United States Department of Transportation
ROSA P serves as an archival repository of USDOT-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by USDOT or funded partners.
As a repository, ROSA P retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
i
Voluntary Industry Standards and Their Relationship to Government Programs
-
1993-01-01
[PDF-440.61 KB]
Details:
-
Corporate Creators:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
DOI:
-
Resource Type:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
NTL Classification:NTL-AVIATION-AVIATION;NTL-AVIATION-Aviation Laws and Regulations;NTL-AVIATION-Aviation Planning and Policy;NTL-AVIATION-Aviation Safety/Airworthiness;
-
Abstract:The Office of Commercial Space Transportation (OCST), in developing its program
for ensuring that commercial space operations adequately protect public safety
and the environment, confronts the challenge of devising an effective means for
accomplishing this objective while simultaneously nurturing a healthy and
internationally competitive commercial space industry. In meeting this
challenge, OCST has emphasized flexibility and the use of innovative approaches,
rather than simply relying on the traditional "command-and-control"regulatory
strategy. An important aspect of OCST's flexibility in its safety regulatory
approach is its interest in taking advantage of the potentially complementary
role of voluntary industry safety standards. While OCST has the authority to
employ an exclusively regulatory strategy, there are numerous intermediate
points along the spectrum. The real question is: To what extent, and how,
should OCST integrate voluntary standards within its regulatory regime?
Answering the "to what extent" dimension of this question requires an assessment
of the breadth and qualitative adequacy of private standards in the commercial
space industry. The "how" aspect focuses on the best means of integrating
voluntary standards. Examining these policy questions led OCST to review the
state of voluntary standardization in the commercial space launch industry.
What the Office found is that there are very few standards set for aspects of
commercial space (e.g., vehicle/payload interfaces) that have an important
impact on the commercial viability of the industry. It is apparent that the
commercial space launch industry has not perceived the economic advantages that
such standards can provide. Before addressing the important policy issues
identified above, OCST decided to step back and conduct a brief examination of
how other federal agencies interact with voluntary industry standardization
programs. This paper summarizes some of the key insights learned from the
study, providing a general understanding to OCST (and industry) as they begin
to take concrete steps to further the extent of voluntary standardization in
the commercial space launch industry. 67p.
-
Format:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
