Policy Overview of US Commercial Space Launches

Policy Overview of US Commercial Space Launches

By: Marjan Naghshbandi

Introduction to Commercial Space Launch and SpaceX

AS DEFINED BY THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA), a commercial launch has one or more of the following traits: it is licensed by the FAA, it was financed by private companies rather than government support, and/or the launch contract of the primary payload was open to international competition [1]. Private aerospace companies include Blue Origin, Boeing, Paragon Space Development Corporation, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), and United Launch Alliance [2]. Founded by Elon Musk in 2002, SpaceX became the first commercial entity to do what government agencies had managed to accomplish decades earlier: send a vehicle into orbit and return it unimpaired [3]. Currently working on a rocket system that could support humans on a Mars mission, SpaceX is an irrefutable leader in the aerospace industry [4]. This article explores SpaceX’s commercial collaborations with the U.S government, starting off an overview of commercial launch regulations.

Establishment of Regulatory Parties

Since the 1980s, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has been the lead agency responsible for the regulation of activities by commercial launch vehicles [5]. The Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST), established in 1984 by the DOT, performs all regulatory activities such as upholding both domestic and foreign obligations for public health and safety, organizing the private sector’s commercial space launches, and suggesting amendments to Federal regulations and legal procedures [6]. The AST was soon confirmed by the United States Congress, who then established the Commercial Space Launch Act: an act that notably declares that “no person shall launch a launch vehicle or operate a launch site within the United States, unless authorized by a license issued or transferred under this Act.”

AST Regulation of Commercial Launches

There are two types of licenses that may be issued by the AST to authorize commercial launches: a specific license or an operator license [5]. The former authorizes one or more launches that all use one site and vehicle. Figure 1 shows an image of the Falcon 9 rocket — a vehicle whose launches are authorized via a specific license.

Specific license LLS 17-096 (rev. 1) permits Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) to launch eight flights of the Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California [5][7]. Meanwhile, an operator license permits an indefinite number of launches of similar but potentially identical vehicles [5]. Figure 2 shows the Atlas V rocket, which falls under the class of vehicles authorized under an operator license.

With operator license LLO 18-113, United Launch Alliance may launch any of the six versions of the Atlas V rocket any number of times from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida within a five year window [5][8]. For suborbital vehicles, the AST may grant permits rather than licenses. There are often fewer requirements in the permit approval process, so permits can be granted more quickly [5].

Figure 1: Falcon 9 Rocket [7]

NASA’s Commercial Collaborations with SpaceX

Thanks to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Commercial Crew Program, collaborations between the public and private sectors are becoming increasingly common.

Traditionally, such collaborations involved NASA contracting a private company, and then supervising them as they built their own spacecraft while providing the company with financial support [9]. Under the Commercial Crew Program, NASA’s support is more hands-off; NASA engineers and specialists merely assist private companies that plan to send astronauts to low-Earth orbit with the safety and financial aspects of their crew transportation systems [10]. Companies have free reign over the design of their vehicles and manufacturing practices and maintain ownership of their infrastructure, but must meet NASA’s established set of requirements. According to NASA, such partnerships encourage “industry to provide human transportation services to and from low-Earth orbit” and enable NASA to “focus on building spacecraft and rockets for deep space missions.” [11]

History was made in May 2020 after a collaboration between NASA and SpaceX sent humans into Earth’s orbit, marking the first crewed launch by a commercial aerospace company [12]. Such collaborations involve two categories of legislation: Space Act Agreements and contracts [10]. Below are the agreements and contracts with SpaceX. SpaceX has been awarded a total of $3.144 billion across all commitments shown.

1. (Space Act Agreement) Commercial Crew Development Round 2 CCDev2

2. (Space Act Agreement) Commercial Crew Integrated Capability CCiCap

3. (Contract) Certification Products Contract CPC

4. (Contract) Commercial Crew Transportation Capability CCtCap

The majority of operations by the Commercial Crew Program are based in Florida, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center [10]. At the Kennedy SpaceCenter is Launch Complex 39A — the launch site that delivered Apollo 11on the first moon landing mission [13]. SpaceX began leasing LaunchComplex 39A from NASA in 2014 [14] [13]. The property agreement grants SpaceX the right to use Launch Complex 39A for commercial launches, ranging from trips to the ISS to a Mars mission in the 2030s [13]. The handover of the launch site from NASA to SpaceX is estimated to be saving taxpayers $100,000 a month [14]. The SpaceX and NASAcollaborations described above barely skim the surface of the nuanced relationships between the public and private sector. As the commercial aerospace sector continues to grow, so will the realm of possibility for space exploration and discovery.

References

[1] Federal Aviation Administration, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), 30-Jun-2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.faa.gov/space/additional_information/ faq/#cl1. [Accessed: 15-Jul-2021].

[2] A. Heiney, “Commercial Crew Program - Essentials,” NASA, 14-Aug-2019. [Online]. Available: https://www. nasa.gov/content/commercial-crew-program-the-essentials#.VjOJ3berRaT. [Accessed: 15-Jul-2021].

[3] Time, “SpaceX: 10 Facts to Know,” Time. [Online]. Available: https://time.com/space-x-ten-things-to-know/. [Accessed: 15-Jul-2021].

[4] The Planetary Society, “Why do we need NASA when we have SpaceX?,” The Planetary Society, 12-Nov-2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.planetary.org/articles/ nasa-versus-spacex. [Accessed: 15-Jul-2021].

[5] D. Morgan, “Commercial Space: Federal Regulation, Oversight, and Utilization,” Congressional Research Service, United States, 2018.