The Federal Aviation Administration today said it would streamline the environmental review part of permit applications for the launch and/or reentry of reusable suborbital rockets to help bolster a fledgling commercial space market.
At the heart of the ruling is a document used to outline and determine the potential environmental consequences of issuing experimental permits known as the Processing of Experimental Permit Applications (PEIS).
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The idea as the FAA explains it: Because the PEIS presents information and analysis common to reusable, suborbital rockets, the FAA could choose to tier environmental documents from the PEIS to focus on environmental impacts specific to an applicant's proposed experimental operations. The PEIS would eliminate repetitive discussions of recurring issues and focus on issues that are ready for decision...specific to a particular launch. Individual launch operators would be required to coordinate with site operators to gain access to a site. In addition, the launch operators would be required to apply to the FAA for an experimental permit, which would require an individual safety and environmental review.
From the FAA ruling:
"The PEIS considers activities associated with the launch and reentry of reusable suborbital rockets, including pre-flight activities, flight profile (takeoff, flight, and landing), and post-flight activities.
The general suborbital rocket designs addressed in the PEIS include vehicles resembling conventional aircraft--30 to 140 feet long with unfueled weight of up to 9,921 pounds; vehicles resembling conventional rockets--6 to 33 feet long with unfueled weight of up to 5,500 pounds; and vehicles that hover-up to 20 feet in length or diameter with unfueled weight of up to 4,400 pounds. The FAA also assumes the total rocket fuel capacity of a reusable suborbital rocket not to exceed 11,00lbs.
"The PEIS examines the potential environmental impacts of issuing an experimental permit for the operation of reusable suborbital rockets anywhere in the U.S. and abroad, and the potential site-specific impacts of permitted launches from seven FAA-licensed commercial launch sites: California Spaceport, California; Mojave Air and Space Port, California; Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska; Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Virginia; and Space Florida."
The FAA said it prepared the PEIS with cooperation from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the US Air Force and said that its ruling does not propose site- specific environmental mitigation measures. "Rather, launch operators would be expected to implement site-specific mitigation measures that are consistent with those currently employed by the eight launch facilities addressed in the PEIS. Additional site-specific mitigation measures could be developed and presented in the site-specific documents that would tier from the PEIS."
Reusable launch vehicles or rockets are one of the key technologies for the future of commercial space flight. The Review of United States Human Space Flight Plan Committee report said that commercial services to deliver crew to low-Earth orbit are within reach. "While this presents some risk, it could provide an earlier capability at lower initial and life-cycle costs than government could achieve. A new competition with adequate incentives to perform this service should be open to all US aerospace companies."
NASA recently said it would partner with the US Air Force Research Laboratory to develop a technology roadmap for use of reusable commercial spaceships. The study of reusable launch vehicle or RLVs will focus on identifying technologies and assessing their potential use to accelerate the development of commercial reusable launch vehicles that have improved reliability, availability, launch turn-time, robustness and significantly lower costs than current launch systems, NASA stated. The study results will provide roadmaps with recommended government technology tasks and milestones for different vehicle categories.
NASA also recently said it would offer $50 million in stimulus money to further develop private commercial spacecraft. NASA said its Commercial Crew and Cargo Program looks to develop and demonstrate safe, reliable, and cost-effective capabilities to transport cargo and eventually crew to low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station.
The aerospace consultancy Futron recently said that as much as $1.5 billion may be up for grabs for commercial space operation in the next ten years.
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