NASA Sounding Rocket Program Handbook. - NASA Visitor Center ...
NASA Sounding Rocket Program Handbook. - NASA Visitor Center ...
NASA Sounding Rocket Program Handbook. - NASA Visitor Center ...
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810-HB-SRP<br />
SECTION 1: The <strong>NASA</strong> <strong>Sounding</strong> <strong>Rocket</strong> <strong>Program</strong> (NSRP)<br />
This <strong>Handbook</strong> was written to assist NSRP customers in developing payloads that meet the<br />
requirements necessary to achieve mission-specific, scientific objectives, and to serve as a<br />
guideline in defining NSRP quality standards and ISO 9001-2000 requirements. For the<br />
purposes of this document, “Customers” shall include principal investigators, program users,<br />
scientists, and experimenters.<br />
1.1 The <strong>Program</strong>: 1959 – the Present<br />
The NSRP is a suborbital space flight program that primarily supports <strong>NASA</strong>-sponsored<br />
space and earth sciences research activities, other government agencies, and international<br />
sounding rocket groups and scientists. Since its inception in 1959, some 2800 missions have<br />
flown with an overall science mission success rate exceeding 86 percent and a launch vehicle<br />
success rate of over 95 percent. The program is a low-cost, quick-response effort that<br />
currently provides 20 - 30 flight opportunities per year to space scientists involved in upper<br />
atmosphere, plasma physics, solar physics, planetary atmospheres, galactic astronomy, high<br />
energy astrophysics, and micro-gravity research. These rockets are launched from a variety of<br />
launch sites throughout the free world.<br />
In mid 1980, the NSRP was consolidated at the Wallops Flight Facility of the Goddard Space<br />
Flight <strong>Center</strong>. The program has continued to grow in terms of average payload size, weight,<br />
complexity, and range. NSRP flight systems are remarkably sophisticated spacecraft,<br />
capable of lofting 1000 pound payloads to 280 kilometers and 250 pound payloads to 1500<br />
kilometers.<br />
NSRP customers consist primarily of university and government research groups; however,<br />
some research activities involve the commercial sector. The program has contributed major<br />
scientific findings and research papers to the world of suborbital space science, validated<br />
satellite tracking and instrumentation, and served as a proving ground for space ship and<br />
space station components. Many new scientists have received training and developmental<br />
experience through NSRP internships and graduate study programs offered by participating<br />
educational institutions.<br />
Systems and services provided to customers of the NSRP encompass the complete spectrum<br />
of support: mission management, payload design and development, launch vehicles,<br />
recovery systems, attitude control systems, payload testing and evaluation, analytical studies,<br />
launch range operations/coordination, tracking, and data acquisition and data processing.<br />
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