The Space Industry Regulations 2021

Preparations for launch, return and other operations

7.—(1) Instructions and procedures about—

(a) the arrival of the launch vehicle at the spaceport or other place from which the launch is to take place;

(b) storing the launch vehicle at the spaceport or other place from which the launch is to take place;

(c) the assembly and integration of any component parts of the launch vehicle including any instructions from the design authority or a person who manufactured the launch vehicle or any of its component parts;

(d) if a launch vehicle is to be reused, satisfying the requirements in regulations 91 to 93;

(e) the verification and validation of the launch vehicle to satisfy the requirement in regulation 94;

(f) the integration of any payload with the launch vehicle;

(g) the loading of any hazardous material onto the launch vehicle;

(h) the meteorological and environmental conditions needed to safely load such material;

(i) the preparations for the use of any carrier aircraft;

(j) moving the launch vehicle to the place of launch at the spaceport or other place from which the launch is to take place and finally preparing the launch vehicle;

(k) carrying out safety, technical and organisational reviews, including joint procedures for carrying out such reviews, to check—

(i) the progress of launch preparations,

(ii) the fitness of the launch vehicle for the operator’s spaceflight activities,

(iii) the fitness of the ground support equipment for supporting those activities, and

(iv) the readiness for use of any flight safety system or any necessary equipment for providing range control services;

(l) to ensure the requirements in regulation 96 are satisfied, coordinating and communicating, including joint procedures for coordinating and communicating, with—

(i) the range control service provider and any site or other place used in connection with the provision of range control services,

(ii) the spaceport licensee,

(iii) the relevant meteorological service providers,

(iv) the relevant air navigation service providers, and

(v) the relevant emergency services.

(2) In this paragraph “design authority” means the person with responsibility for the design of the launch vehicle.