Overview of Space Operations and the National Airspace System

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Overview of Space Operations and the National
Airspace System Presentation to COMSTAC Systems
Working Group
Dan Murray Ed Gannon 9 October 2012
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Commercial Space in the NAS

• The President's 2010 National Space Policy
  highlights the importance of a robust, diverse
  commercial space transportation industry
• As the frequency of commercial space launches and
  reentries increases, equitable access to the
  National Airspace System (NAS) will be essential
  to its continued growth

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Commercial Space in the NAS

• FAA is working to develop policy, processes and
  procedures for safely and efficiently integrating
  commercial space launch and reentry operations
  into the NAS
• Goal to support mission objectives of commercial
  launch and reentry operators without adversely
  affecting the system's performance and capacity

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Commercial Space in the NAS

• Currently, mission-specific strategies are
  identified and implemented to optimize NAS
  efficiency and performance during these
  operations
• Over time, these approaches are expected to
  evolve into a collaborative, standardized
  framework for NAS management

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NAS Stakeholder Engagement

• AST and ATO are looking to the aviation and
  commercial space transportation industries to
  support this evolution
• Short term
• Participate in a stakeholder forum that provides
  recommendations for implementation policy and
  processes based on industry goals and constraints
• Long term
• Participate in a stakeholder collaborative
  process of data sharing and NAS management

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Who Are NAS Stakeholders?

• Air carriers
• Business aviation
• Commercial Space
• General aviation
• Government
• Others

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Why is This Important Now?

• The aviation and commercial space industries
  compete for use of the same limited resource
• Air traffic growth could rise by more than 90
  percent in the next 20 years
• Commercial space operations could increase by a
  factor of 10 in just 10 years
• New policies and processes must be defined to
  handle demand
• The aviation and commercial space industries
  operate differently and deal with different
  constraints that must be fully considered

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Input to these Policies and Processes

• The aviation industry is well established and
  organized and it has been participating in
  collaborative groups for decades and will
  continue to participate
• The space industry must recognize that their
  participation is vital to ensure their interests
  are part of the solutions when these policies and
  processes are developed

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• Questions?