332. Defining Class X Air Space
Team
| Name | Role | Primary |
| Juan Alonso | Principal Investigator | ● |
| Gunther Smiley | Tech Monitor | ● |
| Judy Kong | Fiscal Admin | ● |
Project Description
Dr. Chris Draper and Dr. Aaron Santos
Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa
Examining and refining Draper-Santos Projections for defining airspace that could more efficiently enable safe reusable launch vehicle and unmanned aerial system operations from Regional or rural facilities.
This study will examine and refine the Draper-Santos projection methodology by using real world UAS and RLV data and model assumptions. Once examined and refined based on real world data for likely applications, Draper-Santos projections could be used to propose the creation of specific Class X airspace, as proposed in the attached Simpson College working paper, or some other mechanism that would increase the suitability of currently underused regional or rural facilities for RLV and UAS operations. The Draper-Santos projection methodology is based on current FAA AST exclusion-based protection strategies typically employed for RLV demonstration and testing.
This research would focus on both optimizing the fundamental assumptions used within the model (e.g. population data fidelity) and calibrating the model based on the various optimizations (e.g. testing risk threshold impacts based on casualty area inputs). The output of this work should be an iteratively improved model that should expand the number of facilities and communities that could benefit by safely expanding RLV and UAS operations.