Start Date
26-4-1989 3:00 PM
Description
Full reusability, combined with intact abort capability during all phases of flight, will have a profound effect upon the development, certification and operation of space launch vehicles. The effect will be to dramatically lessen third-party safety and liability concerns, while at the same time eliminating the need for individual flight licensing which are unnecessarily cumbersome and counterproductive. Because these future vehicles will have attributes of full reuse, intact abort and routine operations, their development, certification and operation will have much more in common with aircraft than expendable launch vehicles (ELYs). This paper argues for a clear distinction between the regulations imposed by governmental authorities upon ELVs and those for commercial reusable space transports (RSTs). This distinction must be based on a clear understanding of the engineering principles which underlie the RST.
Several types of RSTs will be discussed initially, including vertical take-off and vertical landing vehicles (VTOVL), vertical take-off and horizontal landing vehicles (VTOHL) and horizontal take-off and horizontal landing vehicles of both ground (HTOHL) and air-launched (HATOHL) varieties. The VTOVL has been selected as a case in point for further discussion.
Paper Session II-B - A Reusable Commercial Space Transport in a World of Expendables: Development, Certification and Operation
Full reusability, combined with intact abort capability during all phases of flight, will have a profound effect upon the development, certification and operation of space launch vehicles. The effect will be to dramatically lessen third-party safety and liability concerns, while at the same time eliminating the need for individual flight licensing which are unnecessarily cumbersome and counterproductive. Because these future vehicles will have attributes of full reuse, intact abort and routine operations, their development, certification and operation will have much more in common with aircraft than expendable launch vehicles (ELYs). This paper argues for a clear distinction between the regulations imposed by governmental authorities upon ELVs and those for commercial reusable space transports (RSTs). This distinction must be based on a clear understanding of the engineering principles which underlie the RST.
Several types of RSTs will be discussed initially, including vertical take-off and vertical landing vehicles (VTOVL), vertical take-off and horizontal landing vehicles (VTOHL) and horizontal take-off and horizontal landing vehicles of both ground (HTOHL) and air-launched (HATOHL) varieties. The VTOVL has been selected as a case in point for further discussion.
Comments
Commercial Space Transportation
Session Chairman: Norman C. Bowles, Associate Director for Licensing Programs, Office of Commercial Space Transportation, Department of Transportation (DOT), Washington, D.C.
Session Organizer: Jerry Vick, Space Station Support Office, Payload Management and Operations Directorate, NASA KSC