Culture Clash: One More Attempt to Change the Lexicon Presentation to the RLV Working Group Michael S. Kelly

Context: Licensing of SS1 Process of licensing the research flights of SS1 complete, and License issued on 1 April 2004 Frankly, a long, painful process –Should not have been a surprise –Was the magnitude strictly necessary? Indications from another process, XCOR’s successful license completion show that the process need not have been as painful as it was What is the difference?

The Source of the Problem Scaled and XCOR have different worldviews from “launch” industry Scaled and XCOR have different worldviews from each other FAA/AST’s practical licensing experience is completely in the “launch” (i.e. expendable) industry, which is a different world from the RLV “world” –It is a Tower of Babel – three groups speaking three different languages, trying to reach a common end (Makes the conclusion of the licensing process all the more remarkable an achievement)

Concepts and Language The relationship of concepts to language is complex enough – don’t make it harder Language doesn’t determine concepts, but it does influence how quickly or slowly valid concepts are formed The most significant part of language is in revealing the stage of conceptual development of the person(s) using it –Conceptual validity and precision is manifested by the use of appropriate language

Where We Stand We are in the infancy of “reusable launch vehicles” and commercial space “flight” In terms of our conceptual framework, we are tabula rasa However, one thing is very clear: application of the conceptual framework of “space launch” is absolutely inappropriate

Comparisons Launch: A single, unrepeatable event for a vehicle that will fly once and only once Launch Vehicle: A vehicle that will fly once and only once, and be completely destroyed whether it has accomplished its mission or not – and it’s not designed to perform any other way Flight Safety: The ability to destroy a launch vehicle ahead of schedule Range: A remote place where one conducts the highly dangerous activity of launch The normal mode of operation of a vehicle that does round trips into space: No equivalent word A vehicle that is designed to and routinely leaves the ground, reaches space, and returns to the ground: No equivalent word, but it certainly is NOT (in general) a “reusable launch vehicle” Flight Safety: The ability of a pilot (remote, on-board, automatic) to recover from pilot or hardware induced problems and safely return to the ground Spaceport: A place where vehicles designed to routinely leave the ground, reach space, and return do the leaving and returning

And a complicaton Aircraft: Has a set of well defined definitions for the various types Has a culture which has 100 years of practical experience with safety –How to ensure it –Or, more significantly, what happens when everything goes wrong Scaled comes from this world

The Pain of Not Speaking the Same Language Scaled worked from the perspective of a long- established industry, of unknown applicability FAA/AST worked from the perspective of another long- established industry, of unknown applicability It was inevitable that there would be a level of pain in determining what was applicable from each perspective As it turns out, there is more from the aircraft world than the launch world

Some Examples Crashes of “RLVs” are, in general, no different from crashes of aircraft after propellant exhaustion, regardless of vehicle energy state or altitude Control of “RLVs” is aircraft-like, and bears no resemblance to “launch” Safety is aircraft-like, not like that associated with artillery (launch vehicles) The psuedo-precision of safety predictions from “launch” is polluting the atmosphere for all of us

It’s Now Time It may have been premature to change the lexicon of “RLVs” when originally proposed, because we had no practical experience Now we do, and will continue to gain it We should be looking at a continued conceptual and linguistic development that is unique to this new industry, and do it with intent and eyes wide open