Everyone also agrees that it would be reckless to go back to such a system for Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLV's), which represent today's new industry.

Disagreement starts when discussing exactly how then to regulate RLV's. I would maintain that the answer to that is "flexibly." Given the evolution in design and technology that will mold the RLV industry the way it did the commercial aviation industry earlier this century, the RLV industry deserves regulations that will evolve with it.

The first key to flexibility is to make certain that regulations are performance based targets rather than design mandates. Performance based regulations allow developers to invent new approaches to achieving goals rather than just choose suppliers for the mandated hardware and services.

The FAA recently proposed rules to regulate the RLV industry. By all accounts, the Commercial Space Transportation office deserves kudos for involving the RLV developers in the process. But there are still pockets of design mandates, such as the requirement for a man-in-the-loop control system, buried in the proposal.

Such mandates are problematic. For example, whether or not one believes technology for autonomous systems exists today, it will most certainly exist soon. (Commercial airliners have had full navigation and autoland capability for some time now, and flying an airliner is much more complicated than flying an RLV.)

Mandating a design feature such as man-in-the-loop control discourages the development and adoption of new systems that would ultimately lead to a more competitive US launch industry. Why set such forward looking regulations in turn of the century concrete? Today's design mandates restrict tomorrow's technology.

This leads to a broader question of how to develop regulations that don't just tolerate new technology, but encourage it. This is not an easy question, but an industry working group recently delivered a bold and valiant response. Their paradigm-breaking recommendation was delivered to the FAA in May.

This working group, the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) RLV Working Group, proposed a new Regulatory Framework with four key features.

• The FAA's proposed rules were to be instructive and voluntary, but not mandatory to facilitate flexibility.
• Each applicant would propose a Licensing Plan to the FAA outlining the analyses and performance assessment criteria to be applied to that applicant's system.
• The applicant and the FAA would then negotiate a final Licensing Plan in a manner not unlike the negotiations over Certification Basis that are undertaken for the certification of new commercial airliners.
• The final Licensing Plan with attached schedule would then be binding upon both the FAA and the applicant to facilitate certainty.

The beauty of this approach is that the regulations can evolve with the industry. As new concepts or technology are accepted, the applicant is encouraged to apply that technology's advantages to the licensing process in whatever manner seems most effective. At the same time, it allows those applicants who wish to have their system treated traditionally like an expendable launch vehicle the opportunity to do just that.

Over time, an efficient and effective licensing regime will evolve, rising organically from the creative milieu of technology, with the FAA as midwife. Even in an age of reinventing government, a regulatory regime that actually encourages new technology would be a new paradigm. What better way to enter the new millenium?

Paul Birkeland has 20 years experience in the aerospace industry. He provides technical support for Kistler Aerospace Corporation's licensing efforts in the United States and Australia. His experience includes mission planning, environmental assessments, hazard analyses, and insurance and indemnification issues. He is also an active member of the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee Reusable Launch Vehicle Working Group. Mr. Birkeland received his Bachelor's degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle, and his Master's in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

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