Development of direct systems for emergency evacuation from high-altitude units of launch complexes for integrated launch vehicles: exploratory study

Abstract

When fueled integrated launch vehicles are prepared for a launch, there is an increased risk of fires and explosions due to fuel and oxidizer on board these vehicles. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure emergency evacuation of manned spacecraft crew and assisting personnel in dangerous situations. For vehicle service towers or crew embarkation and evacuation units this is quite a challenge as the spacecraft is at high altitude, especially it is difficult when preparing super heavy-lift launch vehicles. To solve this problem, special evacuation systems of various types are used. A common feature of existing systems for emergency evacuation from high-altitude units is the need to transfer from the main means of evacuation to an armored personnel carrier or to shelter behind the doors of a proteсted accommodation, which reduces the reliability and increases the cost of the system, especially in operation. The paper explores the prerequisites and opportunities for developing crew embarkation and evacuation systems without the use of protected accommodations and transfers, which can potentially reduce the cost and increase the reliability of these systems.