INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SPACE SAFETY Space Safety © Issue 5 Fall 2012 Magazine ISSF SPECIAL The Case for Support SPECIAL REPORT Life Sciences in Microgravity Falling Free from the Edge of Space Commercial Human Spaceflight Safety in the 21st Century Space Safety Fall Magazine 2012 Index 3 The International Space Safety Foundation Advisory Council Special Report ISSF SPECIAL Life Sciences THE CASE 4 Neil Armstrong and Sally Ride: in Microgravity Their Safety Legacy FOR SUPPORT 5 Curiosity: II Muscle Atrophy in Space ISSF II International Space Safety The Path to Success Foundation Case For Support III Investigating Upper Limb Space Travel: Entering A New 8 Legal Issues Atrophy Dimension of Space Debris Remediation ISSF III Danger of Orbital Accidents IV Microgravity Bone Loss ISSF IV Risk of Accidents on Ground Illuminates Osteoporosis ISSF V Frontier Environment Origins Safety of Future Space Exploration VI Radiation Protection on The Guggenheims and Air Safety Long Duration Spaceflight ISSF VI Priority Actions to Advance Space Safety VIII Kayser Italia: the Company International Space Safety Foundation ISSF VII A Plan for Success 16 Commercial Human Spaceflight Catalyze Space Safety Voluntary st 10 Falling Free Safety in the 21 Century Standards and Certification from the Edge of Space Advance Knowledge and 20 The Red Stuff: The True Story Application of Space Safety 13 Tai Chi: of the Russian Race for Space Taking Wellness to Space ISSF VIII Award Innovation and Leadership 22 Press Clips Fund Raising 14 Taking Potentially Hazardous Asteroids Seriously 23 Advertising Placement Join Us Fall Space Safety 2012 Magazine© Issue 5 Space Safety Magazine INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION Editorial Board and FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF Tribunale di Udine (Italy) SPACE SAFETY Scientific Committee n. 16/2011 27/10/2011 Tommaso Sgobba www.spacesafetymagazine.com Alex Soons [email protected] IAASS ISSF Philip Wallace Postbus 127 International Association International Editor-in-Chief 2200AC Noordwijk for the Advancement of Space Safety Andrea Gini The Netherlands Space Safety Foundation www.iaass.org www.spacesafetyfoundation.org Deputy Editor Merryl Azriel The Space Safety Magazine is a joint publication of the Deputy Manager International Association for Carmen Victoria Felix Advancement of Space Safety Creative Director (IAASS) and the International Kristhian Mason Space Safety Foundation (ISSF) Cover pictures: Sunita Williams, the woman who has logged the most EVA time “touching” the sun on her most recent spacewalk - Credits: NASA Central Region of the Milky Way - Credits: NASA, ESA, SSC, CXC, and STScI 2 Space Safety Editorial Fall Magazine 2012 The International Space Safety Foundation Advisory Council ear Reader, ternational Institute for Space The International Safety (IISS). DSpace Safety Foun- The ISSF Advisory Council dation (ISSF) is a recently es- is the think-tank working on tablished US based non-profit developing the safety insti- organization dedicated to fur- tute. The Advisory Council, thering international coopera- set up in early 2012, is cur- tion and scientific progress in rently focused on developing the field of space safety. The the ISSF research program, final aim of the Foundation is which is intended to spon- to pursue the advancement of sor general studies in support space safety on a worldwide of global risk management, scale and to contribute to conceptual studies on inno- making space missions, ve- vative systems, development hicles, stations, extra-terres- of dedicated equipment, as trial habitats, equipment, and The BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig ablaze. - Credits: U.S. Coast Guard well as performance of de- payloads safer for the general tailed studies on specific public, ground personnel, astronauts, the Deepwater Horizon disaster made topics. Particular attention has been and space travellers. Concurrently, the a truly visionary recommendation: “The devoted to space systems interoper- Foundation is seeking to promote mea- gas and oil industry must move towards ability. ISSF is also active in commu- sures for a sustainable orbital environ- developing a notion of safety as a col- nicating information to consolidate the ment aimed to protect the integrity of lective responsibility. Industry should es- safety culture, promoting at the same space-based safety critical services, tablish a ‘Safety Institute’ […] an-indus- time the development of safe commer- such as global navigation systems. try created, self-policing entity aimed cial spaceflight. Special attention has As you know, we learn from failure not at developing, adopting, and enforcing been focused on promoting the devel- from success. standards of excellence to ensure con- opment of undergraduate and graduate At 9:45 pm on 20 April 2010, during tinuous improvement in safety and op- educational programs. the final phases of drilling an explorato- erational integrity offshore”. The ISSF Advisory Council will support ry well in the Gulf