Industry Calls for Extension of the FAA 'Learning Period' for Human Spaceflight
SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic Testify Before Senate Subcommittee
At a hearing Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, representatives from the three companies participating in human spaceflight all called for an extension of the human spaceflight 'learning period' that is set to expire on January 1, 2024.
“AST is simply not in a position to effectively regulate in this area, nor should it.”
William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX
In 2004, Congress passed the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act (CSLAA). This legislation appropriately established a comprehensive framework intended not to regulate for mission success, but rather “to put in place a clear and balanced regulatory regime that promotes the development of the emerging commercial human space flight industry, while protecting the public health and safety.”
One of the key elements of the CSLAA was a 'learning period' often referred to as a 'moratorium' on the government regulation of human spaceflight. The FAA does issue launch and reentry licenses, and regulates some aspects of occupant safety. But the learning period language limits the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) from additional regulations relative to occupant safety during launch and reentry until both industry and AST have sufficient experience and data to consider whether a different safety framework is required.
That learning period initially was set to expire in 2012, but it has been extended multiple times. It is currently set to sunset on January 1, 2024.
At the hearing, all industry representatives called for the learning period to be extended once again. "Due to the technical and economic challenges of spaceflight and the industry’s emphasis on safety above all, commercial space companies have proceeded at a more cautious pace than envisioned in the original bill. As a result, there are only three companies currently carrying humans to space, and it would be premature to base occupant safety regulations on this extremely small set of data at this time," said Sirisha Bandla, vice president for government affairs at Virgin Galactic.
"VG proposes extending the learning period to provide for a transition period utilizing the collection of data and for the standards development process to properly inform future safety frameworks. This transition period should incorporate the development of an initial set of industry consensus standards that covers appropriate aspects of spaceflight participant safety, an evaluation of the practical applications of these standards, and an evaluation of FAA AST’s readiness to transition to a safety framework, including their execution of existing statutory requirements like launch and reentry licensing."
"Gathering invaluable flight data and experience from multiple providers and technologies begins a critical phase of learning under the learning period. Safety frameworks for spaceflight can be robust while also evolving. As flight and test experience grows, new data can validate requirements or identify areas for improvement," said Phil Joyce, Senior vice president at Blue Origin.
"The ability to react to new information and iterate within tools, processes, and criteria, strengthens the commercial industry’s contributions toward innovation. Gains in both efficiency and safety are the spirit of innovation that can open access to space and maintain US leadership."
"The current learning period expiration date of January 1, 2024 is premature by several years, and the same factors that led Congress to extend the learning period in 2012 and 2015 remain true today. As an initial matter, based on the above, AST is simply not in a position to effectively regulate in this area, nor should it. Both the scope of the industry and the number of flights with private individuals remain very low, and the existing occupant safety requirements under FAA Part 460 effectively protect the public. At this stage of development, informed consent is appropriate and protects the occupants since spaceflight today is completely unlike commercial passenger aircraft transport. Industry is still developing concepts and hardware with orbital, sub-orbital, and balloon systems," said William Gerstenmaier, vice president, Build and Flight Reliability at SpaceX.
"Additionally, not only does AST lack specific expertise in human spaceflight systems, it is completely overwhelmed in executing its core launch and reentry mission," Gerstenmaier said. "AST has neither the resources nor the expertise to develop regulations in the near-future, and transferring funds or personnel from its public safety obligations would serve only to compound the challenges AST is facing in licensing launch and reentry operations and would not improve safety."