Application of Design and Operation Standards

abbreviated terms

CCSDSConsultative Committee for Space Data Systems
CONFERSConsortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations
FSOAFrench Space Operation Act
IADCInter-Agency space Debris Coordination committee
ISOInternational Organization for Standardization
ITUInternational Telecommunication Union
LTSLong-Term Sustainability
NASANational Aeronautical and Space Administration
ODMSPOrbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices
OOSRendezvous and Proximity Operations
RPORendezvous and Proximity Operations
SDMSpace Debris Mitigation
SSRSpace Sustainability Rating
UNCOPUOSUnited Nation Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space

OVERVIEW

The adoption of internationally endorsed standards in the space domain has been identified as a clear path towards ensuring compatibility in understanding between operators among themselves, and between an operator and the space environment which is being used. It is however recognised that design and operation standard can have regional differences while trying to achieve the goal of extended space sustainability. For the SSR module, a scoring approach is proposed to gauge the level of commitment, by means of a set of questionnaire entries that go hand in hand with the general validation strategy.

Application of existing guidelines

As part of the bonus evaluation of the SSR, the voluntary adoption of standards by the applicant (designating that the launching state does not require the operator to comply to certain standards) is to be assessed. As this introduces a dependency on the origin of the SSR applicant, this is balanced using bonus points only. In the case of a voluntary adoption, a bonus point will be earned by the applicant (additionally to the tier point earned). If the standard is considered mandatory in a regulatory regime, the total number of bonus points will be decreased in order not to penalize operators that cannot earn these bonus points. This bonus point allocation system allows not to disproportionally discourage launching from emerging space launching countries that might not have strict requirements. On the other hand, deliberately choosing a regulatory regime because of the absence of regulations is discouraged.

Application of additional standards for space sustainability

Additionally, to existing guidelines, another set of best-practises is defined and considered as part of this module. These best-practises are defined as a questionnaire:

1. Does your spacecraft or launcher release debris in orbit?

    • If any, only smaller than 1 mm (1 point)
    • Yes (0 point)

2. To which level do you minimise the probability of explosion (x) as part of the operational lifetime?

  • Score: 1 - 10 0,log10 (x) + 2)
  • No action or analysis (x = 1: 0 point)

3. Are your spacecraft and launch vehicle passivated after its operation lifetime? Constellation provide an averaged answer for the fleet and launch vehicles

  • Spacecraft
    • Direct controlled re-entry or deorbiting (2 points)
    • Yes (1 point)
    • No (0 point)
  • Launch Vehicle
    • Direct controlled re-entry or deorbiting (2 points)
    • Yes (1 point)
    • No (0 point)

4. Does your spacecraft and launch vehicle upper stage use a disposal orbit after end of operations? Disposal orbits need to respect the protected region and the operational orbits of other operators (not drifting through).

  • Spacecraft
  • Direct controlled re-entry or deorbiting (2)
  • Yes (1 point)
  • No (0 point)
  • Launch Vehicle
  • Direct controlled re-entry or deorbiting (2)
  • Yes (1 point)
  • No (0 point)

5. Does your launching state commit to registering/has registered your payload and associated objects with the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space’s Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space?

  • Yes (1 point)
  • No (0 point)

The final score aggregation is done by summing the total points earned by the applicant and divide it by the total number of points.