Study of Missile Exhaust Clouds to Feature Goodyear Blimp

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (8/6/98) -- Scientists at The Aerospace Corporation will be focusing on the Goodyear blimp in Gardena, California on August 7 to validate computer models that predict how exhaust plumes of Titan IV missiles move.

The effort is part of an Air Force initiative that seeks to protect those near launch areas from toxic exhaust as well as optimize launch times. The Titan IV, the nation's largest expendable launch vehicle, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. It launched the Cassini spacecraft on its mission to Saturn last year and has carried many other important payloads aloft.

Scientists at The Aerospace Corporation, an El Segundo, California-based nonprofit corporation working for the Air Force Launch Programs Office at Los Angeles Air Force Base, have been using optical and infrared cameras to obtain images of Tital IV exhaust plumes for four years.

In the laboratory, with special software, they reconstruct the three-dimensional shape of the clouds using images obtained simulaneously from four cameras. The process is analogous to medical CAT scans in which many images from different directions are combined to create three-dimensional anatomical depictions.

The depictions in this case are used to validate and improve the accuracy of computer models that predict how exhaust plumes will move. These predictions, which factor into such paramaters as wind direction, heat and other variables, are used to determine launch times.

Photographing the airship Eagle, which approximates the shape, movement and altitude of a Titan IV exhaust cloud, will enable the scientists to validate the accuracy of the process they have been using to reconstruct with software what they are photographing with the four cameras.

Following the airship experiment, the scientists will go through their usual post-launch image reconstruction process in the laboratory. But in this case they will have an object of known size and volume with which to compare their product.

"We have two goals," said Capt. Bill Kempf, Launch Programs environmental officer. The primary one is to ensure safety in and around the launch facilities. "Secondly, we want to avoid unnecessary launch delays which result in additional expense to taxpayers. Making sure the computer models are as accurate as possible helps us relaize both of these goals."

The airship operations site is at 19200 South Main Street.