Space traffic management of sub-orbital and ground support activities: possible way forward

The recent increase in space activity leads to a completely different perspective on space traffic management. In particular, the interactions between space and air traffic became a subject in itself for both orbital and suborbital missions, inducing potential traffic management problems. This depends on both the kind of objects and missions, such as orbital launch, re-entry, booster recovery, suborbital flight... Spacecraft transiting airspace involves different objects (satellites, launch vehicles, rocket bodies, space tourism vehicles, sounding rockets, aircraft…) and missions with various associated risks. These risks can generally be characterized by the amount of time in the airspace, the velocity of the spacecraft, and its altitude. The rise in the number of spaceports for orbital and suborbital missions contributes to increased space traffic in terms of location, launch sites, and widespread types of launch and re-entry missions. Despite the enhanced space activities, there are currently no specific and binding international standards for spacecraft crossing airspace. However, there are guidelines, national frameworks, and recommendations from organizations (e.g. UN-COPUOS, OSI) that cover part of the interaction between space activities and airspace transit. In the frame of the IAF-IAA-IISL Working Group on Space Traffic Management (STM), sub-orbital activities and transit through airspace/ground support activities were addressed with the objectives of providing a status of the current situation, estimating likely developments, assessing collision risks due to the growth of the launcher and satellite markets, elaborating on potential air traffic coordination, providing an overview of legal aspects, providing possible recommendations for future operations, and proposing the possible implementation of these recommendations. This work was conducted by a group of experts in different domains, such as space and air traffic management, space surveillance tracking, legal framework, risk assessment, re-entry, and tracking improvement. Based on previous publications, the authors propose a possible way forward in the management of suborbital/ground support activities in terms of operational guidelines and risk assessment.