Launch Operations Research Articles

Predicted Trajectory Accuracy Requirements to Reduce Aviation Impact of Space Launch Operations

Thousands of aircraft flight plans are affected by space launch and reentry operations each year, increasing the distances flown, causing flight delays, and increasing air traffic controllers workload. Due to regulations and procedures, predefined Aircraft Hazard Areas (AHAs) are used to protect aircraft from the risks of space launch and reentry debris, thus constraining the available airspace for other airspace users. While disruptive, there is no less impactful approach at present that adequately protects the flying public. In this paper, we explore the application of trajectory-based operations to evaluate the impact of an AHA on commercial aircraft, with the aim of reducing the number of flights that must be rerouted or rescheduled. This approach relies on precise trajectory predictions to the AHA boundary to determine which flights are expected to clear the AHA before its activation or remain clear of the AHA until after its deactivation. This paper derives the required predicted trajectory accuracy for air traffic automation systems to effectively predict flights impacted by an AHA. The required accuracy is derived based on a model for managing flights relative to the AHA using speed changes alone (as opposed to reroutes or holding) in the context of operational uncertainties like departure time delays and flight characteristics. Additionally, we derived a model to relate scheduling buffers to the AHA activation time, delivery accuracy at the AHA boundary, and AHA violation probability.

Safety analysis of evaluation and acceptance processes for space systems and operations based on system-theoretic approach

The proposed analysis consists of identifying systemic aspects that can influence safety and mission fulfillment in the Evaluation and Acceptance Processes of Space Systems and Operations for Launch through the application of System-Theoretic Process Analysis, a technique capable of identifying potential hazardous design and operational flaws, including system design errors and unsafe interactions among multiple procedures and system components. This research identifies losses, hazards, system-level safety constraints, the control structure of the general system, unsafe control actions, loss scenarios that could occur and related causal factors, detecting improvement possibilities for future verifications, evaluations, approvals, and acceptances of space systems and launch operations. These findings can promote safety in space system designs and operations, supporting the activities conducted by launch vehicle and payload developers, certification authorities, and launch centers management, enabling means to proactively act in order to mitigate risks, avoiding unsafe actions and undesired system behaviors, or even to mitigating their consequences. The practical applications of this work can result in safety and mission fulfillment improvements for safety management systems, launch approval regulations and standards; launch operation procedures; space systems design; vehicle, payload, and ground support equipment productions; systems testing; and launch authorization processes.

Modeling adhesion and aerodynamic removal of particles and spores from substrates

During launch operations, mission critical hardware and materials are encapsulated in a fairing prior to deployment. Depressurization can induce particle removal from fairing walls and redistribute them onto the payload. This poses serious challenges for current and future missions. This includes organic, inorganic, and biological material which can contaminate the surrounding environment. Given the risks associated with these events, efforts have been made to perform predictive simulations of particle contamination and redistribution. This work outlines the modeling efforts related to adhesion and aerodynamic removal of particles for prediction of redistribution in fairing environments. Physics-based models for adhesion and removal mechanisms are discussed. This includes the application of existing particle and spore adhesion models. Validation is performed for simplified canonical flow configurations. Future work regarding model improvements and extensions to large scale simulations is also discussed.

Risk Assessment of Launching Airbags Using Functional Resonance Accident Model

‘Ship Launching Airbags’ can greatly increase the economic benefits of a new gravitational launching operation. Gravitational launching of a new ship with marine airbags takes into account the resistance force of rolling friction. However, a launching operation is a high-risk process, as it involves many risk factors. In this paper, Functional Resonance Accident Model (FRAM) was used systematically to identify potential risks and carry out the risk analysis of the ship launching operation. The human factor, technical factors, and organisational factors were identified based on the common performance conditions of FRAM. Functional performance changes, prevention, and hazard control barriers were evaluated to identify key operations. The results show that the ship launching operation is characterized by high collision, decreasing stability, and the need for the use of airbags.

