Major issues to be finalised include environmental control and performance standards
Although the US Federal Aviation Administration's new rules for commercial human spaceflight come into force on 13 February, a number of key areas have yet to be decided or are still open-ended.
The FAA has to establish a performance standard for flightcrews to demonstrate that they can withstand spaceflight, acknowledging that a second-class airman medical certificate is insufficient. The agency has yet to accept methods of environmental control, and will require demonstrations.
It has also not yet determined the amount of launch system verification and flight testing needed, instead taking a case-by-case approach.
The FAA also still has to decide if it will require spaceflight operators to produce a safety record of their own and almost every launch system ever flown. Such a record is deemed necessary to ensure that customers can make an informed choice about whether to fly.
"We would like the industry to come up with an appropriate document and then have the FAA agree to it," says Virgin Galactic chief operating officer Alex Tai, chairman of industry group Personal Spaceflight Federation.
The FAA has agreed to reduce the amount of technical data operators have to provide to customers, as the rules as proposed had suggested detailed disclosure that could, in some cases, breach the US technology transfer regulations.
The agency will also not be able to impose restrictions on launch systems until 23 December 2013, unless harm or near harm to individuals occurs before then.
Tai says his company and the industry body are happy with the FAA rules so far, which allow for the future technological development of various vehicle systems.
The final rules for vehicle design include requirements for: smoke detection and fire suppression systems passive and/or active, closed or open loop, environmental control the automatic addition of oxygen and a redundant secondary oxygen supply for flight crew the scrubbing of CO2, with lithium hydroxide canisters specified as an option avionics thermal control systems and consideration of micrometeoroid and orbital debris impact in the design.
Source: Flight International
