Start Date
4-1973 8:00 AM
Description
The location of the Apollo Launch Complex in a region of high lightning incidence necessitated that protective measures be incorporated in the design of the complex and its associated control facilities to prevent damage or interference with launch operations. Hazards to personnel, fuel and electrical or electronics systems were of particular concern. General Electric's High Voltage Laboratory, under contract to NASA, designed protective measures which were incorporated in the complex. These included control of lightning attachment points on the complex and provision of safe conduction paths to ground, control of lightning- induced voltages in umbilical systems by application of shielding and circuit routing criteria, and protection of above and below ground instrument and power cable runs by appropriate shielding and grounding techniques. As a result of these measures being incorporated in the launch complex design, very few incidents of lightning related interference or damage have been recorded. The few that have occurred are associated with incomplete application of the protective criteria.
Lightening Protection Of Launch Facilities At Kennedy Space Center
The location of the Apollo Launch Complex in a region of high lightning incidence necessitated that protective measures be incorporated in the design of the complex and its associated control facilities to prevent damage or interference with launch operations. Hazards to personnel, fuel and electrical or electronics systems were of particular concern. General Electric's High Voltage Laboratory, under contract to NASA, designed protective measures which were incorporated in the complex. These included control of lightning attachment points on the complex and provision of safe conduction paths to ground, control of lightning- induced voltages in umbilical systems by application of shielding and circuit routing criteria, and protection of above and below ground instrument and power cable runs by appropriate shielding and grounding techniques. As a result of these measures being incorporated in the launch complex design, very few incidents of lightning related interference or damage have been recorded. The few that have occurred are associated with incomplete application of the protective criteria.
Comments
Space Science Applications
Session Chairman: William H. Rock, Manager, Sciences and Applications Project Office, NASA, KSC
No other information or file available for this session.