Validation results on future flight safety methods to be instituted at the Guiana Space Center -New Generation

In the very short term, the European Spaceport in French Guiana (CSG) will welcome new kinds of missions and launchers, such as Ariane 6, micro-launchers or reusable vehicles, and must prepare to operate them. At the same time, the launch safety process must be improved in order to maintain flight safety standards and to respect the requirements of the French Space Operation Act (FSOA [1]) regarding the new risks induced. The Flight Safety Department at CSG has been working on the development of new methods to fit these upcoming challenges while enabling the best possible protection to people, the environment and infrastructures. These concepts will be implemented with the arrival of the new Operations Centre (CDO).Although the flight termination decision remains on a human authority, the process to evaluate the dangerousness of a mission is optimized in order to gain reactivity and effectiveness. As presented at the 73rd IAC [2], this optimization of methods relies on both decreasing the number of operators within the flight safety team during launch operations and on implementing decision-aiding algorithms to better characterize the launcher condition status at any time. This implies a new distribution of the responsibilities between the safety operators and a redesign of the systems in the future organization at CSG.A large test campaign has already been conducted with the participation of all flight safety officers in order to collect data covering different fields [2]: personal and collective impressions, level of comfort, trust in the new concepts and comparison to the current process, amongst others. In follow-up of this study, to consolidate and validate the operability of the presented concepts and methods, the impacts of this new organization on the flight safety officers have been evaluated in order to apprehend the main changes compared to the current organization. In addition, a specific evaluation was performed in order to study the operator behaviour during various simulations of dangerous-case scenarios in which the launcher trajectory or on-board parameters deteriorated. The most critical cases were analysed in order to measure the reaction times before terminating the flight, with respect to different configurations of launcher abnormality. When comparing the behaviour and the reaction time of operators between the current and the future organization, we obtained conclusive results that are presented in this paper. These results will help to determine and demonstrate the efficiency of the new suggested method for the future flight safety organization at the CSG New Generation. The test campaign presented in this paper was possible following significant ergonomics choices regarding both the flight safety room configuration and the operator HMI layout. Indeed, the enhancement of flight safety operations has been enabled by a careful selection of decision-aiding algorithms and logical equations, however the study determining the most adequate position of HMI elements has also played a major role in the safety officers’ ability to operate the new concepts.This paper will present the results of the test campaign based on initial ergonomic studies enabling this major change in the organization of the flight safety team within the future CSG.

Numerical analysis of the effect of oscillation and current on hydrodynamic coefficients of simple geometries

During the launch operation of subsea equipment in the offshore industry, several factors are important for a safe and economical installation within an operating window. One of these factors is the hydrodynamic coefficients of the equipment to be installed. The coefficients can be obtained, experimentally or numerically, by applying an oscillatory motion that represents the effects of sea conditions and vessel motion, but these applications simplify conditions during a real operation and disregard important effects such as ocean currents. This paper investigates numerically the effect of current together with forced oscillation on the hydrodynamic coefficients of disks by analyzing two influence parameters, the Keulegan-Carpenter number (KC) and the reduced current velocity (Vr). A numerical model validation process was carried out in stages to overcome the lack of references on the subject. The model was compared with Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) results for low Reynolds number (Re), up to 600, in qualitative and quantitative analysis, and then applied to broader conditions found in real operations, with KC up to 3, Vr up to 0.3, and for high Re, up to 240,000. On the model scale, higher Vr generates an increase in the drag coefficient (Cd) and a decrease in the additional mass coefficient (Ca). Under real scale conditions, the results are similar, with variations of Cd up to 300% and of Ca up to 36% for low KC. Analysis of the flow topology indicates that KC and Vr influenced vortex shedding and convection. Correlations for the hydrodynamic coefficients as functions of KC and Vr are proposed, with a R2 higher than 93%.

Fretting wear_lubrication of initially worn parts through tribo-induced anchorage of PTFE in wear scars, and tribochemical creation of graphene oxide

Fretting wear during launch operation is a well-known cause of anomalies in spacecraft. In this study, a CubSat satellite stayed stuck in its dispenser during the final preflight qualification test. So close to launch date, not a single part of the satellite could be replaced. A fretting test campaign has been carried out at tribometer scale to propose a solution to lubricate the damaged contacts. In depth expertise of the satellite allowed to determine the contact parameters. Damages and particles observed on the rail surfaces were successfully reproduced. The tests showed the appearance of a continuous flow of loose particles that either leave the contact or agglomerate inside it. Those agglomerating induced high friction and high adhesion. After contact opening and cleaning off the particles, lubrication was applied on the resulting damaged surfaces. Sprayed alkyl-phosphonic acid molecules and grease containing PTFE were selected to be tested as lubricant because they could be applied manually. PTFE accumulated in the damaged regions, protecting the surfaces from further damage while ensuring good lubrication. Sprayed alkyl-phosphonic acid molecules performed less. They however demonstrated in-situ tribochemical formation of a suspected graphene-oxide based lubricious 3rd body. Grease has been eventually chosen and the satellite successfully launched.

