ATM strategies for, and impacts of, space launches

Abstract

There is a rapid growth of national space launch ambitions and capabilities, e.g. delivering satellites into low-earth and sun-synchronous orbits. With vertical and horizontal delivery methods, and numerous locations under consideration in several continents, the industry has faced early challenges, such as failed launches and licencing timescales. This paper explores the increasing intersection between aviation and air traffic management (ATM) with higher airspace operations (HAOs). It introduces the background and principles of space launches, before addressing the particular impacts on aviation and ATM. The strategic challenges of planning launch windows to align both with orbiting asset congestion and ATM demands, plus promulgating such information to airspace users, is discussed. In the tactical phase, the consequences of impacts on airspace users (such as the re-routing of flights) and on air navigation service providers (such as the demands of coordinating airspace closures in the context of considerable re-entry/splashdown uncertainty) are discussed. A key contribution we make in this paper is the first aircraft-specific, fuel and operating cost analysis of HAO impacts, and the first such European cost assessment, with basic impact geometries. We also propose improved aircraft-specific impact models, which include passenger-centric costs.