NASA Kennedy Space Center Launa Maier Dr. Lisa Huddleston Kris3n Smith January 27, 2016 Ar0st rendering of SLS soaring through clouds Agenda J. F. Kennedy Space Center •  Background •  Past Research •  KSC Weather Today, Staff, Responsibili>es, Ac>vi>es •  Evolu>on of Weather Support •  Future Technology •  Buoy Update •  Summary Background J. F. Kennedy Space Center •  Prior and during Apollo, the Weather Bureau (later named the Na>onal Weather Service) provided meteorological support for Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and had offices at Johnson Space Center (JSC), Miami, Honolulu and Washington D.C. •  During this >me, the USAF provided some meteorological services including rawinsondes, weather radar, surface-based instruments and a network of wind towers for diffusion of toxic/ nuclear materials. (ref. KCA-1645 Webb-McNamara Agreement) •  Post Apollo, KSC elected to use the USAF for weather support and JSC con>nued to use the Na>onal Weather Service. •  The Lightning Advisory Panel (LAP) was formed following inves>ga>on of triggered lightning event on launch (AC-67) to provide rules and associated technical ra>onale for launch constraints to preclude triggered lightning during launch. •  Weather Office formed about the same >me, based upon recommenda>on of the inves>ga>on board. •  The Weather Support Office (WSO) was formed at NASA HQ about the same >me. Subsequently, (late 90s) this responsibility was delegated to John Madura at KSC and the WSO was eliminated. •  Shortly therea^er, the Applied Meteorology Unit was formed based upon recommenda>ons from NASA-sponsored panel to develop and apply new measurement technology as well as new weather analysis and fore-cas>ng techniques to improve weather support for space opera>ons. 1/27/2016 3 Thunderstorm Research Interna3onal Program (TRIP) J. F. Kennedy Space Center •  South Dakota School of Mines T-28 (1978) •  GSFC (LeVine) •  NASA-6 Airborne Field Mill •  Stanford Research Ins>tute (Nanevicz) •  New Mexico Tech Rain Gauges (Brook) •  Statue University of New York at Albany (Orville and Idone) •  Environmental Research Laboratory C-131 (Kasemir) •  Pennsylvania State University (Panofsky) •  Kennedy Space Center NASA-6 (Taiani) •  Na>onal Severe Storms Laboratory (Rust and Taylor) •  Naval Research Laboratories S2D (Ruhnke) •  USAF 1035th Technical Opera>ons Group •  University of Arizona (Krider) (Turman) •  Rice University (Few) •  University of Florida (Uman) •  Transporta>on Systems Center (Kalafus) •  KSC (Lennon, Poehler, Stubbs, PRC/ •  AF Flight Dynamics Laboratory (Baum) Stahmann) •  JSC (Arabian) 1976-77 TRIP report hgp://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19780003695.pdf 1976 Flight Data hgps://archive.org/stream/nasa_techdoc_19780025750/19780025750#page/n179/mode/2up 1/27/2016 4 Results from TRIP J. F. Kennedy Space Center Flash that occurred at 2024:50 UT, 7/29/78, KSC, Florida from Orville and Idone, JGR, 1982 S>ll Photo Lightning Veloci3es Moving Film elements Stepped 2x105 leaders Dart- 1-2x106 stepped leaders Dart leaders 1-2x107 Return 2x107 - 2.8x108 Strokes IX Interna>onal Symposium on Lightning Protec>on, Rakov, 2007 1/27/2016 5 Loca3ng Lightning and Thunderstorm Currents with Electric Field Mills J. F. Kennedy Space Center 7/11/1978 7/19/1976 Al>tudes of charges The Electric Currents deposited by cloud-to-ground Produced by Thunderstorms, lightning and use of dipoles Krider and Blakeslee, J. to locate intracloud lightning, Electrosta>cs, 1985 Maier and Krider, JGR, 1986 1/27/2016 6 Rocket-Triggered Lightning J. F. Kennedy Space Center •  NASA hosted the Rocket- triggered lightning program from 1984-1991 •  Repeatedly triggered lightning at a known loca>on to measure lightning characteris>cs •  Researchers from France, Florida, New York, Arizona and more par>cipated in characterizing the currents, veloci>es, spectrums, etc. of triggered lightning 1/27/2016 7 Lightning Protec3on Systems J. F. Kennedy Space Center •  Numerous systems are employed to protect sensi>ve hardware from lightning effects •  These systems have also been used to study the characteris>cs of lightning; e.g., frequency of occurrence, return strokes, currents, induced currents, and more •  Systems used include catenary wire system, lightning towers, internal electric measurements to quan>fy induced voltages, electric and magne>c field measurements and more 1/27/2016 8 Convec3on and Precipita3on Experiment (CaPE) J. F. Kennedy Space Center •  The Convec>on and Precipita>on/Electrifica>on Experiment (CaPE) •  7/18-8/18, 1991 •  Par>cipants included NSF, FAA, NASA, NOAA, USAF •  Main Objec>ves: 1) Rela>onship between wind, water and electric fields in convec>ve clouds; 2) Mesoscale model forecasts of wind, cloud and thunderstorms; 3) Improving nowcas>ng of convec>on, downbursts and tornadoes; 4) precipita>on par>cle characteriza>on and es>ma>on of rainfall Example Experiment: The Advanced Microwave Precipita3on Radiometer The AMPR is a total power passive microwave radiometer producing calibrated brightness temperatures (TB) at 10.7, 19.35, 37.1, and 85.5 GHz. These frequencies are sensi>ve to the emission and scagering of precipita>on-size ice, liquid water, and water vapor. 1/27/2016 9 Airborne Field Mill Campaigns J. F. Kennedy Space Center Airborne Field Mill II (6/2000, 2/2001, 5-6/2001) •  KSC, MSFC, USAF, NCAR, Univ of N Dakota, NHL and NOAA Envir. Tech Lab •  Studied the electric field in anvil and debris clouds Airborne Field Mill I (2000-2001) •  NASA (HQ, KSC, MSFC, LaRC), USAF, SRI, Aerojet •  Studied the electric field above growing cumulus and inside various cloud types Purpose: To iden>fy, by measurable parameters, which clouds have sufficient electric field to trigger lightning during launch. 12/8/2015 10