14 C.F.R. § 431.35 Acceptable reusable launch vehicle mission risk.
Title 14 - Aeronautics and Space
(a) To obtain safety approval for an RLV mission, an applicant must demonstrate that the proposed mission does not exceed acceptable risk as defined in this subpart. For purposes of this section, the mission commences upon initiation of the launch phase of flight and consists of launch flight through orbital insertion of an RLV or vehicle stage or flight to outer space, whichever is applicable, and reentry or descent flight, and concludes upon landing on Earth of the RLV. (b) Acceptable risk for a proposed mission is measured in terms of the expected average number of casualties (Ec). (1) To obtain safety approval, an applicant shall demonstrate: (i) For public risk, the risk level to the collective members of the public exposed to vehicle or vehicle debris impact hazards associated with a proposed mission does not exceed an expected average number of 0.00003 casualties per mission (or Ec criterion of 30 × 10−6) to members of the public from the applicant's proposed activity; and (ii) For public risk, the risk level to an individual does not exceed .000001 per mission (or individual risk criterion of 1 × 10−6). (2) [Reserved] (c) To demonstrate compliance with acceptable risk criteria in this section, an applicant shall employ a system safety process to identify the hazards and assess the risks to public health and safety and the safety of property associated with the mission, including nominal and non-nominal operation and flight of the vehicle and payload, if any. An acceptable system safety analysis identifies and assesses the probability and consequences of any reasonably foreseeable hazardous event, and safety-critical system failures during launch flight or reentry that could result in a casualty to the public. (d) As part of the demonstration required under paragraph (c) of this section, an applicant must— (1) Identify and describe the structure of the RLV, including physical dimensions and weight; (2) Identify and describe any hazardous materials, including radioactive materials, and their container on the RLV; (3) Identify and describe safety-critical systems; (4) Identify and describe all safety-critical failure modes and their consequences; (5) Provide drawings and schematics for eachsafety-critical system identified under paragraph (d)(3) of this section; (6) Provide a timeline identifying all safety-critical events; (7) Provide data that validates the applicant's system safety analyses required in paragraph (c) of this section; and (8) Provide flight trajectory analyses covering launch or ascent of the vehicle through orbital insertion and reentry or descent of the vehicle through landing, including its three-sigma dispersion.
Title 14: Aeronautics and Space
PART 431—LAUNCH AND REENTRY OF A REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE (RLV)
Subpart C—Safety Review and Approval for Launch and Reentry of a Reusable Launch Vehicle
§ 431.35 Acceptable reusable launch vehicle mission risk.
