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NASA Sounding Rockets Program Giovanni Rosanova Program Manager NASA Sounding Rockets Program 1
NASA Sounding Rockets ProgramGiovanni RosanovaProgram Manager
NASA Sounding Rockets Program 1
Sounding Rockets Program Office Organization
2
Program Manager(Giovanni Rosanova)
Project Support Specialist
(Valerie Jagow)Grants and Admin
(Contractor)
Vehicle Systems Manager
(Chuck Brodell)Operations Manager
(Scott Bissett)
Technology Manager
(Cathy Hesh)
Business Manager
(Julie Bloxom)
Payload Systems Manager
(Brian Hall)Projects Manager
(Gordon Marsh)
Technical Manager
NSROC CORExport Control
(Carsell Milliner)
Resources Analyst (Jennifer McIntyre)
(matrix)
Safety and Mission
Assurance Manager
(Todd Thornes)
Embedded Mechanical Engineer
(Josh Yacobucci)(matrix)
Embedded Electrical Engineer
(Scott Hesh)(matrix)
Projects Manager
(Libby West)
Operations Manager
(Nathan Empson)
Deputy Program Manager (John Hickman)
Operations Manager (vacant)
Resources AnalystReimbursables
(Wyle Maddox)(matrix)
Nature of the NASA Sounding Rockets Program• Characteristics
‒ Low costo Part of the NASA Low Cost Access to Space (LCAS) program
‒ Quick turn around‒ Rely on military surplus rocket motors as much as possible to reduce cost‒ Acceptance of higher technical risk
o Lower consequenceo Higher probability of issues or failure
‒ Minimalistic project teams‒ Highly flexible and agile‒ Non Mil‐Spec components‒ Governed by NPR 7120.8 (Research and Technology)‒ World‐wide mobile operations‒ Implemented via the NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract (NSROC)
• Highly successful for NASA Science Mission Directorate‒ Cutting edge science is being conducted‒ Enables instrument development that ports into future orbital missions‒ Scientist development
NASA Sounding Rockets Program 3
Science team members during recovery operation to retrieve their payload at
White Sands Missile Range
Student and faculty members inspect their instrument prior to integration with
the university outreach payloadRockSat-X
Services Provided
• Payload Development– Attitude Control Systems
• Magnetic, Inertial, Rate Control, Celestial, Solar– Telemetry Systems
• 10 Mb/s standard, 20 Mb/s available • Command uplink & Video downlink
– Payload Recovery Systems– Boost Guidance Systems
• Aerodynamic control for early portion of powered flight– Experiment Structures– Deployment Systems
• Mission Analysis– Flight performance– Ground and Flight Safety
• Launch Vehicles• Operations Support
– Mobile range development– Launcher servicing and erection– Field operations
• Technology Development
NASA Sounding Rockets Program 4
NASA Sounding Rockets Program 5
NSROC detailsSupport Provided:
• Contract Program Management• Project Management
– ~50 ongoing flight projects• Hardware Procurement• Engineering Design
– Payloads and missions– Flight performance analysis– Flight subsystem tech development
• Fabrication Support– Sounding rocket activities– Wallops activities (customer funded)
• Environmental Testing– Vibration, balance, vacuum, deploy, etc.– Sounding Rocket activities– Wallops activities (customer funded)
• CONUS logistics support• Field operations support
Launch Vehicles
NASA Sounding Rockets Program 6
200 400 600 800 1000
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Terrier mk70-Lynx
Black Brant mk1 XMod 1
Black Brant mk1 XII
Black Brant mk1 XI
Black Brant mk1 IXMod 2
Black Brant mk1 IXMod 0
Black Brant mk1 V
Terrier mk12-Imp. Orion
Terrier mk70-Imp. Orion
Improved Orion
Terrier mk70-OrioleTerrier mk70-Imp. Malemute
Experiment Weight (lbs)
Apog
ee A
ltitu
de (k
m)
Tim
e Ab
ove
100
Km (s
econ
ds)
100 200 300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
Typical Altitudes and Weights for Astronomy, Planetary, Solar, and Microgravity Payloads
Typical Altitudes and Weights for Auroral Physics Payloads
Sounding Rocket Performance
100 Km
Typically Chemical release and educational payloads NASA Sounding Rockets Program 7
85% Metric
8
Program Success Rates
85% Metric
Note: Mission success includes all aspects of the mission: NSROC, science instruments, science, range support.
thus far
thus far
70
80
90
100
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Success R
ate (%
)
Fiscal Year
Sounding Rocket Mission Success Rate (All Flights)
70
80
90
100
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Success R
ate (%
)
Fiscal Year
Sounding Rocket Mission Success Rate (All Flights)
9
NSROC Success Rates
85% Metric
The SRPO and NSROC strive to make our support systems as reliable as practical given Program resources.
85% Metric
thus far
thus far
70
80
90
100
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Success R
ate (%
)
Fiscal Year
NSROC Mission Success Rate (All Flights)
70
80
90
100
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Success R
ate (%
)
Fiscal Year
NSROC Mission Success Rate (All Flights)
World-Wide Operations
NASA Sounding Rockets Program 10
The Sounding Rocket Program “goes to where the science is…”
Kwajalein
Australia
Sweden
Norway
Svalbard (Norway)Alaska (Poker)
White Sands
Wallops
Peru
Types of Missions
• Geospace (Plasma Physics)• Solar Telescopes• Astronomy Telescopes• High Speed Aerodynamics and Propulsion• Entry and Descent• Technology Development• Educational
• Approx. 50 payloads/missions active at any given time
• Approx. 18 flights/yearNASA Sounding Rockets Program 11
Solar wind compresses the Earth’s magnetic field. Solar storms can compress the magnetic field even further. The increased pressure increases the amount of plasma that passes through the magnetosphere
The interaction of the solar plasma with the Earth’s magnetic field creates the Aurora Borealis
Trimethylaluminum (blue & white) and Lithium (red) releases over the KwajalienAtoll (May 2013)
Astrophysics Research
• Hubble can’t look at the Sun
• Sounding rocket missions are used to determine calibration factors for orbiting satellites like the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
Solar Research
Technology Development
