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NASA and FAA Team To Streamline, Regulate Commercial Space Access
coondoggie writes "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NASA today said they signed an agreement to coordinate standards for commercial space travel of government and non-government astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station (ISS). The main goals of the agreement are to establish a framework for the emerging commercial US space industry to help streamline requirements and multiple sets of standards and ultimately to regulate public and crew safety."
to prevent pictures of Cheneys house posted on the internet, taken from space.
...that joint-bureaucracy works...
The intelligence of a group can be determined by finding the IQ of the least intelligent member of the group, and dividing that number by the total people in the group.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Kill it in the crib, before it makes us irrelevant!
Why not assign the management of the nation's airspace to the Secretary of the Interior.
Um... because the nation's airspace is outside?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
It won't be any fun until the TSA joins the party
Question:? How do we kill off this emerging commercial space flight industry
Answer: "...establish a framework for the emerging commercial US space industry to help streamline requirements and multiple sets of standards and ultimately to regulate public and crew safety."
>implying RMoney has a chance in hell
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
This was foretold. "The Man Who Sold The Moon", Robert A. Heinlein
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
FX:
[plane engine starting, a few misfires, backfires. It stalls, followed by lots of bits falling off]
Seagoon:
Well, what shall we build now?
McChisholm:
Ah, M-mister Seagoon! Did you no notice? A moment before it fell to bits, it rose seven feet off the ground!
Seagoon:
Correction, five feet. Two of those feet were mine!
McChisholm:
If, if you ask me, sir, we've invented the hairyplane.
FX:
[phone rings, receiver being picked up]
Seagoon:
Hello?
Grytpype-Thynne:
[speaking over telephone] I hear you've invented the aeroplane.
Seagoon:
Who's this speaking?
Grytpype-Thynne:
The Air Ministry.
The Goon Show
Series 7, Episode 15
First broadcast on January 10, 1957. Script by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
people just don't see there own mistakes no matter what. tight regulations and budget cuts is what put nasa hear in the first place.
I can't wait until those two TLAs get involved - there goes space flight! Buried under a mountain of bureaucratic nonsense so deep, no rocket will be able to get off the ground!
There really are some necessary regulations that need to be enforced. First, they need to make sure they prevent junking up low earth orbits by making sure there are a minimum number of bits coming off anything that might end up in orbit, something NASA has the most experience with. Second, they need to make sure launch and recovery operations are properly coordinated with air traffic, which is of concern to the FAA.
I'm sure there are a whole pile of issues that would be best to get into the FAA's regulations before private space flight becomes commonplace. The above are just a few.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Are you willing to halt all spaceflight in order to meet those regulations? That may be what happens. Just like with nuclear power, which is now frozen in place with crippled 1950's era technology, the space industry will wind up being frozen as well. Maybe we will get lucky and the militaries will pick up the slack. Of course, they have no economic disincentives against polluting NEO, so they will do what they did to my hometown by dumping their degreaser onto the ground (and subsequently the water table)--utterly ruin everything for everyone.
Yay regulation!
Yes, Mr Armstrong, please put the shoes on the bin, remove your space suit, put them it on the bin, the briefcase like life support unit you are carrying, please unplug it and place it on the conveyor for x-rays, and please stand here and hold your hands over your heads please. No Mr Armstrong, oxygen cylinders are prohibited. The coolant in the life support unit is more than 3.5 fluid oz, so we have to empty it and dump it. Have a nice orbit, Mr Armstrong. Next.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
First, they need to make sure they prevent junking up low earth orbits by making sure there are a minimum number of bits coming off anything that might end up in orbit, something NASA has the most experience with.
I expect this is already quite high on their list of things to take into account even without the government imposing stacks of paperwork on them. Can't get customers if they're all afraid of getting shotgunned to death in orbit.
Second, they need to make sure launch and recovery operations are properly coordinated with air traffic, which is of concern to the FAA.
They're already required to work with the FAA in this regard.
Leave it the fuck alone, government.
That's not how government works.
> If it moves, tax it.
> If it is still moving, regulate it.
> If it has stopped moving, subsidize it through sweetheart government deals, loans, and giveaways that benefit your campaign contributors while eliminating competition from small players, erecting barriers to entry, and screwing over any private people/entities that had already invested unless it's a labor union...they automatically go to the front of the line of the taxpayer-funded gravy train.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
I'm about 99% sure that thus far there have never been 2 spacecraft vehicles in the "air" at the same time in all of human history. But hey, go decide who has the right of way at a cosmic 4 way stop lol. Okay, it probably focuses more on realistic stuff like leaving behind space junk but still, kinda funny.
Yeah, just like the airplane manufacturers which are frozen in place with crippled 1950's era technology... oh wait, they aren't.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
The FAA only has legal authority to regulate air travel operations up to and including 60,000 feet. Even if NASA wanted to delegate low Earth orbit activities to the FAA, the FAA still couldn't do it, because it lacks the authority.
Oh, I guess you haven't heard. I was under the impression that everyone had heard.
How many new aircraft manufacturers have started since that time? How has the service and quality of commercial flights been since then? Not all regulation is the same, some just slows progress, while some blocks it, and some simply destroys the industry.
Seems to me that everytime your regulators get involved, we wind up with just a few remaining zombie companies on government life support. This is the case with every industry from aerospace to automotive to financial. And those big boys have their claws in Washington. If they don't like some regulation, it's out. The remaining ones are aimed squarely at startups. You have to be some kind of crazy rogue billionaire to start a business in one of those walled garbage dumps.