In 1993 the then newly constructed Pegasus XL Launch vehicle crashed during an attempt to launch a NASA satellite into orbit. The vehicle manufacturer, Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC), sought NASA's help in first finding and then correcting the fault. A preliminary analysis of the crash surfaced a shortcoming with "inadequate control forces" which had to be resolved. During the ensuing investigative study, which included both experimental and computational assessments, a large discrepancy was discovered between experimentally measured stability derivatives and the analytically predicted derivatives used to derive the control laws.

The TetrUSS unstructured grid system was used to provide a higher-order estimate the stability derivatives of the vehicle. The calculated results were determined to be within 10-15% of experimental values, thus increasing the confidence level in prescribing new control laws. The modified design was successfully flown on March 8, 1996.