{"id":790,"date":"2017-10-02T12:24:07","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T16:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groundbasedspacematters.com\/?p=790"},"modified":"2017-10-02T12:24:07","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T16:24:07","slug":"reentry-vehicle-doesnt-return-substantially-intact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/groundbasedspacematters.com\/index.php\/2017\/10\/02\/reentry-vehicle-doesnt-return-substantially-intact\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it a Reentry Vehicle if it Doesn’t Return Substantially Intact?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s say you plan to bring something in from outer space.\u00a0 You might wonder whether it needs a reentry license from the Federal Aviation Administration.\u00a0 The answer will depend on what you bring back. (It will also depend on a lot of other factors, such as your location and whether you are a citizen of the United States).\u00a0 If you plan to reenter a reentry vehicle<\/strong><\/a> you do need an FAA reentry license.\u00a0\u00a0 When Congress gave the FAA authority over reentry of a reentry vehicle, it defined<\/strong><\/a> a reentry vehicle to mean “a vehicle designed to return from Earth orbit or outer space to Earth, or a reusable launch vehicle designed to return from Earth orbit or outer space to Earth, substantially intact.”\u00a0 If your object doesn’t satisfy the definition, you don’t need a reentry license.\u00a0 This definition excludes, for example, satellites.<\/p>\n

To qualify as a reentry vehicle, the vehicle needs to be designed to return form Earth orbit or outer space substantially intact, regardless of whether it’s a simple reentry vehicle or a reusable launch vehicle.\u00a0 We know that the requirement that it be substantially intact applies to both reusable and non-reusable vehicles because we all remember the grammar rule about how if a modifier comes after a list of two things it modifies only the second thing unless there’s a comma.\u00a0 Because of the location of the comma, “substantially intact” applies to both types of vehicles.\u00a0 One thing we can tell from this definition is that reentry of most satellites would not need an FAA reentry license.<\/p>\n

Easy cases<\/strong>. How do we figure out if a manufacturer designed a vehicle to return substantially intact? \u00a0 Let’s take the easy scenarios first.\u00a0 If one operator returns a capsule from space, lands it in the ocean, and pulls a bunch of rocks or science experiments out of it, it’s not a stretch at all to say that vehicle has returned substantially intact.\u00a0 At the other end of the spectrum, another vehicle might take trash out of an orbiting habitat and be designed to burn up in the atmosphere.\u00a0 It won’t need a license because it won’t return substantially intact.<\/p>\n

Hard case<\/strong>.\u00a0 Of course, real life will offer more difficult examples.\u00a0 What do we say about a vehicle with a surviving chunk of titanium that reaches the surface of Earth ?\u00a0 Titanium can survive reentry, but it’s not like the vehicle itself will come back substantially intact.\u00a0\u00a0 Satellites exist which have pieces that can survive the rigors of atmospheric reentry yet they are not designed to survive.\u00a0 The risk numbers for Envisat, for example, indicated as much.\u00a0 No, the definition requires the vehicle<\/em> to be designed to return substantially intact.\u00a0 A chunk of titanium alone hardly counts as a vehicle.\u00a0 What if other bits of the vehicle and the chunk of titanium survive?\u00a0 Then we have to figure out if those count as a vehicle and as “substantial.”<\/p>\n

These types of questions will likely get worked out on a case by case basis.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s say you plan to bring something in from outer space.\u00a0 You might wonder whether it needs a reentry license…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[36,110,111,84],"class_list":["post-790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-faa","tag-license","tag-reentry","tag-regulation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs it a Reentry Vehicle if it Doesn't Return Substantially Intact? 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