Defining Class X Air Space

Dr. Chris Draper and Dr. Aaron Santos Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa Examining and refining Draper-Santos Projections for defining airspace that could more efficiently enable safe reusable launch vehicle and unmanned aerial system operations from Regional or rural facilities. This study will examine and refine the Draper-Santos projection methodology by using real world unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and reusable launch vehicle (RLV) data and model assumptions. Once examined and refined based on real world data for likely applications, Draper-Santos projections could be used to propose the creation of specific Class X airspace, as proposed in the attached Simpson College working paper, or some other mechanism that would increase the suitability of currently underused regional or rural facilities for RLV and UAS operations. The Draper-Santos projection methodology is based on current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) exclusion-based protection strategies typically employed for RLV demonstration and testing. This research would focus on both optimizing the fundamental assumptions used within the model (e.g. population data fidelity) and calibrating the model based on the various optimizations (e.g. testing risk threshold impacts based on casualty area inputs). The output of this work should be an iteratively improved model that should expand the number of facilities and communities that could benefit by safely expanding RLV and UAS operations.

• Record URL:
  http://www.coe-cst.org/index.html

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Aviation Administration Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation

  William J. Hughes Technical Center
  Atlantic City International Airport, NJ  United States  08405
• Managing Organizations:

  Federal Aviation Administration Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation

  William J. Hughes Technical Center
  Atlantic City International Airport, NJ  United States  08405
• Project Managers:

  Davidian, Ken

• Performing Organizations:

  Leland Stanford Junior University

  STANFORD, CA  United States  94305
• Principal Investigators:

  Alonso, Juan

• Start Date: 20150825
• Expected Completion Date: 20160531
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Airspace (Aeronautics); Commercial space transportation; Drones; Launch vehicles; Optimization
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01678250
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Federal Aviation Administration Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation
• Files: RIP, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 22 2018 1:03PM