Equilibrium model for the ablation response of silicone-coated PICA

A novel equilibrium ablation and thermal response model for NASA’s Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) is presented. For the first time, the model accounts for the effect of NuSil, a silicone overcoat applied as contamination control during assembly, test, and launch operations for both the Mars Science Laboratory and the Mars 2020 heatshields. The protective effect of NuSil against atomic oxygen is discussed based on experimental results collected under arc jet environment. A detailed mass and heat transfer analysis for PICA-NuSil was implemented in the Porous material Analysis Toolbox based on OpenFOAM, PATO. The model includes specific boundary conditions for the coating removal and surface equilibrium processes using representative elements of the NuSil-environment system. The charred NuSil surface was modeled as SiO2 based on the observation that a silicon oxycarbide layer, formed during the decomposition of NuSil, transforms into domains of pure silica and charred PICA. Two-dimensional material response simulations were performed to compare PICA and PICA-NuSil using boundary conditions calibrated with arc jet data. The present work constitutes the first demonstration of a multi-dimensional ablation response of a silicone-coated carbon-phenolic ablator. It is shown that simulations agree with experiments, and the model reproduces measured temperature and recession. Differences between the PICA-NuSil response under Earth and Mars atmospheres are discussed.

On the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Vladimir Fedorovich Roshchin

The article is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of a distinguished scholar, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Honored Master of Sciences and Engineering of the RSFSR, Laureate of the Lenin Prize – Vladimir Fedorovich Roshchin, who headed the Aerodynamics and Flight Dynamics Chair of the Moscow Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers (MICAE, the Moscow State Technical University of Civil Aviation at the present time) in the 70s. The certain biographical details about the researcher and his career highlights are given. The synergy of V.F. Roshchin as a student of the Moscow Aviation Institute with S.P. Korolev was of utmost significance. S.P. Korolev became not only a Director of Diploma for the graduate, but also a Mentor, a vivid personality who developed the area of expertise, influenced the evolvement of intellectual assets and the formation of a young professional, taught the proficiency of cooperation in a team of supporters. Thanks to his great abilities, Vladimir Fedorovich, among the best graduates of the Moscow Aviation Institute, was personally employed by S.P. Korolev, who headed EDB-1. Thus, he started his career in the innovative and developing branch of aerospace technology. Having climbed a career ladder from an engineer to a head of the research-engineering section, Vladimir Fedorovich was engaged in theoretical and experimental research of aerogasdynamic, thermophysical and ballistic problems of the head parts of rockets and launched space vehicles. The scientist achieved the National Awards for the launch operations of the first manned spacecraft "Vostok-1" with the cosmonaut Yu.A. Gagarin, the study of the shape and rotor recovery landing system of the Soyuz spacecraft and a series of other contributions. The article mentions the scientist’s engagement with the unique cooperative scientific projects, particularly with joint authors from the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after Professor N.E. Zhukovsky (TsAGI) to design an unconventional craft "Vertostat". This paper emphasizes the timespan of V.F. Roshchin, associated with work in MICAE (MSTUCA), his teaching, scientific, management activities. The personal qualities of the talented scientist such as bright individuality, broad education, phenomenal professional memory, undoubted erudition, valuable management skills, genuine commitment to science, independence of views, absolute honesty and integrity are noted. It is highlighted that V.F. Roshchin found his true vocation, fostered graduates and followers.

Evaluation of NCMRWF numerical weather prediction models for SHAR region

National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) generates the weather forecasts from global/ regional models, giving an opportunity for demonstrating different applications of these forecasts for various strategic needs of India. Sriharikota Range (SHAR), is a satellite launching center of India, functioning under the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Weather forecasts are very crucial for space launch operations. An accurate and on-time weather prediction at the launching site is highly needed during various stages, which plays a critical role in taking the “Go/ No Go” decision. During launch periods, weather forecasts over the SHAR region are prepared from the NCMRWF models with a special emphasis and shared them with ISRO on real time basis. In this paper, these forecasts are validated through observations at Chennai in the best possible way. The various skills are evaluated during different seasons, the products are found practically useful for SHAR launching projects in recent times. The results show that model variables of geopotential height, relative humidity, zonal and meridional winds agree with observations at SHAR, and 72 h forecast has better agreement.

