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The Office of Commercial Space Transportation is a division of the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that approves any commercial rocket launch operations—that is, any launches that are not classified as model, amateur, or "by and for the government." The office also regulates launch sites, publishes quarterly launch forecasts, and holds annual conferences with the space launch industry. The office is headed by the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST), who is currently Patti G. Smith. They are located in Washington, DC, and ultimately operate under the Department of Transportation. Under international law, the nationality of the owner of a launch vehicle determines which country is responsible for any damages resulting from that vehicle. Due to this, the United States requires that rocket manufacturers and launchers adhere to specific regulations to indemnify and protect the safety of people and property that may be affected by a flight. The Office of Commercial Space Transportation was created in 1985 by the Commercial Space Launch Act to meet this need.
Rocket categories According to current US law, rockets fall into three basic categories. Each category is usually correlated to a specific set of regulations, though exceptions exist for all categories. For a rocket to even be considered a rocket, its thrust must be greater than lift for the majority of powered flight*. Model rockets do not require approval to be launched, and are defined as having all the following characteristics: Amateur rockets generally require a "Part 101 waiver" (or, more specifically, a waiver to 14 CFR 101.23(b)). They are defined as those rockets that cannot meet the definition of model rockets, but can meet all the following conditions*: Licensed rockets are all other rockets, and are subject to AST's licensing process (14 CFR Chapter III). A current version of the regulations can be obtained here. The only exception to this are launches that are by and for the government. NASA's shuttle and military rockets, for example, fall under this category, and do not require a license to launch. Amateur Rocket Operations Generally, amateur rockets must request a waiver to enter national airspace. These waivers, though they are granted by the FAA's Flight Standards Office, are monitored by the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, in particular in cases where the maximum altitude of the rocket is greater than 25,000 ft (7620 m) above ground level (AGL). In these cases the launch operator may be required to show analyses proving the safety of the proposed launch, and may be subject to extra terms and conditions within the waiver itself. Licensed Rocket Operations For licensed launches, a launch operator must adhere to one of two sets of regulations, depending on the reusability of his/her rocket. Expendable Launch Vehicles (ELVs) operate under Part 415, whereas Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLVs) operate under Part 431. Launch Site Operations Launch sites, in addition to the launch vehicles that operate there, must also receive authorization from AST. The launch site regulations are contained in Part 420. General Requirements In general, when licensing launch operations, AST uses a 3-pronged approach to safety: Quantitative Analysis, System Safety Process, and Operating Restrictions. Quantitative Analysis AST will generally require that the operator perform what's known as an "Ec Analysis." Ec ("Eee-sub-cee") is shorthand for Expected Casualty -- a calculation of the probability of casualty to any and all groups of people within the maximum dispersion of the vehicle. In the simplest case, a rocket will have containment, which means that there are no people or property located within the maximum range of the vehicle. Most rockets, however, cannot achieve containment, and must be regulated using a risk-based approach. A calculation of risk takes into account various failure modes of the rocket, various locations of the people, various shelters in which they reside, and various manners in which they can be hurt (direct impact, blast overpressure, toxic cloud, etc.). The calculation is very involved, even for relatively small rockets. In all cases, the assumptions in the calculation become the limits on the day of launch. For example, if a vehicle is analyzed for malfunction turn due to thrust offset, and the assumed wind in the model is 30 knots, then one of the GO/NO GO criteria on the day of launch will be a <30 knot wind. For AST, as it is with most government agencies, Unknown = No. System Safety Process Certain rockets are hard to quantify in an analysis. Newer vehicles especially do not have the history required to demonstrate reliability, and thus the uncertainty in quantitative analyses can be substantial. In all cases, but especially in cases where quantitative uncertainty is at a maximum, AST will require that the launch operator follow a System Safety Process. A System Safety Process (SSP) can come in many forms, and generally involves "Top-Down" analyses (such as Fault Trees), "Bottom-Up" analyses (such as a Hazard Analysis or Failure Modes & Effects Analysis (FMEA)), and various other analyses as required (Fishbone). Rocket systems, failure modes, external hazards, and everything else are analyzed with an eye towards public safety. From these systematic analyses, mitigation measures - or actios taken to reduce the risk - are developed. Just as in the quantitative analysis, these mitigation measures become GO/NO GO criteria on the day of launch. AST will generally require verification (evidence of an operator using mitigation measures) for every safety-critical system on the vehicle. Operating Restrictions In addition to all the operating restrictions developed in the quantitative analyses and system safety processes, AST requires other restrictions be followed. These are described in the Code of Federal Regualtions. An example of an operating restriction is a Collision Avoidance Analysis (COLA) for rockets operating above 150 km -- to preclude collisions with manned or manable space structures (such as the ISS or Shuttle). See also | ||||||||
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