Weather officers provide key launch data

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Lloyd Conley
  • 30th Space Wing Public Affairs
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) --  A great deal of preparation goes into launching a missile or rocket here. Logistics, maintenance and operations are just a few essential aspects.

One critical piece of a launch mission is determining and evaluating weather conditions up to the very second the vehicle lifts off from a pad or blasts out of a silo.

Though weather is sometimes taken for granted, it can delay or postpone a launch just as easily as a mechanical, technical or software glitch.

As a lead expert on a launch team, the weather officer gives the weather a go or no-go for launch, said Capt. Paul Lucyk from the 30th Weather Squadron.

“It’s the most exciting job a weather officer can have in the Air Force,” he said.

In its search for clear sky, the Vandenberg weather team starts its preparations well before each launch.

“We start our weather forecast 10 days out from a launch,” said Capt. Breea Lemm, another base weather officer.

Forecasting normally involves observing typical weather patterns and predicting how those patterns will affect a launch, she said. That gives an overall picture of what the meteorological conditions might be in the area at launch time.

Weather forecasters like Airman 1st Class Emily Williams provide toxic hazard forecasts to the weather officer. Airman Williams said she can reasonably predict where fumes will travel during or after a launch based on information from weather monitoring sensors and equipment. From that information, she can also forecast the direction and speed fumes will travel in the event of a catastrophic accident or release of hazardous materials into the atmosphere.

Seasonal weather conditions also factor into launch planning, Captain Lucyk said.

“While summertime can be calmer, winter weather here is more dynamic in terms of wind, temperature and visibility,” he said. Natural or triggered lightning, rain and high winds can all adversely affect a launch.

Natural lightning is typically encountered in thunderstorms, he explained.

Triggered lightening occurs when a launch vehicle hits charged ice crystals in the clouds as its altitude and velocity increase after launch. Those charged ice crystals combined with the friction produced by contact with the launch vehicle’s surface at high speeds can trigger a lightning strike, which can severely damage and ultimately destroy a launch vehicle. Natural lightning produces the same results, Captain Lucyk added.

Rain can also have a damaging affect as a missile or rocket approaches sub-sonic or super sonic speeds. Water droplets have the same effect as thousands of pebbles striking the spacecraft continuously and simultaneously, Capt. Lucyk said. Water also freezes at higher altitudes and can coat the launch vehicle in ice.

Besides damaging a vehicle itself, high winds and heavy rains can also affect the trajectory of a missile or rocket and could lead to its being destroyed if it veers dangerously off course, Captain Lucyk said.

Weather observations are not limited to Earth alone, Captain Lemm said. Solar activity can also adversely affect sensors in satellites.

“Predicting where a weather system will be on launch day is an aspect of being a weather officer I truly like,” Captain Lemm said. “It’s exciting to see whether or not my prediction was right.”

In order to nail those real-time launch weather predictions, officers here need more than just guesswork.

Weather officers normally have degrees in meteorology or another technical field, but physics and calculus are integral facets of forecasting, Captain Lemm said. Technical training for officers is about three months. Technical training for enlisted weather forecasters is almost a year.

A great deal of the local training is on-the-job and hands-on, Captain Lemm said. It can take a while to understand the physics of the atmosphere here.

Luckily, the weather squadron is not carrying the burden entirely on its own. Predicting and forecasting the weather here is a team effort. Besides the five civilians, nine officers and 11 enlisted members who make up the squadron, contractors and other base units combine to produce the synergy needed to give Vandenberg leaders the right weather information to make sound decisions.

The squadron works closely with Central Coast Weather Associates, which conducts weather-balloon releases here, Captain Lemm said. Sensors on the weather balloons provide valuable information like wind speed and temperature, she said.

Indyne Inc. employees monitor information and collection equipment on base like wind towers and radar wind profilers. The equipment provides wind direction and speed at different altitudes, Captain Lucyk said.

Members of the 30th Space Communications Squadron perform maintenance on the airfield’s meteorological equipment as well as the base’s NEXRAD weather radar.

The launch weather forecaster combines information from all these sources to produce a realistic picture on launch day.

“It’s most rewarding to see your forecast in action -- the fruits of your labor,” Captain Lucyk said. “The excitement of launch day is in providing that critical piece of information.”