"Insurance Plus Futures" Will Boost Targeted Poverty Alleviation

Once the model of "insurance + futures" was put forward, it aroused great attention from the government. In recent years, the variety of "insurance + futures" products and the expansion of pilot areas have effectively promoted the process of targeted poverty alleviation and contributed to the development of rural revitalization. Taking Apple project in Lixian County, Gansu Province as an example, this paper elaborates the launch background, operation mechanism, existing problems and promotion suggestions of "insurance + futures" in detail.

Detection of Armature–Rail Contact Instabilities in Electromagnetic Launchers

This paper deals with the detection of asymmetrical current distribution and the inspection of the rail-armature contact during the launch operation of electromagnetic rail launchers. The method puts in relationship electromagnetic quantities and geometric distances adopting search loops in symmetric position to the rails and offers an auxiliary geometrical interpretation representing the mutual inductances between each loop and the railgun by equivalent geometrical <i>loci</i>. To this purpose, we provide an analytical description for a case study with infinitely long straight wires, in the quasi-static approximation. An experimental analysis is carried out in static conditions on a railgun prototype available at the University of Pisa for different positions of the armature. Besides, we report an uncertainty analysis of the obtained measurement results, performed via a Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, we extend our analysis to the case of dynamic experiments performed with two different armatures to further validate the proposed approach.

Financial and Insurance Considerations in Relation to the Grant of a UK Spaceflight Licence, Particularly for Non-Geostationary Satellites

National regulators globally are having to consider the licensing criteria to impose on launch and satellite operators as more regulators are approached to license satellites and, in particular, large constellations. Regulators must balance issues such as government risk, safety, security and the sustainable use and access to space; against the encouragement of commercialisation, innovation and growth. It is well documented that an effective, proportionate regulatory framework is an enabler for raising investment. As part of such framework, regulators must assess how best to establish the financial standing of licence applicants and what insurance requirements to impose. Under international law, the regulating government will bear international liability for damage caused by a licensed satellite. A national regulator will, therefore, normally wish to pass some (if not all) of that liability to the satellite operator responsible for satellite operations. Some of this liability can be met by the effective use of insurance cover. When assessing space activities licence applications, regulators, and in particular the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as the new UK regulator, will seek to establish whether a satellite operator can meet its liability obligations pursuant to licensing requirements and what financial considerations and insurance requirements a national regulator could seek to have in place to ensure this, before a constellation licence is granted. This issue is particularly pertinent as more commercial constellation operators look to ‘forum shop’ for the most efficient licensing regime and the issue of the sustainability and good governance of constellations is more pressing than ever. Third party liability insurance, space finance, constellations, national space law, UK

On the investigation of vertical uncertainty of depth sounding in a shallow environment with muddy seabed: Preliminary results from a launch operation of a dual-frequency echosounder

Hydrographic echosounder has been the standard instrument that provides a measure of water depths. In a muddy environment, this detection is not as straightforward as it seems; low gradient of acoustic impedance presence within the water-sediment interface resulting in vertical separation of liquid-solid boundary detected by different frequencies of depth sounding system. In this study, we investigate the depths measured by a dual-frequency hydrographic echosounder in a muddy environment, coupled with a simultaneous probing of the water-seabed interface by means of a free-falling cone penetrometer. We intend to understand the extent of the uncertainty of a depth-sounding system to precisely locate the liquid-solid boundary within the water-seabed interface, specifically at Patimban coasts, situated in the north coast part of Java Island, where muddy sediments dominate the seabed. From our investigation, we found that standard high-frequency sounding (200 kHz) underestimates the physical depth by 0.26 ± 0.17 m, while standard low-frequency sounding (24 kHz) overestimates the physical depth by 0.23 ± 0.19 m and tends to give inconsistent measures. Our study suggests the importance of considering these measures of discrepancy when depth sounding is being carried out in a muddy environment.

