Federal Aviation Administration

1. Federal Aviation Administration Commercial Space Transportation Human Space Flight Occupant Safety Telecon Telecon #4 – Terms & Definitions November 13th, 2012

2. Agenda • Introduction • Rules of Engagement • Next Steps • Last Month’s Topic • Today’s Topic • Wrap-up

3. Introduction The FAA may not propose regulations covering occupant safety until October 2015. However, we have a team of folks thinking about it now to be prepared, and we're wrestling with a lot of questions that we'd like input from technical folks from industry and government to help us. We are hosting a series of one-hour telecons, each with a narrow focus on a specific technical topic to be held about once a month. We are using our industry advisory committee, COMSTAC, to help us. We are not soliciting any proposals for agency support on this topic at this time. This is background research.

4. Rules of Engagement • When speaking, please identify yourself so we can follow up with you if we have more questions. • We are recording this teleconference. We will publish minutes that summarize the discussion. • Please limit your time to 5 minutes of time to allow for greater participation. You are welcome to follow up with a phone call or email to Pam Melroy at pam.melroy@faa.gov or 202-267-7793. • AST is not currently in rulemaking, or proposing rules. We are soliciting industry input as research. Should we consider rulemaking in the future, we may use these inputs for background information. If we ask clarifying questions, please do not consider this to imply agreement, or lack of agreement, with your statements.

5. Next Steps • After today’s meeting, we will take some time to put together minutes and publish them on the AST website. • The minutes will contain a list of attendees, the topic(s) discussed, and a summary of what was discussed. • We look forward to you participating in the next conference call on December 18th at 1 pm Eastern.

6. Last Month’s Topic (Oct 2012) What Types of Requirements and Associated Guidance Material Should FAA Develop? In general, the FAA favors space transportation regulations that are performance or process based. We will discuss the level of empirical or analytical data necessary to justify any performance-based human space flight regulation, the possible use of Advisory Circulars to add clarity to regulations, and what place government and industry standards should have in FAA licensing.

7. Today’s Topic Key Terms and Definitions for Commercial Human Spaceflight Safety We are working to identify and define key terms and definitions relevant to commercial human spaceflight regulations. To facilitate this process, we would like to solicit input from the various parties who have a vested interest in the industry and discuss potential implications that might arise from ambiguous interpretation of regulatory expectations.

8. Objectives • Goal of the meeting is to elicit perspectives from the industry on specific key terms and definitions regarding human spaceflight safety, specifically those that pertain to ensuring safe return to Earth. • Discuss potential implications of ‘ambiguous’ or ‘conflicting’ definitions (with regulatory impact) from different stakeholder perspectives • Gather feedback on suggested key terms and current working definitions

9. Stakeholders / Implications

10. Potential for Stakeholder Conflict • Early termination of a flight can occur at any phase of flight for off-nominal events that warrant return to Earth sooner than originally planned. Conflict might arise between stakeholders based on a lack of clarity of definitions, for example: • Are specific regulations needed for different scenarios? • When have contractual obligations been fulfilled? • When are passenger expectations met? • When might an insurance claim be warranted? • When is an abort not an abort?

11. ‘Earth Return’ Alternatives by Phase of Flight

12. Partial List of Key Terms for Discussion • Abort • Emergency • Contingency • Early Flight Return • Emergency landing site • Alternate landing site • Nominal/Primary landing site

13. Abort: Definitions

14. Abort: Considerations Regulatory implications for ‘abort’ during different flight phases? -Failure to reach desired destination -Early return from desired destination -Off-nominal reentry/landing operations -Emergency landing site acceptability -Potential for crew and passengers abandoning a vehicle -Uninvolved public concerns

15. Emergency: Definitions

16. Emergency: Considerations Types of Emergencies? -Medical Emergency (crew member) -Vehicle/Hardware Emergency -Environmental Emergency (surrounding environment) Responses to Emergencies? -Speed of response -Type of aid available

17. Contingency: Definitions

18. Contingency: Considerations What are responses required for a contingency versus an emergency? What type of contingency plans must be made?

19. Early Flight Return: Definitions

20. Early Flight Return: Considerations How much earlier does it need to be considered ‘early’? Hours, days? Depends on type of flight (orbital or suborbital)? Depends on circumstance (emergency, abort, ahead of schedule etc.)

21. Landing Site: Definitions

22. Landing Site: Considerations Types of Landing Site? Alternate Site Emergency Site Supported Unsupported Prepared Alternate Difference of Landing Site Types? Qualification? Type of services available (communications, emergency systems, evacuation systems, etc) Number of personnel available Speed of services

23. Terms and Definitions Task • Comprehensive database of terms being identified and definitions compiled from various sources as part of an FAA COE CST project per Human Rating Task 184 • PI, Prof David Klaus, University of Colorado Boulder • Currently under review for comment by COE affiliates • COMSTAC members welcome to participate • For more information, contact Christine Fanchiang, CU Aerospace Engineering Sciences PhD student (christine.fanchiang@colorado.edu)

24. References

25. Wrap-up • Thanks to everyone for participating! You can post comments, questions, etc. to Docket FAA-2012-0818. • If anyone has any new topics or suggestions on improving this discussion process, contact: • Pam.Melroy@FAA.gov • 202-267-7793 • We look forward to you participating in the next conference call on December 18th. The topic will be “Abort Systems”.

26. December 2012 Topic Abort Systems • Abort systems have in the past been an element of many government human spaceflight systems for the purpose of enhancing occupant safety. We will discuss the following questions from a regulatory perspective: • Is an abort system a part of fault tolerance? • Does an abort only apply to the launch/ascent phase, or does it apply to other flight phases as well? • Should certain types of orbital or suborbital vehicle designs require a launch abort system? • What should the reliability requirements be for an abort system? • Should it be acceptable to have a different level of care during an abort?