Best Practices in the Qualification and Analysis of Launch Vehicle Payload Fairings

The United States Space Force (USSF) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) organizations have launched a mix of small to super-heavy launch vehicle capabilities serving a wide variety of missions from warfighter and intelligence community needs to space exploration. The USSF and NASA have executed launches over many decades with tremendous success. The backbone for the unprecedented success has hinged on the strong partnerships established with launch service providers, and most importantly, the periodic improvements to National Security Space Launch (NSSL) and NASA standards. One area that has received attention over the years is the payload fairing (PLF), which protects the payload as the rocket ascends. PLFs are intended to enclose and protect a payload on the launch pad and during early flight, and are then jettisoned when the launch vehicle has achieved an altitude where aeroheating and aerodynamic loads on the payload are no longer a factor. While PLF design practices exist, there have been many examples of PLF failures, with different failure modes, over the history of rocketry. These failure modes include collapse, composite facesheet separation from honeycomb core, damage during the separation event, recontact after separation, and failure to separate. A reexamination of industry qualification practices has revealed some shortcomings, particularly with structural testing. Many PLF failures have occurred, primarily due to the design complexity and manufacturing shortcomings. PLF design requirements are currently disjointed and spread across several industry standards, and these designs require an integrated multidisciplinary approach consisting of mechanisms, ordnance, structures, dynamics, contamination, materials, nondestructive evaluation, and radiofrequency experts. The focus of this paper is to summarize key proposed best practices in the qualification and acceptance approaches for PLFs, while also highlighting areas for improvements in current best practices.