Reverse Logistics Network Design and Simulation for Automatic Teller Machines Based on Carbon Emission and Economic Benefits: A Study of the Anhui Province ATMs Industry

In recent years, mobile payments have gradually replaced cash payments, resulting in a gradual decline in the number of automatic teller machines (ATMs) demanded by banks. Through investigation and analysis, we determine four means to deal with decommissioned ATMs, and construct thereafter an ATM reverse logistics (RL_ATMs) network model, which includes suppliers, producers, warehouses, operators, maintenance centers, collection and inspection centers, disposal centers, remanufacturing centers, and recycling centers. This model is further expressed as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model. Given that an ATM recycling network has planned and batched characteristics, a percentage diversion method is proposed to transform a real multi-cycle problem to a single-cycle problem. The RL_ATMs network constructed in this study presents the two forms of ATMs, functional modules and the entire machine. We used the actual situations of the related companies and enterprises in Anhui Province and its surrounding areas, as well as major banks’ ATMs, as bases in using the LINGO software to solve the proposed MILP model with the objective function of minimizing costs and environmental emissions, and obtain the relevant companies’ launch operations. Lastly, we analyzed the relationship between coefficients in the percentage diversion method and calculation results, cost, and carbon emissions. Accordingly, we find that the number of remanufacturing and maintenance centers has no evident impact on the objective function, transportation costs account for a large proportion of the total cost, and emissions tax is small.

Past experience and future prospects for launching our country's small spacecraft from Plesetsk launch site

The paper provides an integrated analysis of the problem of the fast growing field of development and operation of Small Spacecraft (SS) constellations and participation of domestic launch site Plesetsk in solving this problem. It reviews the history of launches from Plesetsk, and describes the current status of work to build up and replenish SS-based orbital constellations. It describes major methods of SS launches. When describing multiple launches of SS on heavy launch vehicles it cites foreign practices of SpaceX Company, as well as lays down the prospects for development of our country’s heavy launch vehicles. As for the small-lift launch vehicles, it cites the experience of launching from Plesetsk of launch-vehicles Rokot and Soyuz-2 Phase 1v. For the super-small-lift launch vehicles, it cites the experience of USA and PRC, as well as our country’s development project of the launch vehicle Irkut, which is planned to be launched from Plesetsk, among other places. As for changes in the configuration of ground space infrastructure, the paper points out a trend towards processing SS at a single common processing facility (there is no need to construct processing facilities for each specific small spacecraft). The paper presents general trends in the system for operation of space facilities. The trends towards standardizing mechanical handling equipment in particular, and processing facilities in general, make it possible to lower development costs and speed up development schedules for advanced small spacecraft. Reducing small spacecraft processing time has a beneficial effect on the operational efficiency of the launch campaign, while the use of mobile checkout equipment makes it possible to quickly put together mobile and flexible processing facilities, the use of which will undoubtedly contribute to shaping the future of our country’s launch system. An important point made in the paper is the conclusion that in spite of our country’s lagging behind in super-small-lift launch vehicles, it has a significant scientific and engineering potential for developing this type of launch vehicles. Regardless of the value of other conclusions of the paper, the key point is that the current state of the ground space infrastructure facilities and the accumulated experience of specialists at Plesetsk make it possible to address the full spectrum of SS launch operations. Key words: small spacecraft, launch vehicles, ground space infrastructure, system for operation of space facilities.

Prospects for the Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipeline

In mid-July 2021, American-German talks were held in Washington, within the framework of which J. Biden and A. Merkel discussed the prospects for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline (NS-2). This project under President D. Trump became one of the conflicting factors that significantly worsened relations between the United States and Germany. On July 21, a joint statement by the President and the Bundeskanzlerin was published, containing a description of the conditions for the commercial launch of NS-2. The article analyzes the changes in the position of the new American administration regarding the NS-2, the agreements reached in July on the operating conditions for the new gas pipeline, its significance for Berlin's relations with Washington, Moscow, Kiev and Warsaw. Considering the results of the negotiations as a compromise between the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany with ambiguous consequences for Russia, the author concludes that a number of risks remain for the project – the operator of the SP-2 and its owner, Gazprom, during the commercial launch and subsequent operation of the offshore and onshore sections of the gas pipeline, will have to continue to resist the resistance of its opponents in the USA, Germany and several other EU countries.

