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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."
...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.
This will totally work, because there is no place else to launch a rocket except within the continental US.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
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
This was foretold. "The Man Who Sold The Moon", Robert A. Heinlein
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
Actual Answer: Leave the regulatory regime completely undefined so that no one will risk launching for fear of over-restrictive 'DO SOMETHING!' regulations killing their business model after they've already settled on an approach.
Its far better to define reasonable regulations right now than wait for poorly thought out ones to be implemented later when it becomes clear they're necessary.
Also, the FAA AST (Office of Commercial Space) folks are very supportive of getting a real industry off the ground. They're space enthusiasts, not charicatures of empire-building bureacrats.
Actually the existing pioneers, including Armadillo Aerospace, XCOR, and some others of whom you (should) have heard, are already working with the FAA and they report that the experience has not been too painful. I can't help worrying when NASA wants to get in on the act, though. NASA's main product is paper, with a few space vehicles as unintentional by-products, and they won't want to disappoint anyone ....
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
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
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
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.
The government should not be stepping in on behalf of the people on top of the rocket. Those people presumably are adults and have balanced the risks they are taking against the rewarding experience of flying into space.
It's the people that live under the rocket that need some regulation. Presumably launching rockets out over water should minimize many of the risks to the public, but it would still be useful to have the government provide some oversight to minimize the chance of 100's of tons of high explosives raining down on a neighborhood someday.
Meanwhile NASA and the FAA can carry on with their "If we had any commercial space industry, it would behave just so" fantasies in peace. To quote the great philosopher Watterson, designing the snow fort is the fun part.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.