UNLOCKING COMMERCIAL SPACEFLIGHT FOR THE UK Consultation on draft regulations to implement the Space Industry Act 2018 Closing date: 21 October 2020 © Crown copyright 2020 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected]. Where we have identified any third-party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at: [email protected] 1 Contents Executive Summary _________________________________________________________ 6 Introduction ______________________________________________________________ 6 Why we are consulting _____________________________________________________ 7 How to respond ___________________________________________________________ 8 Confidentiality and data protection ____________________________________________ 9 Quality assurance _________________________________________________________ 9 Context and Background Information ___________________________________________ 10 The future of spaceflight in the UK ___________________________________________ 10 The Outer Space Act 1986 _________________________________________________ 11 The Space Industry Act 2018 _______________________________________________ 11 Pre-consultation engagement _______________________________________________ 15 Structure of the instruments and guidance _____________________________________ 16 The regulator ___________________________________________________________ 18 Safety and the ALARP principle _____________________________________________ 18 International context ______________________________________________________ 19 Legislative process _______________________________________________________ 21 The Space Industry Regulations_______________________________________________ 22 Part 1: Preliminary _______________________________________________________ 22 Part 2: Appointment of the regulator __________________________________________ 22 Part 3: Grant of a licence – general __________________________________________ 23 Eligibility criteria and prescribed roles _______________________________________ 23 Eligibility criteria________________________________________________________ 23 Prescribed roles _______________________________________________________ 24 Informing the regulator of changes _________________________________________ 25 Exemptions from the need to hold an operator licence __________________________ 26 Grant of a licence: general _______________________________________________ 27 Part 4: Grant of a spaceflight operator licence – risk______________________________ 28 Risks to persons who are not taking part in spaceflight activity ____________________ 28 Risk assessment for crew and spaceflight participants __________________________ 30 Part 5: Grant of a spaceport licence __________________________________________ 32 Location requirements for horizontal spaceports _______________________________ 32 Safety Case requirement _________________________________________________ 32 Safety Clear Zone Requirement ___________________________________________ 33 Siting Assessment ______________________________________________________ 34 2 Members of the public ___________________________________________________ 34 Part 6: Range control services ______________________________________________ 35 Licensee’s organisation and management ___________________________________ 36 Agreements with relevant authorities________________________________________ 37 The range and hazard areas ______________________________________________ 37 Notification requirements _________________________________________________ 37 Quality management system ______________________________________________ 37 Applicable conditions where a spaceflight operator provides range control services to itself ____________________________________________________________________ 38 Part 7: Training, qualifications and medical fitness _______________________________ 38 General ______________________________________________________________ 38 The training manager ___________________________________________________ 41 Training manual________________________________________________________ 41 Training programme ____________________________________________________ 42 Medical fitness_________________________________________________________ 43 Part 8: Safety of operator’s spaceflight activities during the launch operator licence or the return operator licence ____________________________________________________ 44 Relationship with risk regulations __________________________________________ 44 The spaceflight operator’s safety duty _______________________________________ 44 Retention, review and revision of safety case and risk assessment ________________ 46 Demonstrating requirements ______________________________________________ 46 Requirements about the spaceflight operator’s organisation and management and specific safety roles ___________________________________________________________ 46 Requirements about specific safety roles ____________________________________ 46 The safety operations manual _____________________________________________ 47 Preparations for launch, return and other operations ___________________________ 47 Launch, return and other operations ________________________________________ 51 Recording, retaining and preserving information for safety purposes _______________ 52 Emergency response ___________________________________________________ 52 Additional safety requirements for launch vehicles with human occupants ___________ 52 Specific obligations of pilot in command, flight crew or remote pilot, and spaceflight participants ___________________________________________________________ 53 Spaceflight participants and information to be given to a human occupant after the consent form is signed _________________________________________________________ 53 Part 9: Spaceport safety ___________________________________________________ 54 Horizontal spaceport location requirement ___________________________________ 54 Safety case retention and review __________________________________________ 54 Safety clear zones ______________________________________________________ 55 3 Hazardous materials, testing areas and safety equipment _______________________ 56 Organisation and management ____________________________________________ 57 Emergencies __________________________________________________________ 58 Part 10: Security _________________________________________________________ 59 Physical and personnel security ___________________________________________ 60 Cyber security _________________________________________________________ 63 Vetting, clearance, training and qualifications _________________________________ 64 Critical national infrastructure and essential services ___________________________ 65 Security provisions for the protection of US space technology ____________________ 65 Part 11: Informed consent __________________________________________________ 67 Prescribed matters _____________________________________________________ 68 The consent form ______________________________________________________ 68 Information to be given to a human occupant before the consent form is signed ______ 69 Procedural requirements with regard to the signification of consent ________________ 70 Part 12: Liabilities and indemnities ___________________________________________ 71 Who does not have a strict liability right of claim? ______________________________ 72 Cases where a limit on an operator’s liability to indemnify Government will be disapplied 73 Limiting liability for UK launch activities ______________________________________ 73 Part 13: Monitoring and enforcement _________________________________________ 74 Inspectors ____________________________________________________________ 75 Sharing of information and restrictions on disclosure ___________________________ 76 Part 14: Civil Sanctions (stop notices) ________________________________________ 76 Part 15: Occurrence reporting _______________________________________________ 77 Part 16: Duty to inform the regulator __________________________________________ 77 The Spaceflight Activities (Investigation of Spaceflight Accidents) Regulations ___________ 78 Inspectors and the safety investigation authority _______________________________ 79 First steps after the spaceflight accident _____________________________________ 79 The safety investigation and inspectors’ powers _______________________________ 80 Sensitive safety information_______________________________________________ 81 The safety investigation report and safety recommendations _____________________ 81 Contraventions and sanctions _____________________________________________ 82 The Space Industry (Appeals) Regulations ______________________________________ 83 Appealable decisions ___________________________________________________ 83 Permission to appeal ____________________________________________________ 84 Application to intervene __________________________________________________ 84 Determination of application for permission to appeal ___________________________ 85 4 Appeals ______________________________________________________________ 85 Impact assessment_________________________________________________________