In-orbit results from the attitude determination and control system of ALSAT-2B

ABSTRACTThe Algerian Space Agency has been active in the field of microsatellite engineering for more than 15 years and has successfully developed microsatellites under several know-how transfer technology programs, six to date. This paper presents the flight results and lessons learned from the attitude determination and control system (ADCS) flown on the ALSAT-2B satellite, an Earth observation microsatellite, by analysing the behaviour of the satellite from the initial attitude acquisition through the coarse pointing mode then the nominal mode, where the payload is first tested, and finally the orbit control mode. The spacecraft was launched on 26 September 2016 and placed into a 670km Sun-synchronous orbit with a solar local time at an ascending node of 22:15. The ADCS performance presented here mainly focuses on the launch and early operation results. ALSAT-2B includes four reaction wheels in a pyramidal configuration, three gyros, three Sun sensors, three magneto-torquers, one magnetometer, and one star tracker for agile and accurate attitude control. In addition, a propulsion system based on four 1N hydrazine thrusters is also used on board the microsatellite. The main new development in this platform compared with previous ones of the same type is the fusion of the star tracker and measurements by the three gyroscopes into one gyrostellar estimator that was implemented for the first time on ALSAT-2B, and the pyramidal configuration of the wheels, aiming to increase the angular momentum. The results obtained from the early launch operations for different ADCS modes are very encouraging and fulfil all the requirements set during design and testing. Currently, the satellite has accomplished its fourth year in orbit and is still operational and producing high-quality images.

The long period of 3He-rich solar energetic particles measured by Solar Orbiter 2020 November 17-23

The Suprathermal Ion Spectrograph (SIS) is a European facility instrument funded by ESA. The SIS instrument was constructed by the JHU/Applied Physics Lab. and CAU Kiel. We thank the many individuals at ESA and within the Energetic Particle Detector team for their support in its development. Post launch operation of SIS at APL is funded by NASA contract NNN06AA01C, and we thank NASA headquarters and the NASA/GSFC Solar Orbiter project office for their continuing support. The UAH team acknowledges the financial support by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades FEDER/MCIU/AEI Projects ESP2017-88436- R and PID2019-104863RB- I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. The CAU Kiel team thanks the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the German Space Agency (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt, e.V., (DLR)) for their unwavering support under grant numbers 50OT0901, 50OT1202, 50OT1702, and 50OT2002; and ESA for supporting the build of SIS under contract number SOL.ASTR.CON.00004, and the University of Kiel and the Land Schleswig-Holstein for their support of SIS. R. Bucik is supported ˇ in part by NASA grant 80NSSC19K0079. F. Carcaboso acknowledges the financial support by the Spanish MINECO-FPI-2016 predoctoral grant with FSE. V. Krupaˇr acknowledges the support by NASA under grants 18-2HSWO2182- 0010 and 19-HSR-192-0143. L. Balmaceda acknowledges the support from the NASA program NNH17ZDA001N-LWS (Awards Nr. 80NSSC19K1261 and 80NSSC19K1235).

Private Entities in Outer Space Activities: Liability Regime Reconsidered

This article discusses the current state of the law concerning the liability of private entities for damages caused with respect to space activities. A significant and continuous increase in the involvement of private companies in space activities risks damages being caused to other entities as multilateral treaties of international law, adopted between 1967 and 1979, are outdated and do not correspond well with contemporary reality. They do not comprehensively regulate the responsibility in relations between states and, even more so, with private entities. In general, these treaties regulate damages caused by private entities by giving responsibility to states, which seems unfounded in today's world.States can also conclude bilateral treaties on space projects that involve private entities. Usually, such agreements contain a standard third-party liability clause concerning the Liability Convention or mention of the possibility of commencing consultations on the apportionment of the liability between states as the parties to these treaties. These have no specific norms dedicated to the liability of private launchers toward potential victims of the damage caused by space objects or another harm related to space activities of such companies. Some bilateral treaties on the joint space projects of states also contain cross-waiver liability clauses, which release private companies from liability. Furthermore, there is a tendency in the domestic law of limiting the liability of private entities for space activities (e.g., in the United States, even state regulations require the exclusion of the liability of space launch operators for damages caused to third parties).