1. Moving Toward Trustworthy Aerospace Vehicle (AV) Systems
SAE International Aerospace Standards Summit, 2 October 2018
René Rey

2. Adventure Human Spaceflight (HSF) vs. Common Carriage
Adventure HSF is Not Common Carriage
Spaceflight Participant (SFP) safety standards are limited in scope
Containment of hazards within a specific geographic area (i.e., collective risk (Ec) less than 1 X 10-4 for debris, toxics and blast overpressure)
Safety-critical systems are evaluated for public safety, only
SFP level of safety is not comparable to that existing in aviation or in other forms of common carriage
Informed consent
Common Carriage Invokes Specific Duties
Required to act with the utmost care, skill, and diligence to protect the safety of passengers as may be mandated by the:
Type of transportation provided, and
Risk of danger inherent in it

3. Parlaying the Aviation Legacy into AV’s
Passenger-Carrying AV’s Should Draw Upon the Successful Design and Operational Heritage of Military and Commercial Aircraft
Specifically, a System Safety FHA assessment process for analyzing passenger-carrying AV’s should be defined to establish a set of generic safety design and operational standards applicable to any AV
FHA’s performed in the commercial jet aircraft industry, using SAE Aerospace Recommended Practices (ARPs), should form the basis for the assessment process
Aircraft-Level FHA
System-Level FHA
The current military aircraft systems integrity processes should also be used to guide the identification of AV standards that will lead to airworthy AV systems

4. Setting the AV Standards
Aircraft FHA
As defined in SAE ARP-4761:
“The aircraft level FHA is a high level, qualitative assessment of the basic functions of the aircraft as defined at the beginning of aircraft development”
“An aircraft level FHA should identify and classify the failure conditions associated with the aircraft level functions”
System FHA
Also, as defined in SAE ARP-4761:
“The system level FHA is also a qualitative assessment which is iterative in nature and becomes more defined and fixed as the system evolves”
“It considers a failure or combination of system failures that affect an aircraft function”

5. Setting the AV Standards
Aircraft & System FHA Contributes to the Following Aircraft Information:
Aircraft Functions
Aircraft Architectures (including Operations)
Aircraft Requirements
Using Conceptual Information, FHA Then Analyzes and Establishes Aircraft & System Level:
Functions
Hazards
Hazard Effects
Hazard Classifications

6. Setting the AV Standards
For AV’s, a Multi-Level FHA Process Should Be Adopted
Create a Generic Level FHA that is not specific to a particular AV design
Concept AV Vehicle Level FHA
Concept AV System-Level FHA
Definition of the Generic AV FHA:
A qualitative, systematic, comprehensive examination of the basic functions of a generic design AV at the vehicle level to identify and classify Failure Conditions of those AV vehicle level functions according to their severity
The examination is also performed to establish Derived Generic AV Safety Standards to ensure a safe vehicle design and operation

7. Setting the AV Safety Standards
Generic AV-Level FHA Description:
Functions (Vehicle Level)
Hazard Description Considerations
Event Phase
Effect of Hazard on Other Vehicle-Level Functions
Failure Condition (Effect of Hazard on Vehicle)
Hazard Severity
Certification Approach
Derived Generic AV Systems Integrity & Airworthiness Standards

8. In Summary . . .
Present-day space transportation systems cannot accommodate future common carriage requirements, although they are adequate for the Adventure HSF Industry . . .
Nor is it too early to begin addressing common carriage requirements
Standards for AV flight and ground operations
Eventual airworthiness certification of AV’s
Future passenger-carrying AV’s should draw upon the successful design and operational heritage of military and commercial aircraft
Beginning with a Generic AV-Level FHA process to derive Generic AV Systems Integrity & Airworthiness Standards

9. Reference
Regulatory Challenges, Antitrust Hurdles, Intellectual Property Incentives, and the Collective Development of Aerospace Vehicle-Enabling Technologies and Standards: Creating an Industry Foundation, Journal of Space Law, Volume 35, Number 1 (2009)