Culture Clash: One More Attempt to Change the Lexicon

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

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 Comparisons

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

Culture Clash: One More Attempt to Change the Lexicon