTE: this time because it's a commercial launch]
“It’s just a much more streamlined way to launch, relying on newer technology for sure,†SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said of the automated system.
SpaceX’s system builds upon two decades of work by government teams.
It starts with a core software package developed by NASA, the Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. To that SpaceX adds a “wrapper†— software customized for its own rockets.
During flight, GPS and other sensors on the Falcon continuously record the rocket’s position and trajectory. If the rocket crosses pre-programmed boundary lines, triggering repeated violations of flight rules, onboard computers would command explosive devices to detonate, just as if the signals were sent from the ground.
Only faster..
The Air Force has calculated that human intervention takes three-and-a-half seconds longer. With computers providing that small extra margin before taking action, a rocket might be able to correct its course in time and save a mission.
With traditional destruct systems, telemetry has to reach the ground and be processed. The Mission Flight Control Officer must recognize a problem and react. The rocket then must receive commands before cutting a flight short.
“That takes time,†said Monteith. “There’s always a chance, although extremely remote, that an individual is going to make a mistake. Software’s not going to.â€
On-board systems also don’t need to stay within sight of ground tracking systems, so rockets can fly farther over the horizon before a problem would trigger action.
“It protects the public longer, because we have positive control of the vehicle much farther down range,†said Howard Schindzielorz, chief engineer for the 45th Space Wing’s Range Safety Office.
SpaceX is upgrading its automated safety system for flights of astronauts to the International Space Station that are expected to start next year.
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The company did not need to buy the services of four Eastern Range systems normally used to track a rocket’s flight and enable its destruction, including radars and telemetry.
As a result, nearly 150 fewer Range personnel than usual staffed the launch and flyback of the Falcon booster — a 60 percent drop. SpaceX will cut its Range-related expenses in half, Monteith said. (Those costs are considered proprietary.)
March 11, 2017
It could be the most critical position during a launch: the military officer ready to push a button to blow up a rocket if it veers off course and endangers the public.
But when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Feb. 19, the seat at the Mission Flight Control Officer’s console at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was empty — on purpose.
[NOTE: a NASA launch]
For the first time in decades of launches from the Cape, responsibility for commanding the rocket to self-destruct, if necessary, lay with computers on board the Falcon, not a “human in the loop.â€
Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, commander of the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing, said the successful launch with an Automated Flight Safety System, or AFSS, was a historic “game-changer,†demonstrating technology that will improve safety, lower costs and enable more launches from the Eastern Range.
“It was tested extensively, and is actually safer than having an individual in the loop,†Monteith said in a recent interview. “It fundamentally changes the way we are doing business.â€
SpaceX is the first and only U.S. launch company approved to fly such a system, after it was tested on 13 previous flights in “shadow mode.â€
The company’s next launch, targeted for 1:34 a.m. Tuesday, is expected to be the last time a Falcon rocket relies on an officer ready at the console as part of a traditional flight termination system.
[NOTE: this time because it's a commercial launch]
“It’s just a much more streamlined way to launch, relying on newer technology for sure,†SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said of the automated system.
SpaceX’s system builds upon two decades of work by government teams.
It starts with a core software package developed by NASA, the Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. To that SpaceX adds a “wrapper†— software customized for its own rockets.
During flight, GPS and other sensors on the Falcon continuously record the rocket’s position and trajectory. If the rocket crosses pre-programmed boundary lines, triggering repeated violations of flight rules, onboard computers would command explosive devices to detonate, just as if the signals were sent from the ground.
Only faster..
The Air Force has calculated that human intervention takes three-and-a-half seconds longer. With computers providing that small extra margin before taking action, a rocket might be able to correct its course in time and save a mission.
With traditional destruct systems, telemetry has to reach the ground and be processed. The Mission Flight Control Officer must recognize a problem and react. The rocket then must receive commands before cutting a flight short.
“That takes time,†said Monteith. “There’s always a chance, although extremely remote, that an individual is going to make a mistake. Software’s not going to.â€
On-board systems also don’t need to stay within sight of ground tracking systems, so rockets can fly farther over the horizon before a problem would trigger action.
“It protects the public longer, because we have positive control of the vehicle much farther down range,†said Howard Schindzielorz, chief engineer for the 45th Space Wing’s Range Safety Office.
SpaceX is upgrading its automated safety system for flights of astronauts to the International Space Station that are expected to start next year.
>
>
The company did not need to buy the services of four Eastern Range systems normally used to track a rocket’s flight and enable its destruction, including radars and telemetry.
As a result, nearly 150 fewer Range personnel than usual staffed the launch and flyback of the Falcon booster — a 60 percent drop. SpaceX will cut its Range-related expenses in half, Monteith said. (Those costs are considered proprietary.)