Copyright © 2013 United Launch Alliance, LLC. Unpublished Work. All Rights Reserved.

Civil Space 2013

Critical Challenges: Safety, Mission Assurance, and Risk Mitigation

Jeff Patton

13 February 2013

April 19, 2023 | 2

Atlas & Delta Capabilities to Support Human Spaceflight

Atlas & Delta heritage flying crew dates back to Mercury/Atlas and

Gemini/Titan

Atlas & Delta systems have evolved to provide reliable assured access

for critical NASA, Air Force and NRO missions

In 2002 NASA selected Atlas V and Delta IV to launch the crewed

Orbital Space Plane

Atlas V selected by Boeing and Sierra Nevada to launch their

Commercial Crew spacecraft

NASA selected the Delta IV Cryogenic Upper Stage for SLS

Existing, flight proven launch vehicles and Existing, flight proven launch vehicles and stages can meet Human Space Flight Needsstages can meet Human Space Flight Needs

April 19, 2023 | 3

Atlas and Delta On-Going Launch Operations

Record of continuous Mission Success Atlas II, IIAS, III, V – 108 Atlas V - 37 Delta II - 97 Delta IV - 21

2010 2011 2012 2013

2006 2007 2008 2009

2002 2003 2004 2005

April 19, 2023 | 4

ULA Experience with Human Certification

Involved with NASA and commercial human rating launch

studies over the past 10 years

Involved with NASA human certification requirements

development and assessment (8705.2A, 2B, 1100-Series)

Operational tempo and flight experience key to human

certification– Detailed understanding of system behavior and environments

• System margins and risks

• Precise abort criteria for Emergency Detection System (EDS)

– Non-crewed missions retire risk prior to first crewed mission

Human Certification Is The Interaction Between Human Certification Is The Interaction Between Requirements And In-depth Systems Knowledge Best Requirements And In-depth Systems Knowledge Best

Gained With Flight ExperienceGained With Flight Experience

April 19, 2023 | 5

Human Launch Services Focus

Partnership with NASA Leverage Mission Success Heritage to Create World-Class Safety

Culture

100% Human Spaceflight Safety

Expanding Our Mission Success Ethic to Embrace Expanding Our Mission Success Ethic to Embrace Crew Safety as the Highest ValueCrew Safety as the Highest Value

April 19, 2023 | 6

System-Level Crew Safety

Emergency Detection

• Monitor Critical Systems Using Independent Fault-tolerant Failure Sensing System

• Abort Commands

• Fly Instrumentation on All Missions

• Already Know Our Envts & In-family Characteristics for Developing EDS

LV R

elia

bilit

y

Intact Abort Capability

LV E

mergency D

etection

Commercial Commercial Crew Crew

SpaceflightSpaceflightApproachApproach

Reliability

• Demonstrated Reliability

• Experienced People & Proven Management Systems

• Single Fault-tolerant Systems

• Robust Vehicle Design

• Vehicle Characterization

• Rigorous, Closed-loopTest-as-you Fly Processes

Intact Abort Capability

• Catastrophic LV Failures Minimized

• Benign Abort Environments

• Black Zones Eliminated

Common Sense System-Level Approach to Achieve Crew SafetyCommon Sense System-Level Approach to Achieve Crew Safety

April 19, 2023 | 7

NASA Launch Vehicle Certification as Foundation for Crew Launch Certification

Provides a rigorous, documented, and consistent process to mitigate risk

Nuclear Safety Launch Approval Process provides an additional level of safety and government insight for spacecraft carrying radioactive material

Atlas V & Delta II are the world’s only NASA Category 3 Atlas V & Delta II are the world’s only NASA Category 3 certified vehicles; certified vehicles;

Atlas V is the only LV with nuclear launch approvalAtlas V is the only LV with nuclear launch approval

FLIGHT DATA AND VERIFICATION DATABASE

NASA CERTIFICATION

NUCLEAR LAUNCH APPROVAL

NASA HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT CERTIFICATION

BO

DY

OF E

VID

EN

CE

TO

GO

CO

MP

LETE

April 19, 2023 | 8

ULA Human Spaceflight Certification

Risk Oriented Path Requirements Oriented Path

• Meets-IntentAssessment(DER)

• Hazard Analysis

• Probabilistic Safety Analysis (PSA)

• Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)

• Flight History

Certification Rationale

• Integrated Abort Analysis

ULA’s Certification Plan Exercises Both Technical Risk ULA’s Certification Plan Exercises Both Technical Risk Retirement and Requirements ImplementationRetirement and Requirements Implementation

April 19, 2023 | 9

Requirements Oriented Path

Atlas V Design Equivalency Review (“DER”) Evaluated Existing Atlas V System Relative to NASA 1130/1140 Requirements Documents

Delta Cryogenic Upper Stage Design Requirements Compliance Relative to NASA SLS Specifications

DCSS Disposition Count – 1/24/13

47

17

50217

3

April 19, 2023 | 10

Risk Oriented Path

Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)– Top down analysis that identifies single-

point failures and critical combinations of failure modes for all flight and ground systems

Probabilistic Safety Analysis (PSA)– Systematic, comprehensive discipline that

uses a combination of logic and probabilistic modeling tools to quantify risk drivers that affect the crew and mission

Hazard Analysis– The identification, mitigation, and

verification of catastrophic hazards on the launch vehicle that can lead to loss of mission/loss of crew

Thorough Knowledge of Vehicle Characteristics, Thorough Knowledge of Vehicle Characteristics, Anchored in Flight Data, is Crucial to Designing EDS Anchored in Flight Data, is Crucial to Designing EDS

Fault Tree Analysis

Heritage LV Body of

Knowledge

Crew Safety Hazard Analysis

LV System Monitoring/Sensor List

Emergency Detection System Design

Probabilistic Safety Analysis

April 19, 2023 | 11

Certification Summary

ULA is Expanding our Mission Success ethic to embrace crew safety as the highest value

ULA is developing the critical safety engineering products to support Human Spaceflight Certification for Commercial Crew and SLS

Human certification is the interaction between requirements and in-depth systems knowledge best gained with flight experience