Safety Design for Space Operations

Endorsed by the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) and drawing on the expertise of the world’s leading experts in the field, Safety Design for Space Operations provides the practical how-to guidance and knowledge base needed to facilitate effective launch-site and operations safety in line with current regulations. With information on space operations safety design currently disparate and difficult to find in one place, this unique reference brings together essential material on: Best design practices relating to space operations, such as the design of spaceport facilities. Advanced analysis methods, such as those used to calculate launch and re-entry debris fall-out risk. Implementation of safe operation procedures, such as on-orbit space traffic management. Safety considerations relating to the general public and the environment in addition to personnel and asset protection. Taking in launch operations safety relating unmanned missions, such as the launch of probes and commercial satellites, as well as manned missions, Safety Design for Space Operations provides a comprehensive reference for engineers and technical managers within aerospace and high technology companies, space agencies, spaceport operators, satellite operators and consulting firms.

Tommaso Sgobba is Executive Director and Board Secretary of IAASS (International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety). Tommaso Sgobba has been IAASS first President in the period 2005-2013. Until June 2013 Tommaso Sgobba has been responsible for flight safety at the European Space Agency (ESA), including human-rated systems, spacecraft re-entries, space debris, use of nuclear power sources, and planetary protection. He joined the European Space Agency in 1989, after 13 years in the aeronautical industry. Initially he supported the developments of the Ariane 5 launcher, several earth observation and meteorological satellites, and the early phase of the European Hermes spaceplane. Later he became _Product Assurance and Safety Manager for all European manned missions on Shuttle, MIR station, and for the European research facilities of the International Space Station. He chaired for 10 years the ESA ISS Payload Safety Review Panel. He was also instrumental in setting up the ESA Re-entry Safety Review Panel. Tommaso Sgobba holds an M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the Polytechnic of Turin (Italy), where he was also professor of space system safety (1999-2001). He has published several articles and papers on space safety, and co-edited the text book “Safety Design for Space Systems”, published in 2009 by Elsevier, that was also published later in Chinese. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the books “Safety Design for Space Operations” (2013) and “Space Safety and Human Performance” (2017) also published by Elsevier. He is Managing Editor of the Journal of Space Safety Engineering and member of the editorial board of the Space Safety Magazine. Tommaso Sgobba is the inventor (patent pending) of the R-DBAS (Re-entry, Direct Broadcasting Alert System), to alert the air traffic of falling fragments from uncontrolled space system re-entry. Tommaso Sgobba received the NASA recognition for outstanding contribution to the International Space Station in 2004, and the prestigious NASA Space Flight Awareness (SFA) Award in 2007.

Dr. Firooz Allahdadi served (1998-2011) at the United States of America HQ Air Force Safety Center in multiple capacities. He was the Center’s Senior Technical Advisor, Director of Space Safety Division and the DoD representative in the presidentially mandated Inter-Agency Nuclear Safety Review Panel.

In1998 Dr. Allahdadi employed rigorous scientific analysis to revamp Air Force’s conventional weapons operational safety and guidelines. This undertaking produced measurable operational efficiency and considerable real estate savings. He pioneered the Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) Safety initiative leading teams of experts to identify and quantify the entire DEW hazards spectrum. He authored the governing DEW operation safety policies, AFPD 91-4, which has been benchmarked throughout US military.

As the DoD representative, Dr. Firooz Allahdadi oversaw special analysis, provided technical oversight and garnered Presidential Launch authorization for the two Martian launches “Spirit” and “Opportunity” in 2003, the “New Horizons Mission,” a journey to Pluto in 2005, and landing of the nuclear powered Rover “Curiosity” on the surface of Mars in 2010.

He founded and directed the Space Kinetic Impact and Debris Division (1990-1998) at the Air Force Research Laboratory. He led teams of scientists and engineers to develop high-fidelity analytical tools to predict dynamics of the debris clouds created from any space engagements. This technology was employed to simulate specific space scenarios for national security planning.

Dr. Firooz Allahdadi lectured on transport phenomenon and conducted research on several nationally important programs as a faculty member at University of New Mexico. He is a member of the National Research Council, Chief Editor of the International Society for Optical Engineering and has authored over 75 scientific papers.

Isabelle Rongier is General Inspector, Director of General Inspection and Quality, of the French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) since April 2010, in charge of internal audit and risk assessment at Agency level, and responsible for quality standards application in management processes and space projects. She’s also responsible for certifying technical conformity to the French Space Operation Act before each space operation (launch operations and in orbit operations) is authorized. This certificate is then sent to French Ministry of Space on behalf of President of CNES.

Before (2005-2010), Isabelle Rongier was the Technical Director of CNES Launcher Directorate, dealing with all technical domain of a launcher design (solid, liquid and cryogenic propulsion, system and environment, mechanics and avionics). She has worked on all launchers operated from the European spaceport in French Guyana: Ariane 4 and 5, VEGA and Soyuz. She has always been deeply involved in safety methods and studies for all those launchers.

From 1997 to 2005, Isabelle Rongier served as head of system department and senior expert on flight management, including trajectory optimization, GNC algorithms design and validation, on board flight software design and qualification, transient phases analysis. All these skills are necessary assets for performing safety analyses.

Dr. Paul Wilde has 20 years of experience in space safety standards development, launch and re-entry safety evaluations, explosive safety analysis, and operations safety. He is currently a technical advisor for the Chief Engineer in FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation and chairman of the Range Commander’s Council Risk Committee. He has performed leading roles for multi-organization projects in several high-profile situations. During the Columbia accident investigation, Dr. Paul Wilde was the principal investigator of public safety issues and provided technical oversight for the foam impact tests. He also performed key roles in the independent flight safety evaluations for the maiden flights of the ATV, Atlas V, Delta IV, Falcon 9-Dragon, Space Ship 1, and the Titan IVB.

Dr. Paul Wilde was a leader in the development of several major US regulations and standards on launch and re-entry risk management. For example, he was the lead author for five of the eleven chapters in the US national standard on range operations risk acceptability requirements, rationale, and implementation guidelines. Dr. Paul Wilde was co-chair of the Common Standards Working Group during the development of the FAA regulation on launch safety, and a principal author for the FAA’s Flight Safety Analysis Handbook. He has published over 100 technical reports and papers. He received the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, Special Congressional Recognition, and several other awards. He is a licensed professional engineer in Texas, with degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California.