This document is one of several products identified in the Safety Review & Assessment Section of the Commercial Space Transportation Reusable Launch Vehicle Program Plan. As noted in the Program Plan, other tasks and products are identified which would provide more specific guidance on procedures including coordination among FAA field elements and Headquarters, for example. It is anticipated that the process described herein will be subject to continuous modification and improvement as the FAA gains experience. While the approval process described recognizes long-term expectations including Space Launch Vehicle Approvals that might be associated with launch vehicles carrying hundreds of passengers, the focus of this document and currently proposed safety standards is on handling and managing near-term operations. The process could be used for the licensing of vehicle operations, approvals of vehicles, systems, subsystems, components, operations and processes. This description of the top- level process is sufficiently broad to be applicable to the development and operation of all of the various Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) concepts. While the focus of this process is on the approval of RLV operations, the scope may include early system and concept testing using aircraft, approaches that use aircraft as part of the launch concept, and proposals that utilize aircraft- like systems as part of the launch vehicle design. The intent is to work with the applicant in a manner, that presents an integrated corporate process leading to the ultimate goal of conducting safe RLV operations. The nature of the specific proposed concept and operation will drive the makeup of the Safety Analysis Team and the Safety Approval Plan, for example. An example of how this mirrors the process actually used for the FAA approvals of the Orbital Sciences Corporations Pegasus/L-1011 concept is provided in the Reusable Launch Vehicle Program Plan.
Commercial Space Transportation Reusable Launch Vehicle Operations: Safety Approval Process
2001
20 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
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