The Commercial Space Industry

Discloser: I have no Idea why the text won't change so it's all legible. I've tried everything I could think of, but at this point I give up. I think if you highlight the text, it makes it a little easier :(

In the beginning...
Unfortunately, Russia beat us into space, launching their satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit in 1957. Just behind that was U.S satellite Explorer 1, which launched in 1958. The first human in space was Russian Lt Yuri Gagarin. Vostok 1 launched on April 12, 1961, and orbited for 108 minutes, at an altitude of roughly 202 miles (A Brief History of Space Exploration).

This is where U.S. shines! And No Conspiracy theories allowed to post on this blog :)
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 carried 3 men into space and landed Neil armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon. This was a one day mission and returned safely to earth on July 21st (A Brief History of Space Exploration).

1) Space Tourism:
The first ever space tourist was Dennis Tito. On April 28, 2001, Dennis took part in the first commercial space flight, taking off for an 8 day mission on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and entering the international space station. It cost him a total of $20 million dollars to take the trip. Space Adventures, the virgin based company that arranged Dennis's mission with Russia's Federal space Agency, has sent a total of 7 other people into space since the mission in 2001. (Writer, M. W.)

More recently, Space X launched the largest rocket ever built into space. On February 6, 2018, Elon Musk, founder and CEO of space X, launched the Falcon heavy rocket carrying his Roadster Tesla on a journey through space. The entire rocket is designed to be reusable. The boosters have been designed and where proven successful, to both take off, and deploy its landing legs and successfully return and land on earth. This latest launch has shown how private companies are striving to make commercial space flights even more possible and safe a flight can really be.

2) Rules and Regulations:The Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984 was the first regulations put in place. This authorized the Department of Transportation (DOT) more specifically the FAA's office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) to regulate launches and reentry vehicles and launch sites. This act was amended two time already, once in 1988 to make it easier for companies to obtain licenses and insurance, and again in 2004. This side of the industry is new, and like all new things, rules and regulations are going to change, usually for the better. Something like this needs to be regulated with safety in mind, however, it should make it outrageous to obtain and maintain a license to continue operations. With the government promoting the commercial space industry, companies, like space X, have been developing rockets and other ways to make the publics dreams of going to space true (Office of Commercial Space Transportation). 

3) Future of Commercial Space:
In the near future, I see space travel as a bucket list (rich persons bucket list) only type of travel. Until the cost becomes more reasonable for the normal person, it wont be a huge success in the general public. However, if we ever need to get off earth and go to mars because earth becomes uninhabitable, then everyone might get the chance to do so, but I don't see that happening in my life time.

4)What does it take to work in the industry?

Their are many jobs to be offered other then a pilot onboard the space crafts. Unfortunately, many if not all of the jobs require some sort of engineering degree, and a background in developing software systems for large vehicles. Other jobs many include chauffeurs? It would be pretty cool to drive around the pilot or even Elon Musk, maybe you'll become best friends and he'll take you with him on a flight some time because theirs an open seat. 
one can only dream though :)



A Brief History of Space Exploration. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2018, from http://www.aerospace.org/education/stem-outreach/space-primer/a-brief-history-of-space-exploration/


Contributor, E. H. (n.d.). Facts About SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Rocket. Retrieved February 22, 2018, from https://www.space.com/39779-falcon-heavy-facts.html


Office of Commercial Space Transportation. (2017, September 27). Retrieved February 22, 2018, from https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/regulations/


Writer, M. W. (n.d.). First Space Tourist: How a U.S. Millionaire Bought a Ticket to Orbit. Retrieved February 22, 2018, from https://www.space.com/11492-space-tourism-pioneer-dennis-tito.html

The Current Status of UAVs

Welcome to the future, well at least 2018. Drones are everywhere! The everyday person can now fly a registered drone, with or without a license.

*UAV's fall under Part 107
Any drone weighing 0.55 lbs to 55 lbs must be registered and given a registration number
Individuals must go through the process to get certified for commercial use

• UAV must weigh less then 55 lbs, including payload, at takeoff
• They are only allowed to be flown in class G airspace
• The UAV must remain in the line of sight of the individual who's operating it
• Must remain at or below 400 ft
• they must remain 5 miles away from an airport unless prior arrangements are made
• flight times can only occur during daylight or civil twilight
• Speed limit is 100mph
• Right of way rule applies and UAV's must give way to all manned aircrafts
• UAV's are not allowed to fly over people, or moving vehicles, who are not apart of the operation (unless in a heavily populated area

(Fly under the Small UAS Rule)

Individuals can use a drone for businesses and be paid or make money from the use of the UAV. some operations can include area photography, security, maintenance checks, etc.

Other countries use them to. The photo below shows (green) places that have regulations and allow UAV operations, (yellow) locations that have stricter rules that must be followed, and other (gray) areas where no data was found for UAV operations.

(Here's a Map with Up-to-Date Drone Laws For Every Country)

UAV's are currently used in countries such as Canada.
Companies such as Mulitvista use drones to capture images for photo and video documentaries, and other services tailored to their client's needs. 

NAS

From my opinion, I do see UAV's working their way into the NAS. They have proven to be helpful with business operations, and making them apart of the NAS would help regulate operations making it safer for manned aircrafts to continue their operations. So challenges or problems that may occur is that people are always going to try and go around the rules. Flying in areas they don't belong or just doing things with their aircrafts that they may not be ready for and causing harm or damage to persons or property. 

Military

The military currently uses drones and UAV's for things such as areal recon. The drones can fly for hours and hover in areas not noticeable to the enemies, giving enemy locations to the troops on the ground. Drones can also be attached with weapons and used to attack areas that my be harder to get to with other aircrafts, or even deliver their payload in an area that is unsafe for manned aircraft to enter. Drones make it easier to plot coordinates, and launch weapons more accurately causing little to no damage to surrounding areas. 

To be honest, it was a little tricky to find a job listing that wasn't for flying planes, even though i was searching UAV. I found one for a videographer position with phillips enterprise. other than needing video editing experience, the job requires experience with UAV's.  

https://job-openings.monster.com/Videographer-w-Drone-experience-required-Shelby-Township-MI-US-Phillips-Enterprise/11/192943011

Fly under the Small UAS Rule. (2017, December 14). Retrieved February 10, 2018, from https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/part_107/

Here's a Map with Up-to-Date Drone Laws For Every Country. (2017, September 21). Retrieved February 10, 2018, from https://petapixel.com/2017/09/20/heres-map-date-drone-laws-every-country/