The U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s Federal Aviation\nAdministration (FAA) can now track a space launch or reentry vehicle in\nnear-real time as it travels through the National Airspace System. This new\ncapability increases safety for all airspace users and assists the FAA in\nefficiently managing air traffic during space operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Space Data Integrator<\/a> (SDI) prototype automates the delivery of vehicle-related telemetry data to the FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center. This vastly improves the FAA\u2019s situational awareness of where the vehicle is as it travels to space or as it returns to the Earth. In addition to existing tools, the FAA also can use SDI to manage air traffic more efficiently as a space operation progresses and address contingencies in the event of an anomaly during a mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The SDI capability recently became operational and was first\nused with the June 30 SpaceX Transponder 2 launch from Cape Canaveral Space\nForce Station in Florida. It will next be used with the upcoming reentry of the\nSpaceX CRS-22 Dragon vehicle carrying cargo on its return trip from the\nInternational Space Station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a critical tool as the number of users of our\nalready busy airspace increases,\u201d said FAA Administrator Steve Dickson. \u201cWith\nthis capability, we will be able to safely reopen the airspace more quickly and\nreduce the number of aircraft and other airspace users affected by a launch or\nreentry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, the FAA has to close airspace for extended\nperiods of time when a launch or reentry vehicle travels through the National\nAirspace System. SDI will allow the FAA to more dynamically manage airspace and\nminimize the impact on other airspace users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Telemetry data provided via SDI includes vehicle position,\naltitude, speed, and if it deviates from its expected flight path. It also\ndisplays tracking for the vehicle during its full flight and allows the FAA to\nmonitor whether the vehicle is performing as planned. In addition, the SDI\ncapability is able to display and share aircraft hazard areas that may\npotentially contain falling debris from a launch or reentry vehicle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Space operators share the telemetry data on a voluntary\nbasis. SpaceX is the first company to participate and has provided data to the\nFAA since 2016 in the early stages of the SDI concept research and development.\nOther partners include Blue Origin, Firefly, and the Alaska Aerospace\nCorporation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The FAA also recently began using time-based procedures and\ndynamic windows as tools to more efficiently manage launch or reentry\noperations in the National Airspace System. Both offer great promise showing\nthe FAA reduced the length of airspace closures from an average of more than\nfour hours per launch to just more than two hours. As the SDI capability\nevolves, it will help the FAA reopen the airspace even more quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2020, the FAA safely managed 45 space launches and\nreentries into the National Airspace System, the most in the agency\u2019s history.\nFor 2021, that number could exceed 70.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Check out our Space Operations<\/a> in the NAS video and our Shared Data is a Game Changer<\/a> for Space Operations blog to learn more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) can now track a space launch or reentry vehicle in near-real time as it travels through the National Airspace System. This new capability increases safety for all airspace users and assists the FAA in efficiently managing air traffic during space operations. The Space Data Integrator (SDI) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18816,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18815\/revisions\/18816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}