EASTERN RANGE TITAN IV/CENTAUR-TDRSS OPERATIONAL COMPATIBILITY TESTING

Abstract

The future of range operations in the area of expendable launch vehicle (ELV) support is unquestionably headed in the direction of space-based rather than land- or air-based assets for such functions as metric tracking or telemetry data collection. To this end, an effort was recently completed by the Air Force’s Eastern Range (ER) to certify NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) as a viable and operational asset to be used for telemetry coverage during future Titan IV/Centaur launches. The test plan developed to demonstrate this capability consisted of three parts: 1) a bit error rate test; 2) a bit-by-bit compare of data recorded via conventional means vice the TDRSS network while the vehicle was radiating in a fixed position from the pad; and 3) an in-flight demonstration to ensure positive radio frequency (RF) link and usable data during critical periods of telemetry collection. The subsequent approval by the Air Force of this approach allows future launch vehicle contractors a relatively inexpensive and reliable means of telemetry data collection even when launch trajectories are out of sight of land-based assets or when land- or aircraft-based assets are not available for support.