Growth in commercial space program plans worldwide has
introduced a variety of challenges:
• Unique space vehicle development and operations
• Commercial space flight program economic viability
• Public participation in space flight
• Accommodating spacecraft in conventional aircraft
airspace
• Human factors concerns in non-federal programs
Challenges (cont.)
• Risk and liability
• Reasonable regulation
• Spaceport siting
• Weather, communications, and radar facilities at
spaceports not collocated with airports
Space Programs (U.S.)
•Federal
• NASA
• DoD
•Civil
• Launchers (United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Orbital
Sciences)
• ISS support vehicles (Boeing, SpaceX, Sierra Nevada, Orbital
Sciences)
• Communications satellites
•Private
• Suborbital – Virgin Galactic, XCOR, Blue Origin
• Orbital – Boeing, Bigelow Aerospace, Sierra Nevada
Commercial Space Flight Programs (U.S.)
• Civil - NASA program support for the ISS under Commercial
Orbital Transportation Services contracts (COTS)
• Launchers (Falcon 9, Antares, Atlas V, Delta IV)
• Crew & cargo vehicles to the International Space Station
• SpaceX Dragon (crew, up-down cargo)
• Orbital Sciences Cygnus (cargo)
• Boeing CST-100 (crew)
• Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser (crew)
• Bigelow Aerospace Beam (ISS orbital module - berthed)
Commercial Space Flight Programs (U.S.)
•Private (tourism, research)
• Suborbital
• Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo (horizontal launch)
• XCOR Lynx (horizontal launch)
• Blue Origin New Shepard (vertical launch)
• Orbital
• Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser (vertical launch)
• Boeing CST-100 capsule (vertical launch)
• Bigelow BA 330 orbital habitat
• Spacecraft operations include reentry for both
flight vehicles and launchers
• All but SpaceShipTwo and Lynx travel at
hypersonic speeds during departure and reentry
• Hypersonic = Mach 5 or above
• White Knight Two is subsonic carrier that
lifts SpaceShipTwo to launch altitude
• Lynx is single-stage rocket-powered glider
with horizontal launch & landing
• The U.S. National Airspace System (NAS)
includes controlled airspace to 60,000’ (Flight
Level 600, or FL 600)
• U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) is undergoing
restructuring to accommodate civil aircraft, military
aircraft, spacecraft launches and reentries, and
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
• Spacecraft flights through the NAS have been infrequent
• Until now, managed through airspace restrictions and
rerouting air traffic on the east/west coast for federal
launches
• Restricted airspace
• Temporary flight restrictions
• Plans for commercial and private suborbital and orbital
space flights introduce more complex airspace
management techniques
NAS structure will have airspace regulation and
technology advancements to accommodate traffic
safely and efficiently by 2020
• NextGen concepts
• Performance-based navigation
• ADS-B (surveillance & reporting)
• FANS (future nav system)
• Traffic Flow Management System
• Network-enabled weather and weather processor
• Trajectory-based operations
• Trajectory negotiations (“automated” clearances
for conventional, hypersonic, and unmanned
flights)
Future airspace capability and flexibility will depend
on:
• Aircraft mix and density
• Space flight modes and operations
• Vehicle performance
• Spaceport location
Space flight modes and vehicles include:
• Orbital
• Suborbital
• Vertical launch
• Horizontal launch
• Reusable launchers (RLVs)
• Expendable launchers (ELVs)
Commercial space applications (1) – near term
• Suborbital
• Adventure travel (space tourism)
• High-altitude, high-speed research
• Hardware qualification
• Space-based utilities
• Communications
• Navigation
• Power generation
• Imagery
Commercial space applications (1) – within a decade
• Resource and threat management
• Asteroid detection & navigation
• Hazardous waste disposal
• Space debris management
• Natural resource acquisition
Commercial space applications (1) – beyond 2025
• Long-duration zero-g programs
• Orbital & lunar space tourism
• Zero-g medical care
• Manufacturing
• Colonization and science
• Near-space settlements
• Solar system exploration
• Evolved space science
Airspace adjustments for commercial space
operations include:
• Next Generation Air Transportation System
(NGATS)
• Expected to be in place by 2025
• Static airspace → dynamic airspace
• 4-D trajectory operations (time, space,
weather, traffic)
• Automated traffic analysis capability
• Reserved Airspace (2)
• Spaceport operating volumes that exclude
conventional air traffic during planned
operations and/or unplanned emergencies
• Space Transition Corridors
• Performance-based corridors that will
include flexibility and safety for commercial
spacecraft
• Flexible Spaceways
• Similar to airways and jet routes
• Accommodation for contingencies
Spacecraft operations require much more than airspace
accommodation and planning
•Regulation and licensing (business, vehicle, crew,
operations, etc.)
•Vehicle match with business model, spaceport(s), and
market
•Emergency and contingency simulation and training
•Launch, flight, and recovery operations
•Program management
•Crew and operations training
•Accommodate evolution of commercial space industry
•Space agency processes, adaptation, and interests
(FAA, NASA, State)
Spacecraft developers and operators often begin with
engineering expertise, but lack operations specialists
• New undergraduate degree in commercial space
operations was developed to support the operational
needs of many of the space program companies,
commercial spacecraft operators, and spaceports
• Program development was aided by commercial
space industry survey inputs
• Adapted as an interdisciplinary degree program
• Core of degree program includes human factors,
policy and law, planning and analysis, statistics and
management principles
• Industry recommendations for the non-engineering,
technical degree included:
• Orbits
• Life support systems
• Spacecraft systems
• Specializations augmented with either:
• Accounting, management, human factors
or
• Programming, simulation, production management
• Bachelor of Science degree developed at EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) at the
Daytona Beach, Florida campus (3)
• Approved by Board of Trustees in March, 2013 for
implementation in the fall semester, 2013
• Industry + agency panel will help guide direction
of the first-of-its-kind degree program
• ERAU is also on of the premiere educational
institution in flight training, flight education, air
traffic management, aerospace engineering, and
aviation management
• Research areas include contract work for the
FAA’s NextGen air traffic development project
• Air transportation focus of the university is now
embracing the new age of commercial space
transportation
• ERAU faculty have participated in the review and
evaluation, as well as the recommendations for
Florida’s first commercial spaceport – Cecil Field
Spaceport (Jacksonville)
• Future research areas in the new CSO degree are
expected to include spaceport evaluation and
development within the region, and nationally
• “Air Transportation” is becoming “Aerospace
Transportation” with the nearly dozen spaceports
underway, or already developed in the United
States
• ERAU faculty have participated in the review and
evaluation, as well as the recommendations for
Florida’s first commercial spaceport – Cecil Field
Spaceport (Jacksonville)
• Future research areas in the new CSO degree are
expected to include spaceport evaluation and
development with the region, and nationally
• “Air Transportation” is becoming “Aerospace
Transportation” with the nearly dozen spaceports
underway, or already developed in the United
States