Music.
How do we forecast the weather for a Shuttle launch?
After the Shuttle is rolled out to the launch pad about a month and a half before launch,
our team at the 45th Weather Squadron provides daily weather support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During this time,
we also keep a careful eye on the tropics to ensure the vehicle is safe from a tropical storm or hurricane.
The last week prior to launch, several types of forecasts are provided to the Shuttle team such as the Solid Rocket Booster
recovery forecasts and forecasts to the Ice Team so they know what kind of ice buildup to expect on the external tank.
About 14 hours before launch, we give the forecast for the Rotating Service Structure retract operation.
This is when the protective covering is moved away from the orbiter in preparation for launch.
10 hours before launch, the Mission Management Team receives a forecast for the fueling and launch operations.
Once the fueling operations begin, things really pick up as we begin evaluating launch commit criteria.
That's a set of weather rules we cannot break before a launch.
We monitor the criteria and evaluate them as Red if the criteria are violated. Green means everything looks good!
We evaluate the weather using sophisticated equipment, like weather balloons, which provide us with winds, temperature,
and relative humidity through the atmosphere.
This detailed information is also used to calculate aerodynamic loads on the Shuttle during launch.
Other weather evaluation equipment includes Doppler radar wind profilers, a network of over 40 wind towers across
Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and two weather radars. We have three lightning detection systems,
including one that detects in-cloud lightning, a step up from the traditional cloud to ground lightning detection systems.
We also have a network of 35 Field Mills which detect the electrostatic potential of the atmosphere in the area around the
launch pad to help us determine if conditions are ripe for triggering a lightning strike.
Finally, during the countdown NASA flies a T-38 and a Shuttle Training Aircraft to
determine weather conditions near the launch pad and the Shuttle Landing Facility.
Throughout the countdown, weather updates are provided to the Shuttle Launch Director at
Kennedy Space Center, including weather for the time that the crew travels from crew quarters to the launch pad!
During the Shuttle Launch Director's final poll at T-9 minutes, I inform the launch director if we have any weather constraints for launch.
"Weather has no constraints for launch." "Thank you very much, Kathy."
If all goes well, the Launch Director gives a GO for launch, and the space shuttle begins its journey into space.
And that's how we forecast the weather for a Shuttle launch.
Music.