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Space is becoming increasingly valuable to the aviation industry. And by ‘space’, we do not mean gates at Heathrow. As MH370 made clear, ANSP tracking capabilities are limited. When aircraft get over the high seas, land-based radar can do only so much. It is pre WWII-era technology after all. With the advent of ADS-B, tracking capabilities have improved, but again, the signal must reach receivers, which are currently land-based.
Oceans cover 71% of the Earth’s surface, which makes space-based tracking important. The future for ATM is space-based. We know this because even ICAO thinks it so. Aerion, a private company, is well-out in front in this space race. It began launching its space-based ADS-B system in early 2017 as hosted-payloads on the next generation of Iridium satellites. As of early October, Iridium has launched three sets of 10 satellites hosting Aerion payloads. It is predicted that the constellation will be fully deployed in 2018.
Interestingly, NAV Canada, the Irish Aviation Authority, Isavia, ENAV and Naviair have stakes in Aireon. NATS and NAV Canada will serve as launch customers. Dutch, French, German, Saudi Arabian, Spanish and Turkish ANSPs have signed agreements with Aireon to test the benefits of space-based ANSP.
These benefits extend further than just preventing another MH370 tragedy. Airspace over the high seas can become more of a void to be passed through. This means aircraft can be communicated with to do things like dynamic re-routing to avoid weather or take advantage of wind changes. Reduced separation standards will lower fuel costs and allow aircraft to fly farther with less. For new, low cost entrants in long-haul markets, this could make or break a business case. Moreover, with a global picture of air traffic provided by space-based tracking, the balance of power between the ANSP and the airline customer is disrupted. ASNPs might find themselves competing for management of airspace with their airline customers.
To date, most of the work in the space-based ATM area has assumed that the transponders point downwards. But air traffic management means not only managing the movement of aircraft. It also includes the launch of space vehicles. Near space operations and commercial space operations are rapidly growing areas. Putative new operators abound. Here, too, ANS and ATM providers, as well as their trade association CANSO, are trying to find their footing.
The FAA already coordinates US airspace for space launches, but it does so by closing the airspace around launch sites. Closed airspace means re-routing aircraft, which adds fuel cost and flying time. With space launch traffic increasing, there has long been a drive for integrated airspace. In this way, the space industry promises disruption in a way similar to drones and the drive toward UTM.
CANSO envisions a close cooperation between ANSPs and organisations that provide Space Traffic Management. Here, with a little too much disregard for the complexities, the aviation industry is wading into a quagmire fraught with export controls and considerations of national security and defence.
As we have pointed out in the past, ATM for spacecraft is not STM, the latter largely the auspices of militaries and their defence contractors. The most ANSP and ATM providers can hope for is a limited cooperative arrangement to assist with ATM for space objects: traditional ANSPs and ATM providers ensure no collision with an aircraft during launch and re-entry, with a hand-off to an STM provider while the vehicle is above controlled airspace. That is not yet well understood by the trade associations, keen to remain relevant in this changing world.
Beyond improvement to ATM, airports, too, are experiencing disruption from the space industry. Spacecraft are being developed that land on traditional runways like aircraft and many smaller satellites will be launched from rockets mounted on the wings of aircraft that take off from and land at traditional airports. There are even facilities in the US licensed to accommodate both aircraft and spacecraft.
As local ATM providers will have to adjust to things like space-based ATM and ANS, so too must infrastructure at airports evolve to meet the needs of space launches. In this vein, ACI would like to expand its membership to include spaceports as well as airports. With its decentralised model organised around regional and national activities, ACI may be better poised than other international trade associations to meet the nationalist (read defence and national security) strictures of space activities.
At the end of the day, airspace is an ecosystem and artificial fragmentation into controlled spaces might be self-defeating. UTM and space-based capabilities should be allowed to disrupt current airport operations, ATM and ANS. International trade associations want skin in the game. They seek to expand their reach by capitalising on disruption. They will meet challenges at both ends of the altitude spectrum: drones are largely the auspices of local regulators and space-based capabilities have a dual-use nature, making them sensitive from the perspective of security and defence. Forces of globalisation can do only so much for an industry hampered by the national sovereignty enshrined in the Chicago Convention and national security concerns.
