KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- The Air Force Safety Center’s Space Safety Division plays a crucial role to assure mission success in, from, and to in ensuring safe access to space. The division’s responsibilities include policy, program, guidance, and oversight of pre-launch, launch, orbital, reentry and end-of-life safety programs for space systems. In 2013, the Space Safety Division became a formally recognized division within the Air Force Safety Center.
The Space Safety Division’s mission is to safeguard U.S. space power through mishap prevention as well as provide for and protect the space-combat-advantage. Moreover, the division serves as the space operations safety lead for both the Air and Space Forces, working to optimize space power across the Department of Defense mission sets.
The two key areas of the space division are system safety and operations safety. Space safety ensures space systems function as intended throughout their entire lifecycle, assessing potential risks to people, resources, and mission. Space system safety begins at program design, identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks, before system deployment.
Operations safety includes ground-based space systems, launch and range safety, and orbital safety:
Ground-based space systems are unique equipment or systems that support space missions but are not directly involved in launch or in-orbit operations, such as global missile warning or infrared detection satellite operations for the warfighter. Safety programs for these systems focus on space-related aspects, often overlapping with other safety disciplines. A ground-based space system may require a radio frequency deconfliction program or testing program.
Launch and range safety is critical for delivering military capabilities and assuring access to space. It encompasses pre-launch, launch, fly-back, and reentry activities, including safety processes for missions using radioactive materials. Launch safety considerations extend from liftoff to orbital insertion, including the launch, space traffic management of potential collisions and debris generation for all launch vehicles, reentry response and recovery plans, debris and controlled landing systems. Launch and range safety is likely the most visible of the three operations safety categories. For example, many have witnessed our mission partners, SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and NASA, launch rockets and payloads as well as watch landing stages of rockets or even astronauts from the International Space Station re-enter. During these missions, Department of the Air Force risk-assessment and mitigation teams oversee and execute every step to ensure mission success, public safety, and protection of critical assets.
Orbital safety programs and requirements enable organizations operating satellites and space systems in orbit, to safely execute missions to preserve our space power. These programs manage risks during orbital flight, testing, operations and end-of-life actions. End-of-life actions include anomaly response and collision avoidance, and center around proper disposal, passivation and sometimes orbital reentry and recovery. Additionally, the SES division mission includes mitigating the risks of space debris, collisions, and other hazards in and beyond Earth's orbit.
Like other areas of DAF Safety, mishap prevention is a critical aspect of space safety.
“The ramification of mishaps in space could not only cost billions of dollars and substantially damage our combat capability but could also have worldwide impacts on the use of the space domain,” said Lt. Col. Allison Dempsey, Engineering branch chief, Space Safety Division. “Given the high stakes and low contact with space safety systems once in orbit, it is crucial that we create a culture of mishap prevention and risk management throughout the entire space enterprise.”
To bolster prevention efforts and risk management skills, the Space Safety Division develops, executes, and evaluates mishap prevention programs, and reinforces lessons learned by including them in training and education. The division also provides inputs to DoD policy for orbital debris management, interagency nuclear safety, interagency and international standard forums, outreach, oversight and training to acquisition and operational safety managers.
While space mishap investigations are important, mishaps are less frequent than in other safety disciplines. The Space Safety Division assists investigating officers, conducts evaluations, and applies corrective actions and mishap inclusion through reports to the Air Force Safety Automated System. Additionally, division personnel teach the Space Mishap Investigation Course, comparable to the Aviation Mishap Investigation Course, combining classroom education with real-world space mishap exercises to certify space professionals as Safety Investigating Officers for space mishaps.
Additionally, as the DoD’s lead for nuclear space safety, SES executes the Presidentially-mandated Interagency Nuclear Safety Review Board responsibilities on behalf of the Secretary of Defense. INSRB is responsible for assessing the safety of space nuclear system launches conducted by the U.S. government. This is done in conjunction with six other agencies: Departments of State, Defense, Energy, and Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, and, as appropriate, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. These evaluations of nuclear payloads are deliverables directly to the President for launch approval consideration.
There is never a day without space. Cell phones, GPS, Wall Street, power grids, water dams, internet systems are all reliant on safe, secure, and sustainable space operations. Every branch of the military relies on space for communications, weather assessments, intelligence, and position, navigation, and timing information. Without space, those missions would be severely impaired.
“The Space Safety Division enables every warfighter across the Department of Defense to make risk-informed decisions while executing National Security missions,” said Mark Glissman, Space Safety Division chief. “By maximizing our risk assessment and mitigation missions, we assure our space-combat-advantage in, from, and to space.”