Senior space agency and industry members of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) have established the Independent Space Safety Board (ISSB) to offer non-profit commercial spaceflight vehicle certification services for around $300,000. Aimed at suborbital tourism providers that want to encourage confidence in their vehicles, the Houston, Texas-based ISSB members include the European Space Agency's head of International Space Station utilisation, product assurance and safety Tommaso Sgobba, and is chaired by former Shuttle payloads safety panel chairman "Skip" Larsen. He was responsible for the safety certification of complex payloads such as the Hubble Space Telescope. The IAASS safety standard against which the ISSB will perform its certification will be published in August.
Citing market research performed by Futron in 2001, the ISSB says "the lack of an independent safety certification may deter the participation of at least a part of the potential customers". Under US commercial spaceflight regulations an operator must inform a customer that the government has not certificated the vehicle for safe operation.
The ISSB argues it can provide an independent certification to mitigate against future litigation. The IAASS is also pushing for the International Civil Aviation Organisation to be more involved in commercial spaceflight to enable the integration of air and space traffic control, and the building of launch facilities closer to populated areas.
Source: Flight International
