Space rider’s maiden flight payloads/experiments safety acceptance process

As part of the Space Rider mission, experiments will have the opportunity to spend around two months in orbit. The types of experiments vary significantly, resulting in highly diversified risks which needs to be managed at individual payload level, aggregate level and Space Rider’s re-entry module level, in order to ensure mission success at all levels.

Additionally, as the mission will be launched from French Guiana, the Space Rider mission shall obtain its launch authorizations from the French Authorities, through a submission process based on two aspects. Firstly, the demonstration of the correct identification and management of the hazards generated by the mission and secondly by showing compliancy to the various French regulations and to the ESA Space debris mitigation rules.

As the maiden flight of Space Rider might embark at least fourteen experiments, a simplified approach based on each experiment hazardousness is followed in order to lighten the whole authorizations process and facilitate experiments safety inputs provision.

Firstly, by performing such simplified approach, it appeared that several experiments present very similar hazards, hence allowing to provide homogenous design recommendations and requests to all experiment owners. Additionally, it enables clear feedback to potential new experiment owners, based on previous communication with similar experiments.

Secondly, by placing the focus almost entirely on experiments with hazards above a pre-determined severity threshold, such streamlined acceptance process demonstrates its ability to save time by reducing workload. This enables faster and more concise communications with the French Authorities responsible for Space Rider Safety assessment towards the French Guiana Space Center regulation [3].

Finally, by aiming to synthesize the risks of all experiments from the onset, it required early technical exchanges with all potential experiment owners, allowing to gain an extensive understanding of possible hazards to mitigate and design choices to recommend or request.