of Mexico, a geyser of Industry should stop thinking of safety the so-called “ICAO for Space” initia- seawater erupted onto the drilling oil-rig as a matter for governments only and tive, a potential “Copernican revolution” Deepwater Horizon, shooting 73 me- start looking seriously into self-regula- in international civil space organization ters into the air. An eruption of a slushy tion. This idea, which may sound revolu- built around the common objectives of combination of mud, methane gas, and tionary, is in fact the way maritime busi- safety and sustainability by extending water followed. The slushy material ness has been operating for 350 years up to Medium or Geosynchronous Earth quickly transitioned into a stream of gas through the so-called Classification orbit the mandate of the UN Interna- which then ignited into a series of ex- Societies (e.g. Lloyd’s Register.) tional Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) plosions followed by a firestorm. After Today’s dynamic high-tech indus- in order to regulate, for example, safety burning for approximately 36 hours, the try cannot be regulated any longer by of GNSS services. oil-rig sank 1,500m below the level of static safety codes. Government should As Einstein noted some decades ago, the water. In the process, eleven people concentrate on identifying safety objec- “The significant problems we have can- lost their lives, while a gigantic oil spill tives and policies, leaving it to industry not be solved at the same level of think- spawned an environmental disaster of to find the most appropriate design and ing with which we created them.” epic proportion. operational solutions. The task of cer- The findings of the Presidential Com- tification must be placed on indus- Best regards, mission investigating the Deepwater trial technical teams as excellent and Horizon disaster bear striking resem- competent as - although independent blances to those of the Shuttle Chal- from - their design team counterparts. lenger and Columbia accidents, or Promotion of serious self-regulation more recently of the Fukushima nuclear by the commercial spaceflight industry power plant disaster. A disaster inves- for both manned and unmanned opera- tigation typically addresses proposals tions is one of the centrepieces of the for new regulations, to little effect if the cooperation between the ISSF and the underlying problem is a lack of critical International Association for the Ad- thinking by industry. In this case how- vancement of Space Safety (IAASS), Simonetta di Pippo ever, the Presidential Commission on which together aim to establish the In- ISSF Advisory Council Chair 3 Space Safety News Fall Magazine 2012 Neil Armstrong By Merryl Azriel and Sally Ride: Their Safety Legacy his summer, two icons of space- flight died: Neil Armstrong, The problem is, people forget„ Tthe first man to set foot on the “ Moon, and Sally Ride, the first Ameri- can woman in space and the first per- try read Sally Ride Willing to Fly Again. philosophy which had been introduced son to snag an orbiting satellite using “I think NASA has done a real good under NASA administrator Dan Goldin a robotic arm. Among the less cele- job studying the solid rockets, study- in the 1990’s also came under her fire: brated achievements of these remark- ing the redesigns and doing the test- “With human space flight, you’d better able individuals is their contribution ing that would be necessary to get the add the word ‘safety’ in there too.” to space safety. Armstrong and Ride space program back,” she told NBC’s When Sally Ride died of pancreatic were the only astronauts to serve on Today program. cancer on July 23, 2012 at age 61 and the presidential commission that in- Ride went on to be the only member Neil Armstrong died of complications vestigated the explosion of the Space to serve on both the Challenger and following heart surgery on August 25, Shuttle Challenger on January 28, the Columbia commissions. As she 2012 at age 82, in addition to their 1986. Armstrong was vice chairman memorably put it in a 2003 New York legacies as space pioneers, they left of the proceedings and co-wrote its Times interview: “The problem is, peo- what will hopefully be a lasting impact final report. This was Armstrong’s sec- ple forget.” The Columbia commission on space safety. As Ride reminded us ond experience on an accident review identified many of the same cultural in 1986, space is still a risky business. board; he served as the only astro- problems at NASA as were found fol- “I think that we may have been mis- naut on the 1970 NASA investigation lowing the Challenger accident. Ride leading people into thinking that this is into the explosion of an oxygen tank particularly criticized the attitude of a routine operation,” she said, “that it’s aboard Apollo 13. With no casualties, managers in demanding proof of a risk just like getting on an airliner and go- Apollo 13 did not receive an indepen- before allocating resources to investi- ing across the country and that it’s that dent investigation, although there were gate it.