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On February 6, SpaceX's Elon Musk launched his largest rocket in the blue sky of Florida. On board was "Starman", a manikin attached to the Billionaire's cherry-red Tesla roadster. A few minutes later, fans cheered as Musk outdid himself by nailing a simultaneous landing of the Falcon Heavy boosters. It was undoubtedly a turning point for the commercial space era.
The airlines were a little less happy. On that day, 563 flights were delayed and an additional 62 miles were added to flights in the southeastern United States, according to Data from the Federal Aviation Administration released Tuesday by the Air Line Pilots Association, or APA.
The US national airspace is a limited resource, and the growth of commercial launches worries American airlines. Whenever Musk or any of his rivals sends a spaceship, the modest industry that operates closer to the ground must avoid large swathes of territory and incur considerable expenses.
Much of the commercial activity to date has been concentrated on Cape Canaveral, the Air Force post on Florida's Atlantic coast, where Space Exploration Technologies Corp. from Jeff Bezos' Musk and Blue Origin LLC base their stellar activities. This is one of 22 active launch sites in the United States and a number of other locations, including Brownsville, Texas; Watkins, Colorado; and Camden County, Georgia, pursue new space companies to take advantage of commercial space activities.
Bezos takes off land that he owns in West Texas; Virgin Group founder Richard Branson plans to launch tourists from southern New Mexico next year; and Musk is planning a possible SpaceX launch pad in the far south of Texas, near South Padre Island. While this trio of space magnates is currently dominating the fledgling industry, more companies will soon join the party. And the potential for what could possibly be daily launches has major implications for air travel.
"Given the interest in increasing the number and scale of spaceflight launches, it is easy to extrapolate the enormous effect that commercial space operations could have on the world." US airline industry, "said Tuesday Tim Canoll, president of the APA. hearing of a house Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure in Washington.
The Tesla roadster from Musk was launched from the Falcon Heavy rocket to Mars.
Source: SpaceX via Getty Images
Canoll, whose union represents 60,000 US and Canadian pilots, warns that more work is needed to keep the two industries running smoothly. "The launch of the commercial space needs to be better integrated into the national airspace," he said, noting that FAA operations do not have "real-time data" on the airspace. rocket movements.
SpaceX is not so worried. The United States authorized just 23 commercial launches last year, noted Caryn Schenewerk, his senior advisor and director of government affairs. The Falcon 9 exceeds 60,000 feet at launch in "90 quick seconds", with its reusable rocket boosters that only require the use of airspace for one minute before landing, a- she said.
As the launch industry evolves, the ultimate goal is to incorporate spacecraft into the routine flow of the 42,000 daily aircraft controlled by the FAA, making a SpaceX Falcon 9 destined for the International Space Station no different from an American A321 to Miami. "The next step," said Mr. Canoll, is to consolidate space travel and air travel so rockets can work with us. "
There is a lot of money involved. The airlines say their average cost is "The blocking time, "the industry's measure for the period when an aircraft is taxiing or flying, was $ 68.48 per minute in 2017, or $ 4,109 per hour, driven by The average delay of these 563 flights on February 6 was 8 minutes, while for the prospect, 10 flights delayed by 10 minutes cost about $ 70,000, noted ALPA. Stop is likely to increase this year, further aggravating airline executives and pilots whenever a SpaceX rocket or United Launch Alliance LLC closes the airspace.This pain may possibly be passed on to passengers, of course.
"These restrictions have resulted in significant and costly delays for commercial air traffic that are unsustainable," said ALPA in a white paper released Tuesday.
The US commercial group, Airlines for America (A4A), urged the FAA to "carefully consider the impact on safety and efficiency for the traveling public" by developing an integration plan, indicated Alison spokesperson McAfee. For example, the group expressed its "serious concern" this month about a Colorado Spaceport project, which would be located in a small airport less than 10 miles southeast of Denver International, where 39, the busiest US airport.
This kind of difficult coexistence has become the norm as the FAA continues to restrict airspace for commercial launches and re-entry, often for an hour or more. The closed space can extend for hundreds of kilometers along the planned trajectory of a rocket, considering the potential risks if a craft explodes in flight. This area will need to shrink over time to minimize airline disruption, industry experts told Congress. Specifically, they stated that computer simulations of such disasters block more airspace than necessary.
In March, the FAA formed an aviation committee to develop recommendations for a regulatory approach to the industry's commercial launch. The new rules will provide security objectives while not dictating any vehicle design or operational mandates for space companies.
Tests have shown that rocket telemetry data can flow into current air traffic control systems and give controllers real-time knowledge of vehicle movement. Of course, air traffic controllers direct the course and speed of an aircraft – a power that they will not have with space vehicles.
Audrey Powers, Blue Origin's Associate General Counsel, told the House panel that "it's a very soluble problem."
The industry and regulators need to develop tools to help existing efforts to build a spatial data integrator system, designed to automate the real-time rocket data flow and the release of the data. blocked airspace. this issue."
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