As commercial launch assets in space continually increase, the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(NPRM) seeking comment on new rules regarding their disposal.
Comments are due December 26, 2023, and a full summary of the NPRM
follows.
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Revisions to the Definition of "Disposal" in
Section 401.7. Section 401.7 of the FAA's
rules defines "disposal" as "the return or attempt
to return, purposefully, a launch vehicle stage or component, not
including a reentry vehicle, from Earth orbit to Earth, in a
controlled manner." The NPRM proposes to expand the methods of
disposal covered under this section, and revises the definition to
be "the execution or attempt to execute 'controlled
atmospheric disposal, heliocentric disposal, uncontrolled
atmospheric disposal, disposal orbit, or direct retrieval of launch
vehicle stages or components of launch or reentry vehicles under
part 453 of this chapter.'"
