respond: flight controllers can issue commands which protect individual aircraft by avoiding the debris area. Therefore normal or near normal flight operations can continue instead of closing the entire air corridor for the duration of a space flight operation which could be several hours.
In this new environment, space flight planning and space operations take on the addition emphasis of minimizing the impact to aircraft traffic. In the space flight planning stage (pre-mission), an analysis is conducted which determines those zones where communication log times and aircraft flight response times prevent timely dynamic response to a mishap; the airspace-closing NOTAM is restricted to a smaller volume of airspace, typically very near launch site. The NOTAM also designates the keep out area for General Aviation (GA) VFR traffic. The balance of the airspace remains open, but ATC is kept fully in the loop during space flight operations, with the ability to communicate with individual aircraft to generate redirection orders in the event of a mishap which poses a hazard to aircraft. Figure 1 shows a flowchart for this scenario.
|
|
assuming that the space launch will occur on time as planned. Contingency plans will allow air traffic to pass on the normal routes, if the launch is delayed. Contingency plans will also exist to allow the air traffic to be put into airborne holding or slowdown so the debris clears the area before the aircraft arrives or be diverted around a hazard area, if a destruct event occurs. Such contingency plans can be mechanized ahead of time to facilitate a solution where the pilot, airlines, and ATC are all prepared for all the alternatives. In this way, high utilization of the airspace can be maintained without putting an aircraft at risk from the space launch.
GENERAL CONSIDERATION
Since the FAA has been licensing launch vehicles, some 167 FAA licensed launches have been flown as of 2004. Not one of those launches failed. Today over 90% of all rocket launches are nominal. The problem is that there are not enough rocket launches of a vehicle to get good statistics on a particular space vehicle.
|
