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International Standard to Manage Space Launch Risk
Tom Pfitzer; A-P-T Research, Inc.; Huntsville, AL, USA
Keywords: Risk, Risk Management
Abstract
In 2017, an international standard addressing the minimum requirements for managing the risks
from launch and re-entry of space objects was developed by the International Association for the
Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) and published in the Space Safety Journal. Many of
these risks stem from the same set of hazards that face the explosives safety community.
Moreover, the risk management framework follows the identical logic that was originally
developed by the Department of Defense Explosives Safety Board (DDESB). This paper defines
the constituent elements of risk management and compares the framework for each. It traces the
development of the space safety standard and defines the path ahead toward international
adoption.
Background
In 1999, the DDESB began sponsoring
research into improved risk
management methods. This
research began as a literature
search into approaches used by
all U.S. Federal agencies to
examine the essential
methods used and to
isolate the critical
elements. Since that
time, this early research
has grown and
advanced the state-of-
the-art in multiple
directions, as
illustrated in Figure 1.
An early product of
this research was the IARA risk management
methodology (Identify, Assess, Reduce, Accept),
which was documented and subsequently adopted
widely by safety professionals beyond explosives
safety. Today, IARA appears in a variety of
forms in multiple national
and international standards.
In addition, significant
advances in computer
Figure 1: Original research sponsored by the DDESB has led to
many advances in the practices used in a variety of safety
disciplines. This paper is only one example.
