Commercial Space: A New Frontier Dr. George C. Nield Deputy Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 1 1 Background The U.S. space program today has 3 sectors: Civil Military Commercial The commercial sector was created in 1984 with the passage of the Commercial Space Launch Act. Regulatory oversight for the commercial sector was given to the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, which was originally a staff office within the Department of Transportation. Today, AST is one of the lines of business within the FAA.

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 2 2 The AST Mission To ensure the protection of the public, property, and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States during commercial launch and reentry activities, and to encourage, facilitate, and promote U.S. commercial space transportation.

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 3 3 Who Needs a Launch License? Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984 requires U.S. citizens to obtain a license prior to conducting the launch of a launch vehicle Only exception is for missions conducted by and for the government (such as launches by NASA or the U.S. Air Force) Over the last 20 years, there have been 180 licensed launches, without any fatalities or property damage to the uninvolved public.

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 4 4 U.S. Spaceports Commercial and Government Active and Proposed Launch Sites Key U.S. Federal Launch Site Non-Federal FAA Licensed Launch Site Proposed Non-Federal Launch Site     Kodiak Launch Complex Blue Origin Spaceport    Vandenberg AFB  California Spaceport  Mojave Airport  Edwards AFB  White Sands Missile Range Southwest Regional Spaceport    Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport  South Texas Spaceport  West Texas Spaceport  Oklahoma Spaceport  Wallops Flight Facility  Spaceport Florida Cape Canaveral Spaceport - Kennedy Space Center - Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Other interested states include Alabama, Nevada, Ohio, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. Reagan Test Site Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands Sea Launch Platform Equatorial Pacific Ocean

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 5 5 What’s Been Happening in Commercial Space Transportation? Licenses and Permits Issued Launches Conducted New Companies Formed Announcements Made Regulations Published

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 6 6 2/16/06 - Announcement of Explorer Spaceplane System

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 7 7 2/17/06 - Plans for UAE Spaceport Announced

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 8 8 2/20/06 - Plans for Singapore Spaceport Announced

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 9 9 3/1/06 - New Mexico Approves $100M for Spaceport

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 10 3/24/06 - Falcon I Launch

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 11 4/3/06 - RLV Summit

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 12 6/12/06 - Oklahoma Spaceport Licensed

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 13 7/12/06 - Launch of Bigelow Aerospace Module

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 14 8/18/06 - NASA Announces COTS Winners As part of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, NASA has committed $500M in “seed money” for the private sector to develop and demonstrate the capability to deliver crew and cargo to the International Space Station. After reviewing over 20 different proposals, NASA selected SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler to receive Space Act Agreements. The Agreements are fixed-price, and payments are based on accomplishing a series of programmatic milestones.

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 15 Rocketplane Kistler

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 16 SpaceX

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 17 9/15/06 - Blue Origin Receives First-Ever Launch Permit Company is headquartered in Seattle and is led by Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com. A private launch site has been developed in West Texas. The first unmanned test flight of their vertical- takeoff/ vertical-landing vehicle took place on November 13, 2006.

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 18 9/18/06 - Anousheh Ansari Becomes Space Tourist #4

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 19 The SpaceShip Company Formed by Richard Branson (Virgin Group) and Burt Rutan (Scaled Composites) Scaled will design, build, and test a fleet of 5 suborbital spaceships and 2 launch aircraft Virgin Galactic will be the operator Each vehicle will carry up to 6 passengers and 2 crew Initial ticket price to be $200,000 Operations to start in 2008

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 20 9/28/06 - SpaceShipTwo Cabin Unveiled

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 21 9/28/06 - Benson Space Company Formed

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 22 10/19/06 - Armadillo Aerospace Flights at X-Prize Cup

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 23 10/30/06 - Successful SeaLaunch Mission

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 24 12/15/06 - Human Space Flight Regulations Published Provides requirements for launch vehicles carrying flight crew and/or space flight participants (passengers) Pilots must have an FAA pilot certificate with instrument rating Safety-critical members of the flight crew must have a second class FAA medical certificate Space flight participants must agree to accept the risks involved by providing informed consent in writing

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 25 12/16/06 - 1st Launch from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport

New Technologies Workshop January 9, 2007 Federal Aviation Administration 26 Conclusions Up to this point, the launch of communications satellites using expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) has been the mainstay of the commercial space transportation industry. However, development of a new market -- Commercial Human Space Flight -- appears to be well underway. Congress, through the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act, has challenged DOT and the FAA to “encourage, facilitate, and promote” this new activity in a way that continuously improves its safety. The Office of Commercial Space Transportation is committed to doing our part to enable this exciting new part of the industry, while continuing our support for ELV operations.