A technoregulatory analysis of government regulation and oversight in the United States for the protection of passenger safety in commercial human spaceflight

Commercial human spaceflight looks ready to take off as an industry, with "space tourism" as its first application. Paying passengers are likely to begin taking suborbital spaceflights within the next several years, both despite and because of the risks and hazards inherent in human spaceflight. As this activity poses dangers to passengers, there will be an increasing degree of government regulation and oversight to protect participant safety. Though human spaceflight is not a new endeavour, commercial human spaceflight poses a new set of challenges for regulators to grapple with. As is the case with many emerging technological industries, the regulatory challenge is to protect the safety of both participants and the uninvolved without regulating to a degree that stifles industry innovation and growth. This thesis examines the history and regulation of commercial human spaceflight to date. The technical background, systems engineering, and risk management of human spaceflight are explored, to determine which particular subsystem-mission phase combinations warrant closer regulatory attention. Finally, this paper gives recommendations on how future regulation of this nascent industry ought to be approached by the federal government and its regulatory agencies.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Leybovich, Michael Elliot

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David A. Mindell and Dava Newman.

• Engineering Systems Division.
• Technology and Policy Program.
• Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/57522

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/57522