One Pad (or LCO flow control ctd)
My dad and I were talking about range flow control again (thrilling, yes?) and he brought up a good point about this launch:
A lot of flights for just one pad. Makes me wonder if launching would be more efficient at ROC if they had fewer pads....
Is the critical issue for throughput the number of pads, or the competency of the range boss in utilizing them? I would tend to think the latter. MDRA usually sets up 28 pads for Red Glare in three banks of eight, plus four away cells, yet they manage to launch 600+ rockets over the weekend. CMASS does 350 rockets in a day with 14 pads. ROC sets up 60+ pads for ROCStock, but at its peak only launched 800 or so.
Setting up fewer pads also has the benefit of reducing workload on the volunteers. Maybe the active number of pads should be constrained to the number that the LCO can mentally manage.
Related: Interstate 5 in south Orange County has 9+ lanes in each direction, yet still gets blocked up during rush hour. It's not a capacity problem—it's a control one.











