Reusable Launch Vehicle Working Group

Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee

Presented to COMSTAC Meeting

George Whitesides, RLVWG Chairman

May 16, 2008

Federal AviationAdministration

Experimental Permit Program Report to COMSTAC

May 2008Federal AviationAdministration 2

RLV Working Group: Agenda

• Acknowledgement of Michael S. Kelly• Previous Action Item Status• Safety Performance Targets• Human Space Flight Study• Update on FAA Experimental Permits• Update on HSP Training Task Force• Action Item Review and New Business

Experimental Permit Program Report to COMSTAC

May 2008Federal AviationAdministration 3

Recognizing Ten Years of Leadership of the RLV Working Group …

Thank You Mike!

Experimental Permit Program Report to COMSTAC

May 2008Federal AviationAdministration 4

RLV Working Group: Actions Status

• RLVWG Chair to distribute biomedical research briefings to RLVWG (complete)

• RLVWG to submit suggestions for biomedical data collection to AST by 20 November 2007 (complete)

• RLVWG stakeholders to submit Human Spaceflight Safety Performance Target recommendations to AST by 20 November (complete)

• RLVWG members to submit AST R&D topics to Chair by 14 December 2007 (complete)

• Notify broader COMSTAC of Taskforce on Training Standards (complete)

Experimental Permit Program Report to COMSTAC

May 2008Federal AviationAdministration 5

Comments on Development of Human Space Flight Safety Performance (HSF) TargetKen Wong, Manager, Licensing and Safety Division, AST

• On October 10, 2007, the COMSTAC RLV Working Group was invited to submit comments and suggestions for a proposed HSF performance target.• The FAA received nine comments from different companies,

organizations, and individuals. Comments included:• It’s too early to establish an HSF safety performance target at this time

because there haven’t been enough commercial human space flights. • The FAA will consider the comments it receives as it develops an HSF

safety performance target.• It is not too early to consider what metrics should be used to monitor

HSF safety in the future.• The FAA would like the continued assistance of COMSTAC in

creating these metrics and requests comments on the preliminary HSF target:• Limit the fatal accident rate for licensed suborbital launches and

reentries carrying flight crew or space flight participants to less than the overall historical rate of 1%.

Experimental Permit Program Report to COMSTAC

May 2008Federal AviationAdministration 6

Status of Human Space Flight (HSF) Study Required By CongressKen Wong, Manager, Licensing and Safety Division, AST

• Team of Aerospace Corporation, George Washington Univ., and Massachusetts Institute of Technology selected in September 2007 to conduct study.

• Preliminary and formal kickoff meetings with FAA and study team held in Oct. and Nov. 2007.

• Study team provided to various organizations in Nov. 2007, a list of questions concerning HSF-related issues that the study will address.

• Study team briefed its study approach to the Personal Spaceflight Federation (Dec. 2007).

• Study team spoke to Congressional Staff (Jan. 2008) and NASA HQ personnel (Dec. 2007 and May 2008).

• FAA discussed initial planning and briefed status of study to:• NASA and NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (March 2007 and April

2008)• COMSTAC RLV Working Group (May 2007 and May 2008).

• Study team is drafting report while it awaits additional responses to its list of questions.

• Draft study report due on June 23, 2008.

Experimental Permit Program Report to COMSTAC

May 2008Federal AviationAdministration 7

Experimental Permits Report to COMSTACMichelle Murray, Experimental Permit Program Lead

• Eight Maximum Probable Loss Determinations• Third Party Ranged from $3-9M

• Government Ranged from $0-1.5M

• Four Experimental Permits Issued

• Fifteen Permitted Launches

• Challenges• Allowable Changes vs. Application Modification• Methodology for determining MPL• Safety Clear Zones• Operating Areas• Buffer Zones• Regression and Software Testing• 1st party vs. 3rd party

Experimental Permit Program Report to COMSTAC

May 2008Federal AviationAdministration 8

COMSTAC RLV Task Force on Training Status ReportMaurice Kennedy, Director, Research and Strategic Planning, United Space Alliance

• RLV Task Force was formed October 2007• Their purpose is to develop recommended commercial human spaceflight training

standards and submit appropriate recommendations to the FAA through the COMSTAC RLV WG

• Focus is on U.S. Commercial human spaceflight operations phase, not the development and experimental phase.

• The training standards are intended to apply to all U. S. companies and foreign companies that operate in the U. S.

• The task force has conducted 8 meetings completing a first cut at a comprehensive list of space operations job categories and the associated knowledge and procedures that may require training standards.

• Next steps are:• Select the job categories and associated knowledge and procedures that

should be included in the final report to the FAA • Identify criteria for defining a training standard for each job category.

Experimental Permit Program Report to COMSTAC

May 2008Federal AviationAdministration 9

Actions:

• Human Space Flight Safety Performance (HSF) Target: The FAA would like the continued assistance of COMSTAC in creating these metrics and requests comments on the preliminary HSF target within 1 month.

• Human Space Flight (HSF) Study: Study organizations are still accepting input before draft submission on June 23.

• Comments and suggestions for new business for RLVWG:George WhitesidesNational Space Societygeorge@nss.org(202) 429-1600