NASA/TM-1999-209734, NASA TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM: LIGHTNING PROTECTION GUIDELINES FOR AEROSPACE VEHICLES (MAY 1999)

NASA/TM-1999-209734, NASA TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM: LIGHTNING PROTECTION GUIDELINES FOR AEROSPACE VEHICLES (MAY 1999)., Atmospheric electricity must be considered in the design, transportation, and operation of aerospace vehicles. Inadequately protected aerospace vehicles can be upset, damaged, or destroyed by a direct lightning stroke to the vehicle or launch support equipment before or after launch.1–3 Damage can also result from current induced in the vehicle from changing electric fields produced by a nearby lightning stroke. The effect of the atmosphere as an insulator and conductor of high-voltage electricity at various atmospheric pressures must also be considered. Improperly designed high-voltage systems aboard the vehicle can arc or break down at low atmospheric pressure.