Air Traffic Impact Analysis Design SL and Air Launch Use Cases

Abstract

Space flight activities are becoming an eminent part of flight operations in the world today. Launch and re-entry operations are expected to grow beyond state use and research purposes into a commercial space transportation business. That creates an evident need to integrate space vehicle operations into the existing air traffic management system in a safe and efficient way. The German Aerospace Center has already conducted studies which cover the operational effects of space vehicle operations on air traffic and integration of the SpaceLiner return trajectory towards a European landing site. The next level of investigations include the horizontal launch of space vehicles in the segregated and congested European airspace, assessment of the effects expressed over closure of the affected airspaces and the potential delays induced by this type of operation. Thus, we present preliminary results of our analysis in this paper, including the methodology and modeling approach used to conduct this study.