Commercial Space Flight Operations
ABSTRACT
Commercial space flight is slowly becoming a reality in our day to day lives. There are companies actively pursuing this and making headway to be able to successfully and repeatedly get people to space in a commercial manner not only so they can experience the wonder, but so the company may profit off this. This research paper will dive into all of this as well as being able to identify the certification for the spacecraft, the certifications to allow them to take passengers into space, the insurance that is required or alternative approaches, and how they will pay for all of this to include passenger fees, and future mining operations on other planets.
Introduction
The idealization of space travel has been in the offing for several decades. Nevertheless, in recent decades, there has been rapid development and interest geared towards commercialization of state travels. Notably, several governments around the world have privatized space travel due to the commercial value attached to it. In 2001, the first commercialized human space flight was launched and ever since several people have shown great interest in flying to space. Nevertheless, space flight travel for people faces several barriers due to the massive regulations and requirements as a result of cost, safety and convenience. The human nature is adventurous, fun-seeking and satisfaction finding. Since the start of the 19-century air and space exploration has been an area of intense interest to the human race. In 1903 the wright brothers launched their first air flight in North Carolina which has resulted in the manufacturing of several different models planes up to date. Nevertheless, space exploration has only gained interest in the recent decade due to privatization of the sector from government control and commercialization of its activities.
History and Current Issues in the Commercialized Space Industry
Despite the recent boom in space travel innovations their several notable developments in the earlier years. In 1964 the first space flight which could land and take off from the moon, Grumman Apollo Lunar Module was designed. Despite, this model being stable, it was deserted in 1972. It is also notable that even after 40 years after the first spacecraft, there have not been concrete plans to return to the moon until 2020. Ideally, due to the payload essential for such prolonged expedition and semi-permanent settlement, NASA’s rockets and space shuttle do not have the capability to traverse the low perimeter earth sphere. After the termination of Apollo and Saturn V programs, there has been limited space exploration. Despite, NASA is in the process of building more capacity oriented rockets which can operate in space environments. The method of assembling cheaper, safe, fast and human supporting missiles and space craft’s requires substantial financial investment and creative innovativeness.
Lack of financial, human resources has been a significant drawback towards the development and innovation in the spacecraft industry. The estimated cost for NASA to build aircraft that can go to the space Orion and Ares lies in the margin of 35 billion dollars alone. Auspiciously, the privatization of this sector has practically solved the fiscal problem. Already, an estimated 1.7 billion dollars has been invested in the spacecraft industry by companies like Google. In the next few years, cash investment is expected to grow as more billionaires around the world have expressed their interest in space travels.
Recently the public sub-orbital flights have proved to be a profitable business with several players showing interest in the industry. They include Elon Musk (Space X), Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin), Bob Bigelow (Bigelow Aerospace) and Burt Rutan (Scaled Composite). Other parties who have made an excellent investment in the spacecraft industry include David Thompson (Orbital science), Paul Allen, Ansari Family (Ansari X Prize), and Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic). Due to the competitive innovation between these companies, the ideology of reaching major technological breakthroughs in the space flight industry is imminent.
Regulation, Litigation and Oversight of Commercialized Space Industry
The U.S spacecraft industry has been involved in aeronautical space exploration for the most extended period. Recent developments have seen commercialization of the state space industry. Human interest has also been geared towards commercial activities in space with the development of reusable rockets or communication provision modules and satellites. Space commercial industry is controlled and mitigated by several state federal agencies based on enacted statutory laws which have often been reviewed over time. The launching and re-entry of new spacecraft, rockets and space planes, as well as commercialized space sports, are regulated and licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Regulation on earth remote sensing satellite is enacted and licensed by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Besides, commercial satellite communication is litigated and licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Space technology usage is permitted and over sighted by the department of commerce.
To demystify the complexity of this regulation framework several statutory policy reforms have been proposed such as streamlining Regulations on Commercial Use of Space (SPD), the Space Commerce Free Enterprise Act, of April 2018 and the Space Frontier Act, August 2018.
The use of commercial space capabilities by the federal government has also evolved over time. For instance, NASA has shifted from the first use of its shuttles to contracting commercial service providers to transit space cargo in their space crafts. The commercialization of the space industry has presented a host of exploitable opportunities like the acquiring of commercialized state-space data. In addition to data clouds, the expansion of the international space station has also been made possible.
Federal Aviation Administration