Chapter 10 - Air-Space Traffic Interface Management

Abstract

Hazards to aircraft are a particular concern for the design of safe space vehicle operations. A valid risk mitigation strategy requires accurately computed risks, and the first section of this chapter discusses this. This is followed by a section on aircraft vulnerability modeling. A straightforward approach for managing aircraft risk, which is often sufficient for low-use airspace, is then discussed. Potential methods for reducing the impact on airspace, which may be useful in the absence of a real-time system, are then explored. Real-time management is covered in the subsequent section, and gives a potential architecture based on the used for management of the US National Air Space for Space Shuttle Orbiter re-entries after the Columbia accident.